The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, a grueling 2,000-mile journey marked by white blazes that doggedly lead to the summit of every mountain in its path. For hikers, it represents a pilgrimage to the very heart of outdoor culture. For Kelly Winters, it was that and more. "I felt there was a place I needed to get to," she writes, "not a physical place, but an emotional, psychological, spiritual one." So she quit her job, left behind an unhealthy relationship, and set foot on the trail, where for the next six months, as a member of a nomadic tribe of zealots, slackers, heiresses, stoners, saints, and freaks, overcoming exhaustion, hunger, injuries, and loneliness, she moved northward. Winters's account, in the tradition of our best outdoor chroniclers from John Muir to Jon Krakauer, captures the sense of both majestic isolation and quirky community, the moments of staggering beauty and of startling terror, and the conflicting senses of exhilaration and futility that exist in outdoor adventure. But, most vividly, Walking Home is an exceptionally truthful, often funny, exciting account of an emotional and spiritual journey filled with courage, healing, developing trust, unexpected strength, and most surprisingly, lasting love. -- amazon.com
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