Appalachian Trail Hiking Books Worth Your Shelf

This is the one that made a generation of people think about hiking the Appalachian Trail, and it is funny in a way most outdoor writing is not. Bryson and his badly out of shape friend Katz start in Georgia and quit well short of Maine, which is honestly more relatable than a clean thru-hike story. Bestseller rank #14 in all of books tells you people keep buying it decades later. At 55 percent off it is the cheapest entry point in this whole list.

Emma Gatewood was 67 years old, told her family she was going for a walk, and hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in Keds with a homemade sack over her shoulder. Ben Montgomery’s telling covers the hard life she left behind as much as the hike itself, and it gets into how her walk pulled the neglected trail back from falling apart. Bestseller rank #100 and sold direct. If you read one book on this list, make it this one.

David Miller quit his software job and hiked the trail in 2003, and AWOL is the result. It reads more like a straightforward daily account than a literary memoir, which is exactly what some readers want after the polished stuff. His trail name became the name of the guidebook thru-hikers still carry. Good pick if you want the logistics and the mileage rather than the jokes.

Derick Lugo had never camped a day in his life before he walked from Georgia to Maine, and the book is honest about being a Black man moving through very white stretches of trail country. It is a lighter read than the subject suggests, because he is genuinely funny about his own unpreparedness. Published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, so the trail detail holds up. A good counterweight if the other memoirs start blending together.

Niki Rellon-style gear lists and grim mileage charts this is not. Thruhikers is heavily illustrated and covers the boring parts nobody explains well, including resupply, food planning and what to do about your feet. DK is a trusted publisher on this kind of reference work and it shows in the layout. Bestseller rank #47 says it is moving, and it is the one I’d give someone who says they are seriously considering a long hike.

This one is not Appalachian Trail specific, but it earns a spot because it puts the AT next to 99 other long walks around the world and lets you see how it stacks up. National Geographic photography is the reason to own it, and at bestseller rank #7 in books it is clearly landing with people. It works as a coffee table book that gets read rather than flipped. Nearly half off for a hardcover this size is a fair trade.

Thirteen Trails Illustrated maps covering the full trail, waterproof and tear resistant, which matters more than anything else about a paper map. This is the most expensive thing in the roundup by a wide margin and it is only 20 percent off, so it is a serious purchase rather than an impulse one. Buy it if you are planning real section hiking or a thru-hike. If you just want to look at the trail, the guidebooks are a better use of your money.

Moon built this one for people who want the trail towns and the day hikes without the five-month commitment. It maps road trips along the corridor and points you at the best short hikes and the places to eat when you get off the mountain. That is a realistic way to see the AT for most families, and West Virginia gets its share of the route. Bestseller rank #547 and 40 percent off.

Forty hikes in the Allegheny Mountains, rated on the Five-Star system for scenery, difficulty and solitude. The Monongahela covers roughly 900,000 acres, and this is the guide that actually sorts out which trailheads are worth the drive. Bestseller rank #506 and 30 percent off. It pairs well with the mountain style home books we looked at if you’re the sort who hikes all day and then wants the cabin to match.

This covers what you are looking at while you walk: the wildlife, the plants and the geology along the trail corridor. It is the book that answers the question you have on the trail and forget by the time you get home. Useful for foraging-curious readers too, though it is not a foraging guide, and if that is your interest the homesteading titles we tracked go deeper on wild food. Forty percent off and sold direct.

Rizzoli makes serious art books, and this is the full length of the trail in photographs with essays about its history and the people who keep it open. It is the biggest ticket item of the twelve after the map bundle, cut in half. Bestseller rank #523 is strong for a book at this price. This is a Christmas gift for the hiker in the family, not a trail carry.

The Grandma Gatewood story told for kids, illustrated, from Abrams. It works on children who have zero interest in hiking because the setup is so good: a grandmother walks out the door and keeps going for 2,000 miles. Good for elementary readers and a nice tie-in if an adult in the house is reading the Montgomery biography. A third off, and it holds its price the rest of the year.