Skip it! poorly written. Leaves the reader with no experience of the journey. It required a lot of endourance to finish the story. I have read many books written by those who have hiked the AT and this one is a waste of time. Boring and disapointing is the best I can describe it. I had high hopes for it, but it just never got its legs (pardon the expession) Futhermore he ends the book before the final push to Khatahdan and leaves it right there. I simply felt ripped off. You don't know if he made it! He didn't wind the story up just simply stopped. I kepted flipping back and forth, I thought I missed something. A couple really good books on long distance hiking are: A walk in the woods (funny), Cactus eaters, Skywalker, Awol.