A decent place to start while reading about the Appalachian Trail and associated personalities. Picked a few books from the bibliography to follow-up on. ( )

Understanding far Western Connecticut ( )

This is not a "How To" book nor a story of one hiker's adventure hiking the Appalachian Trail, this is a fascinating compendium of profiles of "thru hikers". A thru hiker is a person who hikes the entire trail in one season. It is more an analysis of AT hikers and in particular (but not only) thru hikers. It also looks at repeat hikers, "section hikers" (those who hike a section of the trail at a time until they complete the trail) speed hikers and partial trail hikers. It is an extremely interesting look at AT backpackers. And the long distance hiking culture/community. Recommended. mcola21@gmail.com ( )

Hiking the A.T. ( )