Final Notes from the Field: Northbound on the Appalachian Trail

by Kirk Ward Robinson

The Appalachian Trail, that celebrated and often idealized 2000-mile footpath between Maine and Georgia, taunts the imaginations of those who have never hiked it from end to end, and haunts the memories of those who have. Kirk Ward Robinson, trail name “Solo,” had already completed three southbound thru-hikes of the Appalachian Trail when he returned in 2021 for a fourth, northbound this time.
After his third southbound thru-hike in 2018, Robinson hadn’t planned to return to the trail again until 2028; but then reeling from a personal loss, the Covid pandemic, and an encroaching sense of mortality, he returned just three years later, at the age of sixty-two, to test himself once again on an Appalachian Trail that had grown to 2193.1 miles in length.
Through journal entries and lively prose, Robinson explores mortality, friendship, tradition, and obsession in a day-by-day narrative that is often humorous, always honest, and lays bare the reality of the Appalachian Trail during a journey that he believes was worth every drop of sweat and blood.
Final Notes from the Northbound on the Appalachian Trail, the third and final installment in Robinson’s Notes from the Field series, pushes the boundaries of age and expectation while recounting twenty years of adventure on the Appalachian Trail.

See also Volumes I and II of the
Notes from the A Diary of Journeys Near and Far
More Notes from the Southbound on the Appalachian Trail and Other Journeys

598 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 22, 2022

About the author

Kirk Ward Robinson, a four-time Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas and has since lived in every continental American time zone. He is an inveterate hiker and cyclist, with more than 10,000 miles afoot and 20,000 more on a bicycle. His wide-ranging career has included roles as a chief operating officer, bookstore manager, stagehand, bicycle mechanic, and executive director of an educational non-profit organization in cooperation with the National Park Service. Robinson’s Life in Continuum and The Appalachian were both named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books. He earned five stars from Foreword Clarion Reviews for his novel The Latter Half of Inglorious Years, LitPick’s Top Choice Book Review Award for Priscilla Speaks, Feathered Quill’s Reviewer’s Choice Book Award for Ridley Speaks, and OneTribune Media’s Atlas of Stories Award for Founding Courage.

These days he maintains a small ancestral farm in the hills of Tennessee.

Reviews

["Cyril' (David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a trove of information, and well written by a 4 time AT Thru hiker. It was a good read, and I would read more from the author. The book is a very detailed account of the trail But, of the 50 books I have read on hiking it is one of the few that I did not give 4 or 5 stars to. Most thru hikers refer to one or two dicks they meet on the trail Indeed, in my limited experience, hiking 1/3 of the trail, staying in hostels, using shuttles, and perfoming trail magic, I have only met one couple I would classify as dickish... A shuttle operator in Georgia who ripped me off. I've met a few difficult people, who I would not classify as dickish. The vast majority of those I met on the trail have been awesome. So one wonders when about half the people Solo meets on the trail are dickish, if it is really the other people that are the problem. The author does seem at times a bit full of himself, expressing dismay with people who didn't remember him from previous hikes. I also wasn't crazy about his habit of often summarizing in a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs a story that he then expands to a several page account. It kind of robs the fun of not knowing how something is going to turn out while reading it. But I am in awe of this man who struggled to do something that I can only imagine. And as I said, I would read more of his books.

[Ronald Sharp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing But:

The writing is good. The author has some idiotic political ideas that show occasionally. I would rate the this book more highly if it had been proofread before publishing. It is scrambled and repetitious much like the original manuscript had been tossed in the wind and reassembled without reading. I stopped halfway.