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Blind Courage: Journey of Faith
The author, blinded by a rare eye disease, recounts his experiences hiking with his guide dog, Orient, from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail and describes how his faith helped sustain him along the trail
Hardcover
First published June 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
April 20, 2019
A book where I admire the achievements of both man and dog, as the author becomes the first blind hiker to traverse the Appalachian trail with his seeing-eye (guide) dog. It does make me uncomfortable though, what the dog was put through. Irvin did not have any experience of hiking prior to this. Not an easy read.
August 18, 2021
I saw this book mentioned on a Facebook hiking page. The writer of the post had met Bill Irwin while hiking. I was intrigued by a story about a Blind Hiker along with his guide dog, Orient, who was able to complete the Appalachian Trail and ordered the book.
I was happy to see my used copy was signed by Bill and Orient-a nice bonus. The edition includes a foreword written by Robert Schuller which peaked my interest- what does Schuller have to do with hiking the AT….
It turns out Bill is a self described prodigal son who reminds us for we walk by faith not by sight. Bill is the founder of the company that would later be known as Lab Corp but faced many demons in his life-he had been married and divorced multiple times, an alcoholic. The book is his testimony and story of his 2,000 mile plus hike of the AT that he felt God had called him to do. Bill takes you along on his journey across multiple states in every kind of weather while sharing his own story. He reinforces his need to rely on God throughout the book.
I found it to be a quick but worth while read. If you search his name up on You Tube, you will find footage of him and Orient hiking the trail which only gives me a greater appreciation for what they had to overcome.
PS. I also the like the books references to NJ including the Seeing Eye in Morristown and Campmor in Paramus.
I was happy to see my used copy was signed by Bill and Orient-a nice bonus. The edition includes a foreword written by Robert Schuller which peaked my interest- what does Schuller have to do with hiking the AT….
It turns out Bill is a self described prodigal son who reminds us for we walk by faith not by sight. Bill is the founder of the company that would later be known as Lab Corp but faced many demons in his life-he had been married and divorced multiple times, an alcoholic. The book is his testimony and story of his 2,000 mile plus hike of the AT that he felt God had called him to do. Bill takes you along on his journey across multiple states in every kind of weather while sharing his own story. He reinforces his need to rely on God throughout the book.
I found it to be a quick but worth while read. If you search his name up on You Tube, you will find footage of him and Orient hiking the trail which only gives me a greater appreciation for what they had to overcome.
PS. I also the like the books references to NJ including the Seeing Eye in Morristown and Campmor in Paramus.
August 11, 2008
Written by Bill Irwin, with Dave McCasland. A quick read, but powerfully conveyed. Excellent photos of this seemingly impossible task of not only thru-hiking the AT, but doing it blind, with the help of a Seeing-Eye dog. Heavily Christian framework, but it works for me. I had been meaning to read it and recently bought a copy, signed by both Irwin and Orient, his dog ( stamp of paw print). I cried several times while reading the book. To view a four minute video on Bil and Orient negotiating the impossible New England terrain, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__nmim... .
Get out the tissues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__nmim... .
Get out the tissues.
June 29, 2014
Wow,this man is my hero. The entire Appalachian Trail,with only his seeing eye dog. Absolutely amazing.
March 3, 2019
When Bill Irwin set out to hike the Appalachian Trail, few people expected him to complete it: missing one eye and completely blind in the other, he was reliant on (well-honed) instinct and his guide dog to navigate more than 2,000 miles through the wilderness.
Now...what the book description doesn't tell you is that Irwin isn't actually all too interested in discussing his experience of hiking blind. He's much more interested in the fact that he'd found religion at some point before he set out on this hike, and he's very very very keen on introducing you the reader to the idea that Jesus Christ looked after him on his hike, and if you just hand your life over to (Irwin's version of) God, etc. etc. etc. It's...not what I'm interested in in terms of reading about a thru-hike, but if it worked for him, sure! Fine. But I'm a little sorry to see what reads to me as a limited interpretation of 'good':
A couple of years before, I would have agreed with all the folks who saw something like that as a wonderful coincidence. A lot of thru-hikers call it "trail magic."
But I had come to believe that there was no such thing as coincidence. I liked the definition of coincidence as "God performing a miracle while maintaining His anonymity." (loc. 642)
It had to be more than coincidence that these people had been there, so gracious and willing to help, right when I needed them so much. (loc. 693)
I knew the Lord was in charge of this situation, but it didn't make any sense. Why was I stranded in a cabin on top of a mountain when I could have been making good time on a trail just a few thousand feet lower? (loc. 2610)
To each his or her own. But, augh, I want to unpack these ideas that 1) if people are kind, it must be God's intervention (how sad to think that people can't just be good people!) and 2) if God is in charge, that should mean that things go to plan...I'm thinking of that story (parable? whatever) about the man whose house is flooded—a boat goes by, and he rejects the help, saying that God will provide; a helicopter goes by, and he rejects help again; etc. And then he dies and goes to Heaven and asks God why he died, and God is like, dude, I sent a flipping helicopter. So—shouldn't it be intervention enough that just when the weather is terrible and unhikable, lo and behold, there's a weathertight cabin right there? (Sigh.)
And in other news, some quick notes:
Warren Doyle's A.T. weather prediction for a thru-hike was: 80% of the time it's either too wet, too dry, too hot, or too cold; 20% of the time it's just right. He said the sooner we got used to the fact that only one day out of five would be good weather, the happier we'd be. (loc. 1850)
Best typo/error I've seen in a while: Hikers kidded a lot about the weather, but it was no joke. A plague in the summit house on Mt. Washington recorded the names of 115 people who had died while hiking in the area. (loc. 2252)
I got the biggest kick from the little girl [in a class that wrote him letters] who wrote: "I'm glad that you're almost done with that trail. It would not be fun to walk 20,000 miles."
She was the first person who knew how long the trail felt to me. (loc. 2995)
Now...what the book description doesn't tell you is that Irwin isn't actually all too interested in discussing his experience of hiking blind. He's much more interested in the fact that he'd found religion at some point before he set out on this hike, and he's very very very keen on introducing you the reader to the idea that Jesus Christ looked after him on his hike, and if you just hand your life over to (Irwin's version of) God, etc. etc. etc. It's...not what I'm interested in in terms of reading about a thru-hike, but if it worked for him, sure! Fine. But I'm a little sorry to see what reads to me as a limited interpretation of 'good':
A couple of years before, I would have agreed with all the folks who saw something like that as a wonderful coincidence. A lot of thru-hikers call it "trail magic."
But I had come to believe that there was no such thing as coincidence. I liked the definition of coincidence as "God performing a miracle while maintaining His anonymity." (loc. 642)
It had to be more than coincidence that these people had been there, so gracious and willing to help, right when I needed them so much. (loc. 693)
I knew the Lord was in charge of this situation, but it didn't make any sense. Why was I stranded in a cabin on top of a mountain when I could have been making good time on a trail just a few thousand feet lower? (loc. 2610)
To each his or her own. But, augh, I want to unpack these ideas that 1) if people are kind, it must be God's intervention (how sad to think that people can't just be good people!) and 2) if God is in charge, that should mean that things go to plan...I'm thinking of that story (parable? whatever) about the man whose house is flooded—a boat goes by, and he rejects the help, saying that God will provide; a helicopter goes by, and he rejects help again; etc. And then he dies and goes to Heaven and asks God why he died, and God is like, dude, I sent a flipping helicopter. So—shouldn't it be intervention enough that just when the weather is terrible and unhikable, lo and behold, there's a weathertight cabin right there? (Sigh.)
And in other news, some quick notes:
Warren Doyle's A.T. weather prediction for a thru-hike was: 80% of the time it's either too wet, too dry, too hot, or too cold; 20% of the time it's just right. He said the sooner we got used to the fact that only one day out of five would be good weather, the happier we'd be. (loc. 1850)
Best typo/error I've seen in a while: Hikers kidded a lot about the weather, but it was no joke. A plague in the summit house on Mt. Washington recorded the names of 115 people who had died while hiking in the area. (loc. 2252)
I got the biggest kick from the little girl [in a class that wrote him letters] who wrote: "I'm glad that you're almost done with that trail. It would not be fun to walk 20,000 miles."
She was the first person who knew how long the trail felt to me. (loc. 2995)
May 25, 2025
This book is a wonderful read. I greatly enjoyed his Christian testimony and sharing of his faith along the appalachian trail. In the end, he likened the Christian life to a trail. If we follow the trail guide, the Bible, then we will have/live the life God intended for us. But if we ignore God's Word, then we are living a life without purpose.
October 26, 2016
Wonderful insight on how his difficult hike is an analogy for life. He had some good thoughts at the end of the book I will try to remember for my life. One was -...What did you have to do to stay on the trail?"...."See the blazes and follow them. But, if a person ignored those white marks, they wouldn't do him a bit of good"......."Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was that easy to find our way in life?" You'd just follow the blazes from one goal to the next......God has marked the trail for us and His blazes are in the Bible"." If we read the Bible and ignore what it says, it doesn't do us any good. But, if we follow God's word and believe it, He leads us along His trail to eternal life" .
I was disappointed that he wasn't real clear about how he managed to follow the trail, especially at the beginning. Orient, his seeing-eye dog seemed to figure out the white blazes at some point, but not at first".
Glad I read it. It was very uplifting and inspiring.
I was disappointed that he wasn't real clear about how he managed to follow the trail, especially at the beginning. Orient, his seeing-eye dog seemed to figure out the white blazes at some point, but not at first".
Glad I read it. It was very uplifting and inspiring.
February 3, 2011
An amazing true story about courage and perseverance! A little tedious and slow at times, but overall an inspiring story!
November 17, 2014
Fascinating memoir of a blind man who hiked the Appalachian Trail and his faith.
Read
April 2, 2016Amazing story! Can't fathom hiking the AT, or anywhere for that matter, blind.
June 27, 2025
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race" (2 Timothy 4:7a, NIV).
Blind Courage: Journey of Faith is not the first to use a race, or in this case, a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail, as an analogy for the Christian life. The Pilgrim's Progress does this, of course, as do many other books. But just because this analogy has been done before doesn't nullify the value of this book. On the contrary, Bill's book, co-written by Dave McCasland (which is how I found it), unobtrusively and plainly, inspired me to keep on running my own Christain race.
A lot of this book is what you would expect. Bill describes difficult days on the trial, over rocky terrain or during bleak weather or when he can't find his way. Bill is blind, and his Seeing Eye dog, Orient, a German shepherd, is an amazing navigator, using first his sense of smell (with which Orient can sniff out a stream well before anyone can even hear it), then his sense of hearing, and finally his sense of sight. Even though his sense of sight is third down the list, Bill says Orient learned to follow the white blazes along the trail. At the end of the trial, a group of people hiking with Bill inadvertently traveled down a side trail, marked with blue blazes; no one noticed except for Orient, who slowed his step. Bill, knowing his dog's way of communicating, said something was wrong, which helped the group discover they had wandered off the AT. As Bill put it a couple of times in the book, "God leads Orient and Orient leads me."
One time in Brownsville Junction, Maine, Bill was looking for a place to stay and found a local pastor willing to let him, Orient, and Art Batchelder (AB Positive) sleep in the church. The pastor wondered if they could arrange to pick up and return Bill to the trail the following Sunday so that he could give the children's moment. Bill agreed, and the next Sunday, Bill gave a very simple and beautiful children's message:
Finally, near the end of his through-hike, Bill remarks that he is sad that this "unrepeatable chapter" of his life is drawing to an end. Although he plainly states he won't miss the pain of stretching himself daily for eight months, suffering from heat, cold, rain, snow, hunger, exhaustation, near-hypothermia, etc., Bill will in some ways miss the journey. He'll miss the "trail magic," of course, and the times of reflection with himself, Orient, and God. But he says the trail has changed him; it has made him more forgiving, better able to bear with the annoying but ultimately innocuous behavior of others. In this sense, too, Bill's journey is analogous to the race every Christian must run, for along the way God makes us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ, more forgiving, more longsuffering, more loving. Bill's story spurred me on in my own Christian race and inspired me with the simple truth that though my race won't be easy--in many ways it will be as hard as his through-hike was--it most definitely will be worthwhile.
Blind Courage: Journey of Faith is not the first to use a race, or in this case, a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail, as an analogy for the Christian life. The Pilgrim's Progress does this, of course, as do many other books. But just because this analogy has been done before doesn't nullify the value of this book. On the contrary, Bill's book, co-written by Dave McCasland (which is how I found it), unobtrusively and plainly, inspired me to keep on running my own Christain race.
A lot of this book is what you would expect. Bill describes difficult days on the trial, over rocky terrain or during bleak weather or when he can't find his way. Bill is blind, and his Seeing Eye dog, Orient, a German shepherd, is an amazing navigator, using first his sense of smell (with which Orient can sniff out a stream well before anyone can even hear it), then his sense of hearing, and finally his sense of sight. Even though his sense of sight is third down the list, Bill says Orient learned to follow the white blazes along the trail. At the end of the trial, a group of people hiking with Bill inadvertently traveled down a side trail, marked with blue blazes; no one noticed except for Orient, who slowed his step. Bill, knowing his dog's way of communicating, said something was wrong, which helped the group discover they had wandered off the AT. As Bill put it a couple of times in the book, "God leads Orient and Orient leads me."
One time in Brownsville Junction, Maine, Bill was looking for a place to stay and found a local pastor willing to let him, Orient, and Art Batchelder (AB Positive) sleep in the church. The pastor wondered if they could arrange to pick up and return Bill to the trail the following Sunday so that he could give the children's moment. Bill agreed, and the next Sunday, Bill gave a very simple and beautiful children's message:
I held up a white blaze on a piece of construction paper and told [the children] how the hikers on the Appalachian Trail followed the marks on the trees and rocks. They were the only directions a person needed to get all the way from Georgia to Maine.... But, I said, if a person ignored these white marks, they wouldn't do him a bit of good. Then I asked, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was that easy to find our way in life? You'd just follow the blazes from one goal to the next.' [The children] agreed, and I told them that God had marked the trail for us — His blazes were in the Bible. (177)So, Bill's hike is a powerful analogy of the race each Christian must run. Along with the pastor in Brownsville Junction, Bill tells stories about many, many people who helped him along the trail. About this Bill makes two points. First, he said he'd have never been able to finish without all their help. This "trail magic," as it has come to be called on the AT, is analogous to our Christian race: we can never finish our race without help, first from the Holy Spirit, then by those led by the Holy Spirit (think of Ananias for Paul, for example). Second, Bill said that some people long for the escape of the trail too much--they want to experience "trail magic" forever and never go back to the hard realities of life. To these people, Bill urges them to face their demons with the power Jesus Christ provides. That is the only way to move on in life.
Finally, near the end of his through-hike, Bill remarks that he is sad that this "unrepeatable chapter" of his life is drawing to an end. Although he plainly states he won't miss the pain of stretching himself daily for eight months, suffering from heat, cold, rain, snow, hunger, exhaustation, near-hypothermia, etc., Bill will in some ways miss the journey. He'll miss the "trail magic," of course, and the times of reflection with himself, Orient, and God. But he says the trail has changed him; it has made him more forgiving, better able to bear with the annoying but ultimately innocuous behavior of others. In this sense, too, Bill's journey is analogous to the race every Christian must run, for along the way God makes us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ, more forgiving, more longsuffering, more loving. Bill's story spurred me on in my own Christian race and inspired me with the simple truth that though my race won't be easy--in many ways it will be as hard as his through-hike was--it most definitely will be worthwhile.
September 17, 2020
I read this, as my interest has grown in long distance hiking. When I heard about Bill's incredible story and journey, I immediately ordered a copy off the interwebz. I absolutely adore this story. I am a HUGE dog lover and love hiking and being outdoors, so this book ticked a lot of boxes for me. The story itself is incredible, on it's own merits, but the book is well written and easy to read. Bill is humble and funny. Orient (his seeing eye dog) is an adorable and loveable character in the book and Bill's special relationship with Orient brought tears to my eyes on many occasions. The story is tough and about a tough journey and you feel every bump along the way. Bill's determination is fierce and it always left me wanting to keep reading. It was one of those books that is hard to put down. The ending is powerful and fulfilling. I'm so very glad I found this inspirational story. Much of Bill's story revolves around his growth through his hardships of being blind and how his relationship with God turned his life around and sent him down the path to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. I will likely read this story again and sure hope they make this into a movie. It is absolutely incredible and an easy quick and rewarding read. Enjoy.
October 31, 2017
An amazing story of grace and faith
I would really like to rate the Kindle version of this book as 4&7/8. On each place the thought of "you just have to stand back up one time more than you fall down". But the addition of a strong faith made the story a wonderful read. Some people believe everything that happens to them is either luck or coincidence. I beg to differ and so does bill Irwin. Bill " sees" God's hand in every thing that happens around him. A blockage on the trail mat be hard to pass, but it might be a delay from God that will keep him just out of danger's reach soon after. I see the same in my life and appreciate that a blind man sees things the same way.
My main dislike for the kindle version is the frequent and constant typos, misspellings, and word errors. I am convinced that someone at Amazon is quickly scanning an actual book and the computer is doing its best to digitize the text. It makes a lot of errors. Now is substituted for Know about half the time and several other words are replaced by incorrect words throughout.
I would really like to rate the Kindle version of this book as 4&7/8. On each place the thought of "you just have to stand back up one time more than you fall down". But the addition of a strong faith made the story a wonderful read. Some people believe everything that happens to them is either luck or coincidence. I beg to differ and so does bill Irwin. Bill " sees" God's hand in every thing that happens around him. A blockage on the trail mat be hard to pass, but it might be a delay from God that will keep him just out of danger's reach soon after. I see the same in my life and appreciate that a blind man sees things the same way.
My main dislike for the kindle version is the frequent and constant typos, misspellings, and word errors. I am convinced that someone at Amazon is quickly scanning an actual book and the computer is doing its best to digitize the text. It makes a lot of errors. Now is substituted for Know about half the time and several other words are replaced by incorrect words throughout.
May 28, 2020
I enjoyed reading yet another story of someone thru hiking the Appalachian Trail. This time, it was a man without sight, and his guide dog. I vaguely remembered hearing about him at the time he did his hike. I had assumed he did it with another hiking partner besides Orient, his dog. This is far from the truth. Having hiked a couple very small portions of the AT, including the northern terminus at Mt. Katahdin, I can't imagine the personal strength it takes to hike the trail, end to end. Let alone accomplishing the feat without sight. As many of these stories do, this one has significant religious overtones. While I am not religious myself, I can appreciate the faith many hikers exhibit while they make their journeys. The writing is well done, and I am happy to add this to my collection of hiking tales.
July 21, 2020
After hearing of Bill, the blind hiker who walked the A.T. in its entirety, I knew I had to read his story. It can seem an unfathomable adventure even for an athletic and sighted person, which made the tale that more alluring. However this book was more about Bills fortitude of faith and the Lord being the driving force for his trek over 2,000+ miles of wilderness and solitude. It was unfortunate because I was more interested in his trail experience, which you certainly get a flavor of, but not as much as I had hoped. It was an inspiring story for which I was grateful to read and shortly after completing the story, my family and I walked a few miles of the A.T. at Rattle River trailhead.
January 27, 2022
“People began treating me differently and I hated it. Often, when I ate with friends in a restaurant, the waitress would take everyone’s order but mine, then ask someone at my table, “And what will he have?” Usually, I would look at her and say, “If you’ll ask him, he’ll tell you what he wants.” Just because I couldn’t read the menu didn’t mean I was incapable of ordering for myself. What was just as annoying was that people began speaking louder when they talked to me. Did they think that I was deaf, too? Helen Keller said that, “not blindness, but the attitude of the seeing to the blind is the hardest burden to bear.” I agree.” pg. 27
May 30, 2025
Bill Irwin had a rough childhood and early adulthood. He made some bad choices in life, became an alcoholic, and had a terrible relationship with his children. He also had a degenerative disease in his eyes and lost his sight. With the grace of God he learns to be a better man. As part of his Christian journey, Bill feels God is calling him to hike the 2,000+ mile Appalachian Trail. So he and his seeing-eye dog Orient have a six-month adventure in the mountains. We get to hear about his journey, the lessons he learned, and all the people who helped him along the way. The flow of the book was sometimes disjointed, but the meat of the story was very good.
November 27, 2020
When I first heard of the premise of Bill Irwin's story, I hesitated to believe it was true. As I read his account in Blind Courage I was astonished, impressed, and inspired at his great feat of hiking the Appalachian Trail as a blind man. I also appreciated the time spent explaining his background, conversion, and spiritual impetus for embarking on the journey. His account is by no means exhaustive, but it gives a good look into the shape of his experiences along the trail.
February 21, 2017
An amazing and inspirational story of a blind man and his seeing eye dog, Orient, hiking the Appalachian Trail. The hardships of getting thru the trail were lightened by other hikers and Bill Irwin's faith in that he was doing what God had led him to do. A story that defines determination in following God's path, even tho you know you will be floundering - if not failing.
June 29, 2017
Bill Irwin is a blind man who hikes the Appalachian Trail with his dog Orient. I heard about him many years ago, and when I found out that he had written a book about his adventure I was so excited.
I think that the writing could have been better, but the story lives up to the title.
I think that the writing could have been better, but the story lives up to the title.
May 7, 2019
Interesting read! I picked up the book because hiking the entire AT is quite the feat for him to accomplish. However, there were several chapters where I was left feeling uncomfortable about the seeing eye dog being put in extremely challenging situations that went above and beyond his training.
October 7, 2019
It's hard to believe this blind man hiked the Appalachian Trail. I was sometimes uncomfortable with the things the dog was made to do but overall, an impressive feat. I enjoyed the Christian overtones and his back stories.
October 13, 2020
Amazing story of faith, friendships and courage. What a great testament to the resilience of the human spirit as well as his dog guide, Orient’s. Good, easy read that will lift anyone’s spirits and make you want to go hiking.
November 13, 2020
I really enjoyed this book for its description of the AT and the experience of Bill as he comes to terms with his blindness and impact on his life. I also appreciated his relationship with God and his journey of faith.
May 2, 2023
inspirational and great read!
I enjoyed reading this book. It’s amazing that this is a true story. I felt truly inspired. I found myself wanting to know more about Bill Irwin and thr Appalachian Trail.
I enjoyed reading this book. It’s amazing that this is a true story. I felt truly inspired. I found myself wanting to know more about Bill Irwin and thr Appalachian Trail.
January 29, 2018
One of my truly favorite reads.
October 24, 2018
Excellent book about following God through the good, the bad, and the ugly. I really enjoyed the book.
January 23, 2020
Great book.
Very inspirational book. It is amazing what a person can accomplish with the help of God. For anyone let alone a blind man to complete the AT is simply amazing.
Very inspirational book. It is amazing what a person can accomplish with the help of God. For anyone let alone a blind man to complete the AT is simply amazing.
August 3, 2020
If you love the AT this is a book for you. I’m inspired and in awe of Bill Irwin and I want to read more about the people that hike the AT!
April 8, 2021
Excellent
Loved every page. Intriguing story full of uplifting moments. I love hearing God’s message and seeing Gods hand throughout the story.
Loved every page. Intriguing story full of uplifting moments. I love hearing God’s message and seeing Gods hand throughout the story.
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