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A Short Walk to the Edge of Life: How My Simple Adventure Became a Dance with Death--and Taught Me What Really Matters
"They say I'm crazy. That's OK. I'm just curious and determined."
—From Scott Hubbartt's diary, November 2, 2011
How Could He Possibly Make It Out Alive?
It was supposed to be a simple day hike. Scott Hubbartt was a military veteran with years of survival training. Everyone who knew him considered him an expert adventurer.
But Scott’s trek into the treacherous backcountry canyons of the Peruvian Andes turned into a desperate fight to survive after he became hopelessly lost. As his eight-hour hike lengthened into days, Scott faced dehydration, hunger, and exhaustion. And that’s when his true journey began.
Chronicling the failures and miracles of a remarkable physical and spiritual passage, A Short Walk to the Edge of Life is the gripping, true story of a man who had to come to the end of himself before he could find his way home.
- GenresNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2014
4 people are currently reading
274 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 31, 2016
What an incredible adventure – or, I suppose, more aptly, misadventure. I could not put it down. Scott Hubbartt’s A Short Walk to the Edge of Life captures my attention because I love to hike – with my fair share of misadventures – yet none of my experiences have come anywhere near this epic. It boggles my mind to think of an eight-hour hike becoming a five-day trek, yet it happened to Hubbartt – and now he has a crazy, thought-provoking testament to God’s miraculous power and peace. A Short Walk to the Edge of Life is an engaging and enthralling read, serving as a great reminder of how God chooses to use faults and failures for greater, glorious purposes. Even now, He shows Himself in the wilderness, in the face of weakness. A truly powerful, captivating story. I definitely recommend A Short Walk to the Edge of Life, and I thank the Blogging for Books program for providing me with a free copy of the book in exchange for a review.
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January 3, 2019
Thought provoking
I enjoyed this book. The way Scott looks at life is refreshing. Hopes and dreams live in us all ....but how we handle our roadblocks and realities are different for each of us. In his time alone he sees life in a new way. ...and now views life a little differently.
I enjoyed this book. The way Scott looks at life is refreshing. Hopes and dreams live in us all ....but how we handle our roadblocks and realities are different for each of us. In his time alone he sees life in a new way. ...and now views life a little differently.
March 20, 2023
The list of things that go wrong for Scott Hubbartt, in his memoir A Short Walk to the Edge of Life, begins before he leaves his sister-in-law’s house in Trujillo, Peru. But a jacket left behind shouldn’t be a big deal for an eight-hour hike, should it? Hubbartt’s plan, with this trek through the desert section of the Andes mountains, is to retrace the steps of his Peruvian wife’s grandfather through the Altiplano to the village of Poroto and thus fulfill an item on his bucket list.
After a grueling bus ride to the trailhead, we accompany Hubbarrt into a moonscape world that includes desert-like extreme temperatures, punishing terrain, paths and ledges overgrown with vicious thorns and cacti, a trail discernible only by old mule droppings, oxygen-thin air, no food, but most dangerous, no water.
His ordeal stretches from the day hike he is expecting, into night, then day two, and on. He is soon forced to dig deep physically, relying on survival skills learned during the Gulf War. But even those aren’t enough. As he feels death creep ever closer, he examines his relationship to God. Is he ready to die? What has his life meant? Why should God answer his demanding, to desperate, to panicked prayers for help and a miracle?
Hubbartt’s detailed, well-written memoir was, for me, a trip of discovery to a part of South America I knew little about. His story, especially the spiritual aspect, reinforced my faith in God and His way of showing up, albeit in typical sovereign and without-human-explanation fashion. It also made me ask, how would I feel about the way I’ve spent my life if I was unexpectedly faced with death?
A Short Walk to the Edge of Life is an engrossing and quick read. I recommend it to all lovers of memoir. It’s also a great human-against-the-elements story and as such would appeal to readers, especially guys, who like adventure that takes them to the limits of physical endurance.
I received A Short Walk to the Edge of Life as a gift from the publisher and Blogging for Books for the purpose of writing a review.
I reread this book in 2023. Enjoyed it again the second time.
After a grueling bus ride to the trailhead, we accompany Hubbarrt into a moonscape world that includes desert-like extreme temperatures, punishing terrain, paths and ledges overgrown with vicious thorns and cacti, a trail discernible only by old mule droppings, oxygen-thin air, no food, but most dangerous, no water.
His ordeal stretches from the day hike he is expecting, into night, then day two, and on. He is soon forced to dig deep physically, relying on survival skills learned during the Gulf War. But even those aren’t enough. As he feels death creep ever closer, he examines his relationship to God. Is he ready to die? What has his life meant? Why should God answer his demanding, to desperate, to panicked prayers for help and a miracle?
Hubbartt’s detailed, well-written memoir was, for me, a trip of discovery to a part of South America I knew little about. His story, especially the spiritual aspect, reinforced my faith in God and His way of showing up, albeit in typical sovereign and without-human-explanation fashion. It also made me ask, how would I feel about the way I’ve spent my life if I was unexpectedly faced with death?
A Short Walk to the Edge of Life is an engrossing and quick read. I recommend it to all lovers of memoir. It’s also a great human-against-the-elements story and as such would appeal to readers, especially guys, who like adventure that takes them to the limits of physical endurance.
I received A Short Walk to the Edge of Life as a gift from the publisher and Blogging for Books for the purpose of writing a review.
I reread this book in 2023. Enjoyed it again the second time.
June 26, 2014
Wow. I just finished this book and it is an instant favorite. I need to let it sink in before I post my review....
Okay, it sunk in now.
I love true accounts of people LITERALLY being saved by prayer and/or their faith. One of my top five books is Left To Tell, written by a woman who survived the Rwandan genocide through multiple evidences of divine intervention. This story was in that same vein. I found myself highlighting every part of the book where Scott prayed for help from God, where and how those prayers were answered, and where he realized and accepted that God was in charge, and His will be done. I highlighted so much that instead of going back and re-reading those parts before writing this review, I will just say, 'Read it.' If you want some proof that He exists, this book will get you started in the right direction.
The fact that Scott is a chaplin yet he also struggled with faith issues was somewhat responsible for my trust that his story is true. He asked for help, he asked for guidance, but until he began listening for answers, nothing was working for him. Now the quiet of his desolation was forcing him to listen. Even on what could very well have been his last day on earth, he followed the signs he received and backtracked two miles down a mountain that had taken almost every ounce of his strength to climb, knowing that it may be for nothing and he would have to find the strength to climb up that same mountain once again. He literally trusted God with his very survival, and everything that came next happened because of making those choices.
This book also appealed to my love of survival shows like Survivorman, Dual Survivor, Man vs Wild, etc. I learned from these shows, and now I was vicariously experiencing an extreme worst case scenario through Scott's story. I knew he was way past the point that he should have survived without water. It is a true miracle that he made it.
FTC disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review.
Okay, it sunk in now.
I love true accounts of people LITERALLY being saved by prayer and/or their faith. One of my top five books is Left To Tell, written by a woman who survived the Rwandan genocide through multiple evidences of divine intervention. This story was in that same vein. I found myself highlighting every part of the book where Scott prayed for help from God, where and how those prayers were answered, and where he realized and accepted that God was in charge, and His will be done. I highlighted so much that instead of going back and re-reading those parts before writing this review, I will just say, 'Read it.' If you want some proof that He exists, this book will get you started in the right direction.
The fact that Scott is a chaplin yet he also struggled with faith issues was somewhat responsible for my trust that his story is true. He asked for help, he asked for guidance, but until he began listening for answers, nothing was working for him. Now the quiet of his desolation was forcing him to listen. Even on what could very well have been his last day on earth, he followed the signs he received and backtracked two miles down a mountain that had taken almost every ounce of his strength to climb, knowing that it may be for nothing and he would have to find the strength to climb up that same mountain once again. He literally trusted God with his very survival, and everything that came next happened because of making those choices.
This book also appealed to my love of survival shows like Survivorman, Dual Survivor, Man vs Wild, etc. I learned from these shows, and now I was vicariously experiencing an extreme worst case scenario through Scott's story. I knew he was way past the point that he should have survived without water. It is a true miracle that he made it.
FTC disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging For Books for this review.
June 25, 2015
This is a First Reads Review. This is horribly late, but I got really behind on reading. I think the story is intriguing and certainly Hubbartt when through a horribly scary ordeal. He was on one hand humble and honest that his pride led him to make mistakes which put him in the situation to begin with, but on the other hand, I have a lot of trouble with the statement that God saved him and I think that is a bit egotistical when we all are going to die at some point. God does not save us all.
I have issues with the religious aspects of the book and at times thought it was very "preachy". On one hand, Hubbartt talked about his decisions and then on the other he was saying God showed him the way and saved him. Which is it? Did you make the decisions or did God? I found the concept of Free Will to be confused here. Also, I do not believe that God interventions on daily lives of man, so I found the theory unbelievable. I do not believe in a God that allows one man to live when he made a stupid decision to travel in a desert without much water, but who allows hundreds of innocent people to die in a plane crash. I believe in our Free Will and that we make certain decisions and God does not intervene with the results.
As for the writing, I found the characterization to be lacking. Even though the main character is the author, characterization strategies should still be used to create empathy. Background was sporadic, unconnected, or too factual to create depth. Also, I found the frequent use of exclamation points to be distracting and it made the tone childish at times.
I am not taking away from Hubbartt's experience. I am sure it was a horribly scary story, and he is certainly a very brave man. I found the story, when taking my religious objections out of it, to be intriguing. It is very short which makes it a quick read, but this as I mentioned before was often at the expense of depth and characterization.
I have issues with the religious aspects of the book and at times thought it was very "preachy". On one hand, Hubbartt talked about his decisions and then on the other he was saying God showed him the way and saved him. Which is it? Did you make the decisions or did God? I found the concept of Free Will to be confused here. Also, I do not believe that God interventions on daily lives of man, so I found the theory unbelievable. I do not believe in a God that allows one man to live when he made a stupid decision to travel in a desert without much water, but who allows hundreds of innocent people to die in a plane crash. I believe in our Free Will and that we make certain decisions and God does not intervene with the results.
As for the writing, I found the characterization to be lacking. Even though the main character is the author, characterization strategies should still be used to create empathy. Background was sporadic, unconnected, or too factual to create depth. Also, I found the frequent use of exclamation points to be distracting and it made the tone childish at times.
I am not taking away from Hubbartt's experience. I am sure it was a horribly scary story, and he is certainly a very brave man. I found the story, when taking my religious objections out of it, to be intriguing. It is very short which makes it a quick read, but this as I mentioned before was often at the expense of depth and characterization.
October 26, 2014
A true story of an adventurous man. The problem was that his desire to explore outdid his preparation and even prayer for where he was heading. He unconsciously, I believe, put himself and his own fun above his family and his God. But God showed Himself at the right time. He learned an important lesson that he can share with others. A nice read. Christian, True, God Honoring
Good for Men, but I also enjoyed.
This book was provided free by Blogging for Books, Water Brook Press and is a fair review.
Good for Men, but I also enjoyed.
This book was provided free by Blogging for Books, Water Brook Press and is a fair review.
October 17, 2014
"A Short Walk" takes us to the stark beauty of the desert of Peru in all it's harshness. Hubbartt meant mortality and God on his long walk.
My copy came through Goodreads First Reads.
My copy came through Goodreads First Reads.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews