Happy Hiking: Falling in love on the Appalachian Trail

by Emily M. Leonard

Domestic goddess, Emily "Black Bear" Leonard leaves the comforts of her home to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Having never spent the night in the woods alone she is in store for a journey of a life time. Spending the last 20 years taking care of the house and kids while her husband, Bruce took care of the finances she was ready to do something for herself. The 2,189.2 miles of wilderness would give her more than she expected. Life lessons, faith encounters, highs and lows, and even romance were just some of the gifts the trail gave her. Be ready to laugh and cry from Georgia to Maine as you hike with Emily on her journey through fourteen states.

346 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 24, 2021

Reviews

[Mikayla Upcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a self-published book, this was fabulous! Emily Leonard is from the same area I am, and I loved reading about her adventures hiking the Appalachian Trail! It was inspiring, and I think hiking at least the Maine portion of the AT will be on my bucket list now.

[Christine Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily brings us along on her AT thruhike— but her journey is not your typical woman goes off into the woods alone and finds herself. Her hike was fully supported by her loving husband who get pulled into the adventure with her. She tells of how her hike becomes theirs and how his constant support in life and on the trail makes all things possible. Really lovely.

[James S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s All There

I enjoyed reliving my own Appalachian trail through hike through Emily or should I say Black Bear‘s journey. It’s all there: the physical, mental, & emotional, challenges. More importantly her spiritual journey and growth through those challenges was explained.

I also felt she captured some of the emotions that through Hikers feel as they near the end of the journey in the following quote: “As much as I wanted to be done, I had a flickering thought of climbing the summit in two days then turning around and doing the book (guide book) backward for a southbound hike, also known as a yo-yo. But that’s all it was, a tiny flicker of thought that burned out as fast as it ignited. At that moment, though, through all my misery, I now understood why some hikers actually do just that.“ I bought it on the Kindle for myself. I will buy several more as gifts. Also you should try and enjoy the movie Walking Home available on YouTube. The author is one of the featured characters in that video of a northbound Appalachian through hike.

[Brian Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun easy read and provided some good general knowledge about the trail. At times, I did struggle with her and judgment creeped in, but I did take her advice and cast that judgment aside. In particular, I was judging the amount of slack packing, but again, taking her words, I cast it aside and realized who am I to judge how she hikes - it’s her hike. I applaud her for the change she experienced and appreciate her sharing it. The best compliment I can give is that it added to the fuel of my desire to accomplish the trail in some form.

[Benjamin Barr,]

This was an interesting approach to the hiking of the AT in writing the book. I have met the author at least twice now. I enjoyed it and gained a lot of perspective of what it often entails in completing (or even hiking various sections) of the AT.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been one of my favorite AT books… and I’ve read A LOT of them!