Weird Hikes: A Collection of Bizarre, Funny, and Absolutely True Hiking Stories

by Art Bernstein

Art Bernstein's tales of the strange-but-true events that occur on a hiking trail--or just while trying to find one--cover ground from Juneau, Alaska to the Florida Everglades. These 13 (well, 14--but two happened on the same hike) tales of unexplained phenomena, mythical beasts, and just-plain Weird Hikes are sure to entertain avid hikers and the people who love them.
Entertaining, thought-provoking, and funny, this collection of essays is the result of a lifetime of hiking and an inspiration for readers to get out and experience their own Weird Hikes .

Genres: Nonfiction

247 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Rabidbadger]

You'd think this book would be about actually WEIRD things that happened to Mr. Bernstein, but it's more about like... just weird thoughts he was having while hiking in various states of exhaustion and dehydration. There's no ghosts, aliens, giant bears or even Bigfoot in this book. The closest he comes to such weirdness is when he thought he got bitten by a snake, or when a herd of deer kept him awake all night.

No, this book actually focuses far more on things like "I was so busy thinking about how crazy Jack was that I missed the marker for the orange trail and hiked 5 miles out of the way! By the time I got back to my car it was dark and my flashlight was going very dim!"

This book is a lot like my reviews actually.

[Alli Tuttle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was gifted this book.
I skipped ahead and read Hike Ten, set in Juneau, AK, which is where I live. This chapter left me very doubtful that anyone fact-checked this writing whatsoever. From inaccurate descriptions of landmarks and plant life to complete fallacies regarding the presence of dangerous wildlife, this writing convinced me that the other chapters would not be worthwhile to read. The writing pertaining to the native population seemed borderline at best, using outdated terminology and accentuating stereotypes. The state office building is not built into a cliff, Mt. Roberts is not a jagged, heavily-glaciated peak, and grizzly bears are infrequent visitors of Juneau (especially in the area the author hiked). Most confusing of all, the author mistakes a salmonberry, which looks like a yellow-orange raspberry, with a toxic baneberry. These berries do not resemble each other in the slightest. Furthermore, he changes his description later in the story and says he thought it was a blackberry. I do not find this weird, but rather a complete lack of foresight. No one should attempt foraging for wild berries in an unfamiliar area without knowledge of plant identification or a guidebook.

[Richard Crater · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a hiker and backpacker, I could relate to the stories and could visualize the different situations. Some of the stories were pretty good, some so-so, but they all took me outdoors.

[Suzannah Hoppe-washburn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where were the hikes? Ugh

[Bret Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories! Good read! Really enjoyed it!

[Roxton Malone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is actually more a memoir than a collection of hiking anecdotes. Though each chapter does indeed relate the strange, often surreal, sometimes downright hallucinatory hiking experiences author Art Bernstein has had, they also provide a spectrum of his life and American times.

Bernstein does focus too much on details of things like the species of the trees that were around on a particular to allow the narrative to remain consistently engaging--I often resorted to skimming through sentences and full paragraphs--though I imagine the true hiking enthusiast will be pleased.

Some chapters are obvious filler, but a handful are pure classic. This book certainly is an original.

Sadly, Bernstein's humor-infused musings on his life take a depressing turn in the final chapter or two.

It's too bad I cannot rate this book chapter by chapter, because then you would see anything from a five-star rave to a one-star riffing. Altogether, I have to say that "Weird Hikes" is just okay.

[Charles Bame · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very conservative friend gave me this book with the warning that she found it to be "pagan" and "liberal". Now that I've finished it, I'm still not quite sure what she meant. There was some mention of drug use by the author's friends in college -- that may have been the reason,....?

I found it to be a very entertaining book, for the most part. I enjoyed the author's style: Each chapter has a short introduction, then sections describing the background and setting for each hike, then a description of the actual hike.

Some of the hikes were, indeed, "weird," some stretched my credulity quite a bit, some were just,...interesting. One of the latter was, by the author's admission, a work of fiction.

I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to any hiking enthusiast.

[Jess Haberman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The newly released second edition is a definite improvement on the first edition. The stories carried over from the previous edition are tighter and less rambling. The new stories are interesting too. Bizarre is the best word for this book (and the author!) and there is a bit more spookiness about it too. A couple stories in particular gave me a good shiver. A fun collection of stories you will not find anywhere else!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up used for some light summer reading, I usually grab ghost stories, tales of bigfoot, etc. There are some cool places mentioned and some vaguely supernatural happenings, but this is more hiking than wierd.

[Chris Davidge · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice fun read..especially if your are staying at a remote cabin in the woods and hiking for the weekend