Walking North

Mic Lowther self published this book in 1990. Finally publishing it for the public in 2001. I am sorry he did not do it sooner. After virtually reading every account that has been written about walking all the trail or in part, this book is my favorite. It seems that they are careful not to mention actually when his family walked the trail but I would guess in the mid 1970's. It is an excellent balance of what the trail is about, the emotions that ensue and the personal relationships that develop between hikers and their immediate family. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has dreamed of hiking the trail or mystified why people actually attempt it.

I have read several AT books and this one has been the most enjoyable so far. I laughed out loud several times. I also really felt a wide range of emotions for their trials (rain, rain,rain). If you enjoy AT stories, don't miss this one.

This book earned my five stars because it details the daily life of the folks on the trail but not in a guide book manor. It was a story with trail details imbedded in a way that easily blended the facts with the story. I like the way the author described the thought process of the many decisions they made on the trail. I enjoyed the physical description of the trail, the shelter, the plants and animals and the other hikers. This book answered many questions about daily life on the trail. Thank you for the entertainment and the information.

This book is a very good account of a familes time on the AT. It is really hard to put down. Every paragraph keeps you hooked on the next, to see if they make it all the way. The only negative thing I can say about the book is that all in the book there are hundreds of refences to the many photos they took along the way but there are no pictures in the book. I would have loved to have seen what they looked like after along hike. Maybe thats why they didn't !!!! This really is a wonderful book. Even if your not into hiking I would recomend this book. It makes you want to get off the couch and go do something active....

The only thing needed to make it "perfect" is more of it. I keep wishing it were longer, because I want to keep on reading Mic's wonderful prose. I've just finished reading this book for the third time (the 1st two readings were of the original edition) and each time it has seemed fresh and new. Here is the review I wrote after reading it the first time. It's still true."This beautifully-written book has everything--including some wonderfully sly humor and a plot that draws you along so strongly you can hardly put the book down. Mic Lowther, his wife Jerrianne and their ten-year-old daughter Kyra (rhymes with Vera),thruhiked the A.T. in the 1970's. Mic's every fiber was tuned,almost to the exclusion of all else, to the goal of getting to Katahdin before it was closed for the winter. As he says in his book, "I'd designed and programmed computer systems... The Appalachian Trail seemed awesome in concept and scale. I'd seized it at once as a fascinating problem to work." As for his wife Jerri, "Time in the woods was like a visit with friends to her, and she would...fall quickly to watching birds and identifying flowers and lose all apparent interest in our destination." And 10-year-old Kyra: "No stranger to the outdoors, Kyra had accompanied us on trips since she could toddle and had traveled through twenty-eight states. But none, she pointed out, on foot." Kyra, as it turned out, was a practically perfect thruhiker. Well...you probably sense the conflict that developed early on in this hike. But you'll have to read the book to see how it all turned out--I'm not going to give it away here. But I will say that it makes for absolutely fascinating and enjoyable reading."After you read this one, there's another well-written book about an AT journey called "On the Beaten Path" by Robert Rubin. Don't miss it!