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Walking Woodstock: Journeys into the Wild Heart of America's Most Famous Small Town
At a poetry gathering one evening, Michael Perkins and Will Nixon decided to walk across Woodstock, not just the modern town of busy roads but the older village of bluestone quarries, abandoned forest paths, and mountain views they had all to themselves.
Walking Woodstock collects their adventures, many first published in the Woodstock Times, that ranged from the delights of finding spring flowers to the fears of a mountain rescue. Full of humor, history, friendship, nature, hikers' lore, and walkers' musings, these journeys reveal the wild heart that beats in all of us when we set forth to explore our home terrain on foot.
"The Hudson Valley has produced some of the great peregrinations of our time, most notably by John Burroughs, an inveterate walker. Add Michael Perkins and Will Nixon to the list-these are charming essays, some of them with a bit more bite than you'd guess!"
-Bill McKibben, Wandering Home
"Here is an insider's book of Woodstock trails, with good stories on 'lost roads,' cairns, forgotten history, and above all-walking. If this inspired book doesn't get us up and out and walking, nothing will."
-Gioia Timpanelli, What Makes a Child Lucky
"Far more than yet another trail guide. This forest historian reviewer has only a limited familiarity with the Woodstock area. For those sites he has not yet visited, Perkins' and Nixon's essays have created the reaction: 'I want to go!
I want to see these places! Take me there!'"
-Michael Kudish, The Catskill Forest: A History
"No more informed, energized, cantankerous and amiable company could be found than these two foot soldiers of field and stream. Let them guide you where they go. And feel free to follow in their footsteps."
-Spider Barbour, Wild Flora of the Northeast
Walking Woodstock collects their adventures, many first published in the Woodstock Times, that ranged from the delights of finding spring flowers to the fears of a mountain rescue. Full of humor, history, friendship, nature, hikers' lore, and walkers' musings, these journeys reveal the wild heart that beats in all of us when we set forth to explore our home terrain on foot.
"The Hudson Valley has produced some of the great peregrinations of our time, most notably by John Burroughs, an inveterate walker. Add Michael Perkins and Will Nixon to the list-these are charming essays, some of them with a bit more bite than you'd guess!"
-Bill McKibben, Wandering Home
"Here is an insider's book of Woodstock trails, with good stories on 'lost roads,' cairns, forgotten history, and above all-walking. If this inspired book doesn't get us up and out and walking, nothing will."
-Gioia Timpanelli, What Makes a Child Lucky
"Far more than yet another trail guide. This forest historian reviewer has only a limited familiarity with the Woodstock area. For those sites he has not yet visited, Perkins' and Nixon's essays have created the reaction: 'I want to go!
I want to see these places! Take me there!'"
-Michael Kudish, The Catskill Forest: A History
"No more informed, energized, cantankerous and amiable company could be found than these two foot soldiers of field and stream. Let them guide you where they go. And feel free to follow in their footsteps."
-Spider Barbour, Wild Flora of the Northeast
236 pages, Paperback
First published December 23, 2012
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November 16, 2017
Our family loves Woodstock, NY, but we don't know it intimately. It is a place for the occasional day trip or weekend overnight. Despite not being able to walk or even visualize most of the routes and trails described here, this was such an enjoyable read. Both authors have straightforward, accessible voices and their enthusiasm for simply being out in nature and discovering new things is palpable. A pleasurable read that awakens curiosity and makes me want to look at the world more closely.
Displaying 1 of 1 review