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The Thousand-Mile Summer in desert and high sierra
Some only dream of escape from stress and monotony - Colin Fletcher did it. Here then is his lively account of a 6-month solitary walk which took him along the backbone of California. He traversed its wildest areas, off the beaten path, through the arid desert, through the salt flats of Death Valley. He climbed to the summit of 14,246 foot White Mountain, then zig-zagged up a long stretch of the High Sierra. All along the trail he covered great tracts of the state unknown to most of its inhabitants. Illustrated with many excellent photographs by the author, The Thousand Mile Summer, In Desert and High Sierra, makes for exhilarating reading, yet induces a marvelous sense of tranquility. Perhaps some readers will swing a 50-lb pack onto their backs and emulate his vigorous outdoor experience. The others will, nonetheless, vicariously derive the benefits Mr. Fletcher so deftly describes - a new perspective and zest of life.
207 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1964
6 people are currently reading
1120 people want to read
About the author
Colin Fletcher
72 books49 followersColin Fletcher was a pioneering backpacker and writer.
In 1963, Fletcher became the first to walk the length of Grand Canyon entirely within the rim of the canyon "in one go" — only second to complete the entire journey — as chronicled in his bestselling 1967 memoir The Man Who Walked Through Time. Through his influential hiker's guide, The Complete Walker, published the same year, he became a kind of "spiritual godfather" of the wilderness backpacking movement. Through successive editions, this book became the definitive work on the topic, and was christened "the Hiker's Bible" by Field and Stream magazine.
In 1963, Fletcher became the first to walk the length of Grand Canyon entirely within the rim of the canyon "in one go" — only second to complete the entire journey — as chronicled in his bestselling 1967 memoir The Man Who Walked Through Time. Through his influential hiker's guide, The Complete Walker, published the same year, he became a kind of "spiritual godfather" of the wilderness backpacking movement. Through successive editions, this book became the definitive work on the topic, and was christened "the Hiker's Bible" by Field and Stream magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
July 28, 2021
This was a life changing story book for two people, my 10th grade biology teacher Bill and me whom he referred this book. Here's the amazing fact about this book. Fletcher made this trip in 1958. And the second fact is that it does not follow the Pacific Crest Trail. So I read this book about 12 or so years after Fletcher had authored his three major books this one (I own a hard bound), The Complete Walker: The Joys and Techniques of Hiking and Backpacking (Colin's now somewhat dated how-to book), and The Man Who Walked Thru Time (which I would read later for a college class, not quite my cuppa tea).
By this time Fletcher had put in TV appearances on National Geographic programs walking through the Death Valley in summer time (logistical support by buried 5 gallon jugs of water, now people, of course run marathons and over to Mt. Whitney). These stunts were more for the audience.
Colin's path was further East of the Pacific Crest, starting closer to Yuma, AZ, along the highest points of the White Mountains, and through Mojave (not necessarily during hottest periods). And finally cresting along the tops of the far NE CA in the more obscure Warner Mountains near Alturas. This is not a PCT through hike. Much of Fletcher's walking is along side roads. He turns down numerous offers for rides. American drivers clearly wondered whether this was an insane Englishman.
In decades past, after one attempt, while still in high school, to write Colin email, I'd visit the Whites, the Warners, the Mojave, and the very border crossing where Fletcher started. The gate has become a more beefed up station. A parking lot of the near-by Indian tribe casino and the gringos walking across for cheap dental and medical work have changed this historic area (All American Canal) which begat the Salton Sea.
Many people go up White Mtn Peak (for work), it has a road for the UC research station which I did a tiny bit of work, caused me to buy an Isuzu Trooper for its performance (my test drive of sorts; a great vehicle). Fletcher had to deal with logistics decades before the popularity of PCT through hikes and the support of the PCT Association.
The book's pace gets sparse the further North Colin goes. I, too have driven, walked portions of trails, and even overflown this area (ever land at Rivendale? I have). One town renamed itself Likely in 1987 (3 decades after Colin's walk. I had never even heard of the Warner Mountains until I saw distant alpenglow when driving some place SE of Mt. Shasta (the volcano not the town). I would finally screw up motivation to go visit it's county high point (that's someone else's book). A person can still live and visit portions, but not quite in the same way.
For me, it would be some time before Fletcher wrote a book again of this stature, River: One Man's Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea. Summer is a 5 star book for me for how it changed me. Sure, it's not for the urban interested person or up there with great literary works of say Steinbeck and Hemingway or J. R. Rowling.
That tree in the photo of Colin taking his starting steps is still there. And it's grown. That same tree. The more obscure Warner Mountains has to its farthest North limits, to the Oregon border at least, another tree where Colin carved his mark. This is a tree I've yet to see.
2021 note (See separate note on finish to Colin's trip). 2012 when I wrote the above was when Cheryl Strayed wrote Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail when I also did the Mt Hood PCT traversal (Strayed's PCT finish, not the Canadian border). Another popular hiking book is Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods which was also made into a movie (Robert Redford got the rights). I found Woods an annoying book and movie story (also annoying to a friend who did the AT at the same time as the movie came out). READ Fletcher INSTEAD. Strayed's movie is OK (I know most of the locations, mostly shot in OR except the parts near Mojave; e.g., Smith Rocks and the Bridge of the Gods).
net.wolverine
By this time Fletcher had put in TV appearances on National Geographic programs walking through the Death Valley in summer time (logistical support by buried 5 gallon jugs of water, now people, of course run marathons and over to Mt. Whitney). These stunts were more for the audience.
Colin's path was further East of the Pacific Crest, starting closer to Yuma, AZ, along the highest points of the White Mountains, and through Mojave (not necessarily during hottest periods). And finally cresting along the tops of the far NE CA in the more obscure Warner Mountains near Alturas. This is not a PCT through hike. Much of Fletcher's walking is along side roads. He turns down numerous offers for rides. American drivers clearly wondered whether this was an insane Englishman.
In decades past, after one attempt, while still in high school, to write Colin email, I'd visit the Whites, the Warners, the Mojave, and the very border crossing where Fletcher started. The gate has become a more beefed up station. A parking lot of the near-by Indian tribe casino and the gringos walking across for cheap dental and medical work have changed this historic area (All American Canal) which begat the Salton Sea.
Many people go up White Mtn Peak (for work), it has a road for the UC research station which I did a tiny bit of work, caused me to buy an Isuzu Trooper for its performance (my test drive of sorts; a great vehicle). Fletcher had to deal with logistics decades before the popularity of PCT through hikes and the support of the PCT Association.
The book's pace gets sparse the further North Colin goes. I, too have driven, walked portions of trails, and even overflown this area (ever land at Rivendale? I have). One town renamed itself Likely in 1987 (3 decades after Colin's walk. I had never even heard of the Warner Mountains until I saw distant alpenglow when driving some place SE of Mt. Shasta (the volcano not the town). I would finally screw up motivation to go visit it's county high point (that's someone else's book). A person can still live and visit portions, but not quite in the same way.
For me, it would be some time before Fletcher wrote a book again of this stature, River: One Man's Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea. Summer is a 5 star book for me for how it changed me. Sure, it's not for the urban interested person or up there with great literary works of say Steinbeck and Hemingway or J. R. Rowling.
That tree in the photo of Colin taking his starting steps is still there. And it's grown. That same tree. The more obscure Warner Mountains has to its farthest North limits, to the Oregon border at least, another tree where Colin carved his mark. This is a tree I've yet to see.
2021 note (See separate note on finish to Colin's trip). 2012 when I wrote the above was when Cheryl Strayed wrote Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail when I also did the Mt Hood PCT traversal (Strayed's PCT finish, not the Canadian border). Another popular hiking book is Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods which was also made into a movie (Robert Redford got the rights). I found Woods an annoying book and movie story (also annoying to a friend who did the AT at the same time as the movie came out). READ Fletcher INSTEAD. Strayed's movie is OK (I know most of the locations, mostly shot in OR except the parts near Mojave; e.g., Smith Rocks and the Bridge of the Gods).
net.wolverine
December 6, 2017
Yes, books change lives. This book changed my life. It’s about an epic backpack trip, done in 1958—way before people backpacked; way before “through-hiker” became a common term. This book inspired me to put on a backpack and do my own epic backpack trip, 1,620 miles around Lake Superior. I haven’t read it since the early 1980s, when it inspired a radical change in my life. At the time, I was hugely influenced by this book, as well as Colin Fletcher’s other books, as guidance for a way forward. It was such a pleasure to re-read. I had largely forgotten how great a writer he was. He capture the experiences of a long-distance journey better than anyone I know. He was definitely a kindred spirit.
September 16, 2016
A pretty interesting account of a hike through the desert and mountains. I enjoyed the quaint encounters with people the author met on the way and the pretty (but never melodramatic) descriptions of the beauty he saw along the way. Nothing super profound and not "gripping" in any sense, but a nice book to read a few pages of to relax in the evening.
July 30, 2021
The true story of a young man (in his late 20's) who took a seemingly impossible walk from Mexico to Oregon and the people he met along the way. I love reading about people who take long hikes.
July 6, 2017
Colin Fletcher described walking as “…a quite delectable madness, very good for sanity”. I am in complete agreement. Years ago I was introduced to the “long grassy ridge”, ten minutes drive from where Fletcher then lived, which shows up in various of Fletchers writings, unidentified by him, but which I have always liked to believe to have been Mt. Tamalpais State Park in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Or Muir Woods. Or maybe it was Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Or maybe not.
It very well could have been one of the many state or regional parks of the East Bay. I suppose I will never know.
I never met Fletcher, although we lived on the same coast, if not within exactly the same generation, and so came to know him through his books. Having read most of them, I always wished I might have known him, if only a brief introduction at a signing. Fletcher was, nonetheless, the companion who came along on my limited and usually solitary offroad adventures along forest trails and ocean beaches. His words, his philosophy, his admiration of the earth he traversed came with me. From his writings, I knew him to be spare, rugged, entrepreneurial and adventurous, but at the same time possessing a dry Britannic wit and gentle soul. His dedication in “The Complete Walker” is to his mother, “…who understood that walking for fun is no crazier than most things in life, and who passed the information along.”
Fletcher nominally wrote of backpacking, seldom using the verb form but instead referring to the more generic “walking”, undertaken in an extended form, distances long enough to take one far enough to require equipment for shelter, sleeping and cooking. As a young man, f newly graduated from high school in the late 60’s, I was captivated with the concept of going beyond the designated campsite by the road where I camped with my family, to wilder places, carrying everything I would need for the kind of long walks Fletcher described and wrote about. Simply walking, but with a “house on your back”, as Fletcher call it.
I have all Fletcher's books. They are and have been, collectively, my favorite form of armchair adventure.
Or maybe not.
It very well could have been one of the many state or regional parks of the East Bay. I suppose I will never know.
I never met Fletcher, although we lived on the same coast, if not within exactly the same generation, and so came to know him through his books. Having read most of them, I always wished I might have known him, if only a brief introduction at a signing. Fletcher was, nonetheless, the companion who came along on my limited and usually solitary offroad adventures along forest trails and ocean beaches. His words, his philosophy, his admiration of the earth he traversed came with me. From his writings, I knew him to be spare, rugged, entrepreneurial and adventurous, but at the same time possessing a dry Britannic wit and gentle soul. His dedication in “The Complete Walker” is to his mother, “…who understood that walking for fun is no crazier than most things in life, and who passed the information along.”
Fletcher nominally wrote of backpacking, seldom using the verb form but instead referring to the more generic “walking”, undertaken in an extended form, distances long enough to take one far enough to require equipment for shelter, sleeping and cooking. As a young man, f newly graduated from high school in the late 60’s, I was captivated with the concept of going beyond the designated campsite by the road where I camped with my family, to wilder places, carrying everything I would need for the kind of long walks Fletcher described and wrote about. Simply walking, but with a “house on your back”, as Fletcher call it.
I have all Fletcher's books. They are and have been, collectively, my favorite form of armchair adventure.
February 16, 2009
Forgive me. I have just learned that author and legendary walker Colin Fletcher died in 2007. I did not know this. I’ve read several of his books and feel that I’ve lost an old walking companion. In 2001, Fletcher was struck and seriously injured by an SUV while walking to a town meeting near his home in Monterey County, California. Although he recovered and resumed his daily walks, living another six years, he died on June 12, 2007 as a result of complications from a head injury sustained in that accident.
Born in Wales in 1922. Fletcher moved to the U.S. in 1956 and his first book: The Thousand-Mile Summer was a chronicle of his first big-time walk in this country: his 1958 hike in desert and high sierra along the entire eastern edge of California. It's a long state. The book was published in 1964 and I discovered it over 30 years later. Sadly, I think it is now out of print, but here’s an excerpt:
“And all at once I understood how lucky I was. For the first time I saw quite clearly that what mattered in The Walk were the simple things—snow and vivid light and sharp-grained bobcat tracks. My exhilaration swelled up and overflowed. And when at last I walked on past the two juniper trees toward the far side of the plateau I found I was feeling sorry for any man who was not free to abandon whatever futility detained him and to walk away into the desert morning with a pack on his back.”
Born in Wales in 1922. Fletcher moved to the U.S. in 1956 and his first book: The Thousand-Mile Summer was a chronicle of his first big-time walk in this country: his 1958 hike in desert and high sierra along the entire eastern edge of California. It's a long state. The book was published in 1964 and I discovered it over 30 years later. Sadly, I think it is now out of print, but here’s an excerpt:
“And all at once I understood how lucky I was. For the first time I saw quite clearly that what mattered in The Walk were the simple things—snow and vivid light and sharp-grained bobcat tracks. My exhilaration swelled up and overflowed. And when at last I walked on past the two juniper trees toward the far side of the plateau I found I was feeling sorry for any man who was not free to abandon whatever futility detained him and to walk away into the desert morning with a pack on his back.”
October 4, 2014
This is an excellent autobiography of a man that hiked from the Mexico-California border all the way to Canada, or just short of, in a summer. This was before the Pacific Crest Trail. This was during a time when the old was making way for the new. The take away message that I got from this book, and still revisit in mind on occasion, is that there is beauty where ever you may be, you just need to take the time to notice it. Fletcher does a wonderful job showing how this can be done, along with exciting stories and interesting characters he happens across on his journey.
September 3, 2023
This classic "through hiking" memoir was a great read for our summer backpacking trip. I read much of it in a tent by the light of a headlamp. It felt surprisingly contemporary despite the fact that its events took place in the late 1950s, and I appreciated that (unlike many contemporary memoirs, including many of the through-hiking ones) he never fell into psychobabble or navel-gazing. I loved both his nature descriptions and his depictions of the characters he met along the way. His other books are on my list.
March 7, 2024
I reread this book and found it even more intriguing than the first time I read it. Colin is very descriptive of not just the environs, but also a philosophy of life, the wonder of the wilderness, and his sensibilities. This is a man who spent his life walking and died walking. I have not read a book on backpacking that even comes close to explaining the essence of the endeavor. I am surprisingly surprised every time I read something by Fletcher. He sees everything in a new and special way and can express it well. I feel like I have missed so much of the beauty of our rich lush wilderness when I read his descriptions.
September 13, 2020
I was in high school when I read this book and I was immediately inspired. Fletcher came to America with a pittance in his pocket and a desire to write and explore. His epic solo journeys and books that advocated traveling simply and observing all that nature has in store blazed a path that many of us yearned to follow. I wholeheartedly recommend every one of his books.
February 8, 2021
quite enjoyable aarmchair travel via Colin Fletcher's backpack walk treacherous Death Valley to the ghost town of Bodie, through the highest elevations in California. Wonderful descriptive prose, and peaceful thoughtful observations of nature, life and the people he meets along the way.
Read during a beach week, and lovely reminder of the rejuvenative power of nature, and solitude.
Read during a beach week, and lovely reminder of the rejuvenative power of nature, and solitude.
December 15, 2017
Fletcher is genius. So ahead of his time backpacking with only his own gear and some water stashes across desert and mountain. And he took beautiful photographs and selfies. A story-teller, a yarn, beautiful words.
February 16, 2020
Great story, and kinda the first of it's kind for long distance hiking stories.
January 7, 2018
Overall I enjoyed this book and found it inspirational. That being said, I found this book a bit of a boring read. The descriptions were very good, but he tended to 'wax poetic' a bit long, and his focus on some details over others left me at times wanting more for some things and less for others. He seemed to enjoy the desert much more than the mountains, as he spent a lot of time describing the desert portions of his adventure whereas the mountains and high sierras portion was quite scant except for Silver King and the trout he fished for there. Though I enjoy the desert quite a bit myself, I am particularly fond of the High Sierras and thought he'd describe it in as much detail and with as much love as he had for the desert, but that was not the case. Perhaps it's just my personal fondness for the Sierras that left me a bit disappointed.
All-in-all this book is a great travelogue of Colin's journey, and makes one wish to get out (or back out) to the wilderness and walk their own thousand-mile summer. I certainly would enjoy following Colin Fletcher's route one day, or at least visiting some specific places he passed through, particularly those in the Sierras. It also leaves the reader melancholy and wistful that the same journey today would certainly be much different (he traveled in 1958) with the encroachment of civilization upon much of his trail. I read this book while visiting the area where he began his journey (Algodones, Yuma, Imperial Dam...) and I can attest that his starting point at the Mexico / California border in Algodones alone is sadly much different today than the sleepy town pictured in his book. Of course, that's one reason to read and relate to this book - even in Colin's time, the urge to escape civilization and get back to nature existed. How much more so today?
All-in-all this book is a great travelogue of Colin's journey, and makes one wish to get out (or back out) to the wilderness and walk their own thousand-mile summer. I certainly would enjoy following Colin Fletcher's route one day, or at least visiting some specific places he passed through, particularly those in the Sierras. It also leaves the reader melancholy and wistful that the same journey today would certainly be much different (he traveled in 1958) with the encroachment of civilization upon much of his trail. I read this book while visiting the area where he began his journey (Algodones, Yuma, Imperial Dam...) and I can attest that his starting point at the Mexico / California border in Algodones alone is sadly much different today than the sleepy town pictured in his book. Of course, that's one reason to read and relate to this book - even in Colin's time, the urge to escape civilization and get back to nature existed. How much more so today?
July 17, 2023
The Thousand-Mile Summer by Colin Fletcher was given three stars not due to the writing, which Fletcher is fairly descent at, but due to the author being clueless that he is a jerk. But that should not dissuade anyone from reading him for humor's sake as this review will hopefully prove. While in the desert, Fletcher murdered five rattlesnakes for the crime of existing while notifying him of their existence. Rooting for the rattlesnakes though I know they will not succeed as this is his first of many books. Fletcher required a schooling by a park ranger to correct and educate him that the snakes are an asset to their indigenous environment (shocker!) and explain the rattle is a warning rather than a threat of intent. Big dummy.
The people Fletcher encounters in the desert chapters May indeed have graced the land with their presence, but feel more like characters written for a B horror film. I was also rooting for them to give him a House of Thousand Corpses treatment, but alas no killer clowns. They were all too odd, and creepy to be taken seriously. Possible but unlikely.
Early in the book, Fletcher criticized unknown people for blazing a tree. The journey ends with him creating the same act under the motivation of he felt like it. No doubt the same motivation of those who blazed before. There's no discovery of a tradition now understood. Nah! Just an, "I feel like it now," mentality. Fletcher wants to be seen as a modern day John Muir, but falls far short. Unlike Muir, he lacks a strong ethical philosophy from which to draw upon for guidance. He also suffers from a strong selfish and entitled streak which was also abundantly evident in The Man Who Walked Through Time, his book about his hike through the floor of the Grand Canyon. And yet I feel compelled to read more books by this train wreck of an adventurer if for no other reason than for the humor.
The people Fletcher encounters in the desert chapters May indeed have graced the land with their presence, but feel more like characters written for a B horror film. I was also rooting for them to give him a House of Thousand Corpses treatment, but alas no killer clowns. They were all too odd, and creepy to be taken seriously. Possible but unlikely.
Early in the book, Fletcher criticized unknown people for blazing a tree. The journey ends with him creating the same act under the motivation of he felt like it. No doubt the same motivation of those who blazed before. There's no discovery of a tradition now understood. Nah! Just an, "I feel like it now," mentality. Fletcher wants to be seen as a modern day John Muir, but falls far short. Unlike Muir, he lacks a strong ethical philosophy from which to draw upon for guidance. He also suffers from a strong selfish and entitled streak which was also abundantly evident in The Man Who Walked Through Time, his book about his hike through the floor of the Grand Canyon. And yet I feel compelled to read more books by this train wreck of an adventurer if for no other reason than for the humor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2017
MUST READ for Colin Fletcher fans. Inspirational to say the least. Admit it - if you were college aged in the late 60's, you made yourself a hiking staff out of bamboo just like his ( I still have mine in the garage).
Fletcher made the hike in 1958 before Gore-Tex, mountain house foods and tech clothing. Reason enough to read. His planning was meticulous. His equipment adequate. His need to walk - time to be alone and think about life's direction.
While wonderful to read while out and about in God's country, nature lovers and walkers of all types, whether urban or mountain, day-packers or hardcore survivalists, can appreciate his observations and thoughts on life, man, nature and walking.
Fletcher made the hike in 1958 before Gore-Tex, mountain house foods and tech clothing. Reason enough to read. His planning was meticulous. His equipment adequate. His need to walk - time to be alone and think about life's direction.
While wonderful to read while out and about in God's country, nature lovers and walkers of all types, whether urban or mountain, day-packers or hardcore survivalists, can appreciate his observations and thoughts on life, man, nature and walking.
February 3, 2025
I loved this book. The book is full of remarkable similes and metaphors. This was first published in 1964 and continually published through 1970s. Fletcher is British and a world traveler who decided to "discover America" by walking from the Mexico border to the Oregon border during a summer. It took him six months. Unlike today's long distance hikers who are all about destination and speed, Fletcher took his time, taking photos along the way and stopping to fish, to meet people on ranches and small towns. He walked through the High Sierras, which he loved, but spent the bulk of the book astonished by the Mojave Desert and Death Valley.
July 14, 2025
1950s San Francisco janitor from Britain hikes through California desert killing every rattlesnake on site with a stick and describing them as “evil”. This book has aged like milk.
Still, it is very impressive that he hiked during this time period through California. I enjoy reading books from around this time period since it seems like things were still a bit mysterious. The author describes seeing remnants of wild west era (1850s) items/buildings. The author’s writing style is a bit banal for me and I lost interest after he got through Death Valley.
Still, it is very impressive that he hiked during this time period through California. I enjoy reading books from around this time period since it seems like things were still a bit mysterious. The author describes seeing remnants of wild west era (1850s) items/buildings. The author’s writing style is a bit banal for me and I lost interest after he got through Death Valley.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2019
This is a great escape into the world of 1958. The California that Fletcher walked through no longer exists. This book is a window into that extinct world.
I have read a lot of Fletchers stuff. He is not a great writer but has a rabid following. Mostly backpackers from the 1970s, including me. What’s remarkable is how he views the world. It’s not his best work but it’s a great escape from suburbia on a November evening
I have read a lot of Fletchers stuff. He is not a great writer but has a rabid following. Mostly backpackers from the 1970s, including me. What’s remarkable is how he views the world. It’s not his best work but it’s a great escape from suburbia on a November evening
May 11, 2024
Excellent book. Colin Fletcher writes beautifully about the outdoors. Written after he hiked the length of California in 1958, the book is more than a travel log. He captures what it is like to spend time outdoors with only what you carry on your back. It is something that can change your perspective about the world we live as
well as you as a person. He was ahead of his time. Definitely worth the read. I immediately passed to book along to a friend.
well as you as a person. He was ahead of his time. Definitely worth the read. I immediately passed to book along to a friend.
December 31, 2022
A wonderful read, a travel (hiking) classic... Colin, a pioneer of the cross-country genre, the long trek, the "through trail," set the bar high. Superlative writing, a marvelous story, an astute and congenial guide -- this book has them all. Nature writing doesn't get more accessible, and the older it gets, the more appealing it becomes.
December 22, 2024
Colin Fletcher gives a very detailed account of his epic hike from Mexico to Oregon in the late 1950's. He walked through the desert, the mountains and Death Valley. He went into ghosts towns, and met interesting people who lived in remote areas. His description of the landscape and flor and fauna is beautiful. It is a must read for any hiker!
December 14, 2016
This is the first hiking book that I read and is not of the modern hikes. Colin Fletcher did the hike back in 1958, when you read this book you see the differences between todays hikes and the mentality of the older times. It is worth reading it will take you back in time to 1958.
March 18, 2017
Reread this book that I had read way back in the 70s. I would settle into bed in my efficiency upstairs apartment in a house just off Main Street in Ann Arbor Mi and read a chapter or so, falling asleep when he slid into a sleeping bag at the end of a day of walking or fishing or meeting up with strangers along the way. A friend borrowed my copy long ago when they stayed at my place for a few days, and I heard it was only available as a used book, so Alibris connection mailed me one and I was so surprised at how much I had forgotten. It was a good read again. Although today with our current anti-everything administration, the wonders of the National Parks that Colin Fletcher describes are in real danger . I couldn't help whistful envy of his the perspective of several decades ago when he walked the length of California and described how precious and valuable our parklands are! Am going to pass this on to a nephew who likes to walk, and wonder if he will enjoy it, too!
July 23, 2017
The reader is there with him. Fletcher is outstanding at constructing the pictures in the reader's mind. the only reason I did not give this 5 stars is that he littered and killed a rattlesnake. He admitted it but I can't forgive him.
January 4, 2019
Full disclosure, I'm cheating on my 2018 reading challenge. I was so close though!
This gets 3 stars for literary interestingness, but 4 stars for taking me back to the desert and getting me excited to plan a big trip of my own.
This gets 3 stars for literary interestingness, but 4 stars for taking me back to the desert and getting me excited to plan a big trip of my own.
July 24, 2017
one of my favorite books ever...
September 23, 2017
I dare say there's earlier instances of this sort of book that I haven't yet heard of, let alone read; but this was 1958 and it's like 'Lost Continent' via Shanks's Pony....but better!
September 15, 2021
When you have a 50 page book but the publisher wants you to write a 300 page book.
June 9, 2022
This is a 4 1/2 star book that I have read and re-read. Great book in which to lose oneself in the adventure it describes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews