What do you think?
Rate this book
Great Hiking Trails of the World: 80 Trails, 75,000 Miles, 38 Countries, 6 Continents
FOREWORD INDIES Book of the Year Awards — 2017 GOLD Winner for Nature
A hiker’s dream bucket list is embodied in this lavishly illustrated celebration of more than eighty of the world’s most iconic trails.
Celebrating the most important, popular, and diverse hiking trails in the world, this book invites readers to take a walking tour through the planet’s natural wonders. Divided into six sections, the book groups trails by pilgrimages, historic hikes, mountain hikes, wilderness trails, trails through diverse environments, and long-distance trails. From Mount Kenya to subarctic hikes in Scandinavia, and from exotic hikes in the Himalayas to more familiar trails in the United States and Canada, this book invites readers to explore the history, environment, and cultures of the world on foot.
Each featured trail has its own section, with a map and photo gallery focusing on what makes it one of the most magnificent hiking trails anywhere in the world. Included are detailed descriptions and trail highlights. This book is perfect for anyone interested in conservation, outdoor recreation, or the myriad ways that walking through a landscape is an intimate exploration of its soul.
A hiker’s dream bucket list is embodied in this lavishly illustrated celebration of more than eighty of the world’s most iconic trails.
Celebrating the most important, popular, and diverse hiking trails in the world, this book invites readers to take a walking tour through the planet’s natural wonders. Divided into six sections, the book groups trails by pilgrimages, historic hikes, mountain hikes, wilderness trails, trails through diverse environments, and long-distance trails. From Mount Kenya to subarctic hikes in Scandinavia, and from exotic hikes in the Himalayas to more familiar trails in the United States and Canada, this book invites readers to explore the history, environment, and cultures of the world on foot.
Each featured trail has its own section, with a map and photo gallery focusing on what makes it one of the most magnificent hiking trails anywhere in the world. Included are detailed descriptions and trail highlights. This book is perfect for anyone interested in conservation, outdoor recreation, or the myriad ways that walking through a landscape is an intimate exploration of its soul.
- GenresTravelNatureNonfiction
336 pages, Hardcover
Published September 26, 2017
2 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Karen Berger
48 books10 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Karen Berger, author of the best-selling Hiking and Backpacking: A Trailside Guide, has hiked over 15,000 miles, including the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail.
Karen Berger is a pianist on the faculty of the Berkshire Music School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was an editor of The Instrumentalist, Clavier, and Accent on Music magazines and received the Ed Press Distinguished Achievement Award. She s the author of eleven books, including seven how-to books. She wrote three titles in the best-selling Trailside Guide series, including Hiking and Backpacking, which has sold over 150,000 copies.
Karen Berger, author of the best-selling Hiking and Backpacking: A Trailside Guide, has hiked over 15,000 miles, including the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail.
Karen Berger is a pianist on the faculty of the Berkshire Music School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was an editor of The Instrumentalist, Clavier, and Accent on Music magazines and received the Ed Press Distinguished Achievement Award. She s the author of eleven books, including seven how-to books. She wrote three titles in the best-selling Trailside Guide series, including Hiking and Backpacking, which has sold over 150,000 copies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 18, 2021
Another fantastic book of worlds best hikes for my bedside table! The perfect escape - dreaming of hikes around the world.
Love how this one is arranged, starting with Pilgrimages - and the first being Camino De Santiago De Compostela, one on my list for a long time.
Love how this one is arranged, starting with Pilgrimages - and the first being Camino De Santiago De Compostela, one on my list for a long time.
Read
March 30, 2020Very informative and has a wide range of hikes, although many of them are in the USA. The American Hiking Society did contribute, though, so it's understandable. The photos of the trails are amazing, and the layout is very good too. Lots of great information and gives some really good ideas.
May 10, 2019
I would call Karen Berger's "Great Hiking Trails of the World" a "coffee table dream guide" as it can serve as a great tool for prioritizing your epic hikes. The title of the books is a bit misleading as it really only focuses on 35 hikes. The other 45 only get one paragraph each, which may not be enough information for making your list. Of these 35 longer reviews, there is just the right amount of information.
As the author notes, her selections are a bit eclectic. Mt. Kenya gets a full review, while Mt. Kilimanjaro gets only a paragraph. I hiked Mt. Kenya two years ago and found Berger's review to be accurate and sufficient. The author is quite right that Mt. Kenya is unfairly overlooked because it is 2,000 feet shorter than Kilimanjaro, even though it is more beautiful, much less crowded, and the wildlife much more diverse. Of course, the best solution is to do them both!
"Great Hiking Trails" has several minor short-comings. The book is long on beautiful photographs, but rather short when it comes to practical information about the actual hikes. The only maps are continental in scope to show the distribution of the hikes in the world. Since the book is organized by theme (such as pilgrimages and peaks) rather than region, the maps would be more useful if they included page numbers.
The best way to overcome these shortcomings is to also get Peter Potterfield's "Classic Hikes of the World." His book is shorter but goes into much more detail about each of his 23 selections. There is also surprisingly little overlap between the two books. For example, he has a detailed review of Kilimanjaro.
As the author notes, her selections are a bit eclectic. Mt. Kenya gets a full review, while Mt. Kilimanjaro gets only a paragraph. I hiked Mt. Kenya two years ago and found Berger's review to be accurate and sufficient. The author is quite right that Mt. Kenya is unfairly overlooked because it is 2,000 feet shorter than Kilimanjaro, even though it is more beautiful, much less crowded, and the wildlife much more diverse. Of course, the best solution is to do them both!
"Great Hiking Trails" has several minor short-comings. The book is long on beautiful photographs, but rather short when it comes to practical information about the actual hikes. The only maps are continental in scope to show the distribution of the hikes in the world. Since the book is organized by theme (such as pilgrimages and peaks) rather than region, the maps would be more useful if they included page numbers.
The best way to overcome these shortcomings is to also get Peter Potterfield's "Classic Hikes of the World." His book is shorter but goes into much more detail about each of his 23 selections. There is also surprisingly little overlap between the two books. For example, he has a detailed review of Kilimanjaro.
June 3, 2021
Many of these these trails I will never see or hike, so it was spectacular to be able to view their beauty and magnificence in a book. I'd love to consult this again in retirement to plot out one of the longer walks when I have the time--like the England Coastal Path!
December 14, 2017
Gorgeous pictures, wonderful hiking trails. Makes me want to be outdoors now. However its more of a coffee table type book. The text meanders as you would on a trail. Still enjoyable.
March 11, 2018
I didn't read every entry in this fine and irresistible book, but if you are in the least interested in hiking you won't want to miss this one. Very beautiful and informative.
May 8, 2018
My wife checked this out and I picked it up for a quick read. Beautiful pictures of trails around the world. I have walked parts of several trails in the USA and one in New Zealand.
Read
February 25, 2022Awesome book. I want to hike all those trails.
September 15, 2019
I'm only 100 pages into this book, but it is so beautiful and well written that I already love it. It gives me the travel itch.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews