I’m awfully fond of walking, in any season. And the beautiful (and warmer!) weather we’re experiencing right now where I live has me anticipating more time outside—plus we’re taking a family trip this spring to a few cities that are renowned for being both nature-loving and pedestrian-friendly. That got me thinking about all the great books dedicated to walking and hiking (because of course it did!). These titles serve as inspiration and encouragement to get moving.
I’m diligent about my daily walk throughout the year, no matter how cold it gets during the winter months. (Though I will confess ice is another matter. I don’t do ice.) These walks are great for my mental health and of course great for our pup as well. As the weather starts to warm up this spring, I’m looking forward to longer walks around my neighborhood—and not just because it means more audiobook listening time. I hike less often, but because our urban parks are fabulous and accessible, I’m just a few minutes away from a change in elevation and scenery.
This book list is primarily memoir and nonfiction but there are a few novels in the mix as well. You’ll notice accounts of well-known trails and treks across countries, as well as folks hewing to more simple habits close to home. I hope this list will help inspire your next walk—whether that’s an outdoor adventure or a stroll about town.
14 books about walking and hiking
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Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain
A real-time account of the Brat Pack actor's 500-mile walk across Spain on the Camino de Santiago with his 19-year-old son Sam. He details the pair's reasons for embarking on the trip, their long, hot days spent walking 20+ miles a day in the hot summer sun, the fellow walkers they meet along the way, the food they eat, the coffee they drink, the inns they sleep in, what they talk about along the way. Will and I enjoyed listening to the audiobook on a road trip last summer: the elder McCarthy reads the majority but son Sam frequently adds his own voice, which makes for a wonderful listening experience. More info →
Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London
A flâneur is the French word for an idler or stroller. In this 2016 nonfiction work, Elkin turns our attention to the feminine form of that word, noting the different ways women live and walk in cities as compared to men. She shares her own memories of walking in various cities where she’s lived, as well as profiles of notable flâneuses like novelist George Sand and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. Elkin believes walking can help us feel more at home in the world. Don’t be surprised if you feel inspired to go for a walk through your town once you’re done. More info →
A Walk in the Woods
Renowned travel writer Bryson takes to the Appalachian Trail in this laugh-out-loud travel memoir. After returning to America after 20 years in England, Bryson reconnects with his home country by walking 800 of the AT’s 2100 miles, many of them with his cranky companion Katz, who serves as a brilliant foil to Bryson’s scholarly wit. This superb hiking memoir skillfully combines laugh-out-loud anecdotes with serious discussions about history, ecology, and wilderness trivia. (Many years after reading it I still think about it all the time, especially Bryson's anecdotes about trees.) More info →
Open City
Cole's 2011 novel introduces us to Julius, a Nigerian-German in his last year of a psychiatric residency at an NYC hospital. His walks through Manhattan offer a stress release, as well as a chance to make sense of a recent breakup and other events in his life. Along the way he interacts with people from all walks of life. This is very much a character study, best for readers who don’t need a plot to propel them along. More info →
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Joyce's debut is the story of a long and purposeful walk. Harold Fry’s adjustment to retirement has not gone smoothly for him or his wife. When he receives a letter from his old friend Queenie who is dying, Harold writes back and sets out on an errand to mail his letter, but then a chance encounter inspires him to deliver it in person instead. He decides to walk the 600 miles between his small village and Queenie’s hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, believing that as long as he walks, Queenie will live—especially because he believes she can't die until their unfinished business is finally settled. More info →
How to Walk
The world-renowned Zen Master introduces readers to mindful walking. It can be done anywhere and everywhere, so long as we focus on our steps and our breaths. The destination matters less than the journey. With stories about both walkers and observers, Thich Nhat Hanh makes a strong case for the benefits of this practice. More info →
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
If you’ve been a blog reader for a while, you may know that my particular nerdy niche is urban planning. I love reading about how seemingly simple infrastructure like sidewalks, city parks, and even intersections affect our daily lives in big ways. This is one of my go-to urban planning recommendations. Speck makes the case for the importance of walkability. He aims to show how we can deliberately plan urban spaces to be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting. At a deeper level, this book reveals how our spaces shape our behavior, whether or not we're aware of it. Pragmatic, relevant, and completely fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Jeff in WSIRN Episode 372: Books that change the way you see your city and the world. More info →
The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey
What would compel someone who has never hiked a day in their life to take on the Appalachian Trail? Not only did Lugo not have any experience, he was much more of an indoorsy person. But when his job situation changed, the Black comedian came up with a grand plan of how he’d make use of the unexpected free time over the summer. Starting in Springer Mountain, Georgia and ending in Katahdin, Maine, Lugo takes us along on the 2,190 mile hike across the AT as he learns about thru-hiking culture, the unpredictability of nature, and how to maintain a goatee no matter the circumstances. More info →
The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth Book 1)
In the first installment of her Broken Earth Trilogy, everyone is trying to survive the Stillness’s unforgiving, unstable environment as the next Fifth Season approaches. With stellar world-building and written in second person POV, we follow three characters trying to make their way as the catastrophic threat looms ever closer. After Essun’s husband murders their son and kidnaps their daughter, she treks across the harsh land to get her daughter back before it’s too late. Damaya trains to control her unique and much-feared power at school, while Syenite is sent on a mission and finds the world different from what she was told. Exploring systematic oppression and the gift of found families, it’s easy to see why this lengthy book has garnered so much praise. Content warnings apply. More info →
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
In desperate need of a fresh start after the death of her mother and divorcing her husband, Cheryl Strayed decided to hike more than 1000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail by herself, even though she had little hiking experience. What follows is a journey of ups and downs, hope and despair, as she moves toward healing and making sense of her past. (Would you believe I still haven't read this bestseller? Tell me in comments if you think it belongs on my TBR!) More info →
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
This entire book is about the walk that 85-year-old Lillian takes on New Year's Eve, 1984, in New York City. She travels from her Murray Hill apartment to her regular Italian restaurant, stops at a bodega for gifts, dines at the iconic Delmonico's, pops into a friend's party in Chelsea, and of course walks by R.H. Macy’s in Herald Square, where she worked for many years as the highest-paid female copywriter. Along the way she recounts significant memories from her life, plus a few minor ones, reflecting on what she experienced and what might have been. As the book takes place entirely over the course of New Year's Eve, many readers have a tradition of revisiting the novel on that day each year. Content warnings apply. (This was the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club December 2023 selection.) More info →
Walking: One Step At a Time
This book in translation is a little bit personal story, a little bit philosophical meditation on how walking is grounding and expansive, whether you're walking to work or embarking on a longer trek. I took a ridiculous number of notes in my book journal and read a bunch of quotes out loud to my family. Translated from the Norwegian by Becky L. Crook. More info →
Something Wild & Wonderful
Most of this book takes place on a life-defining hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, which every character embarks on for their own reasons. After Alexei saves hot hiker Ben from stepping on a snake, they keep running into each other on the 2,500-mile PCT until they decide to hike together. The farther they go, the more they realize they might not be able to walk away. Letters—both sent and unsent—play a pivotal, emotional role in this MM contemporary romance. A 2023 Summer Reading Guide team selection. (Open door.) More info →
The Road
This book had me turning to friends asking "have you read this?" because I needed to talk about it, right away. It begins with a bang, when all the lights go out; soon thereafter, civilization falls apart. In McCarthy's post-apocalyptic tale, a nameless father and son take to the road, wandering through the burned landscape as they make their way towards the coast, though they're unsure what, if anything, awaits them there. Many consider this 2007 Pulitzer winner an American classic for its moving portrayal of familial love and tenderness against a backdrop of total devastation. More info →
What are your favorite books about walking and hiking? Please share in the comments.
P.S. 14 books about nature to inspire your next outdoor adventure.
83 comments
Thanks for this list! I have read some
and not others.
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Peace Pilgrim
Mutant Message Downunder by Marlo Morgan
The Salt Path was the very first book that came to mind when I saw the topic.
Loved the Salt Path!
The Salt Path was mentioned on a recent podcast, and I can hardly wait to read it.
The Salt Path is a stunning book — and Winn’s subsequent books about walking are also very fine: The Wild Path and Landlines.
The Salt Path is especially good on audio!
Kaitlyn Hill’s new book Wild About You is publishing in May! That’s a YA romance about a hiking reality show.
“American Ramble” by Neil King, Jr. was one of my favorite books about walking last year. I love a good book about walking, the art of walking, the simplicity of walking and the health of walking. Thanks for the new recommendations!
Absolutely, you must read “Wild”! And then “The Electricity of Every Living Thing”, by Katherine May, author of “Wintering” and “Enchantment”. She walks the southwest coast of England in sections and realizes she may be living with autism.
I adore Katherine May’s writing! Great recommendations!
In The Salt Path by Raynor Winn the author and her husband trek the South West coast after losing their home AND a devastating diagnosis. That landscape must have healing properties.
Katherine May had me reading while looking at a map! I also enjoyed A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of Faith.
This is a favorite trail book of mine and I’ve read a few… In 1955 Emma Gatewood leaves her home in Ohio leaving her family behind to hike the Appalachian Trail. At the age of 67 Emma becomes the first female solo hiker to complete the trail. “Grandma Gatewood” written by Ben Montgomery recalls the journey to accomplish this challenge, the people she meets along the way as well as the challenges she faced with wearing a pair of sneakers. A story to be reminded where there’s a will, there’s a way.
“I said I’ll do it and I’ve done it.”
Great addition to this list! We read “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk” by Ben Montgomery for my book group and we all loved it.
I loved Grandma Gatewood’s Walk! I also enjoyed The Barefoot Sisters Southbound by Lucy & Susan Letcher.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk is one of my favorites! Her life story and reasons for walking really made the book.
Yes!!! Loved this one, plus Bill Bryson’s Walk in the Woods! 🤩
Oh my gosh YES you have to read Wild!
I would highly recommend “52 Ways to Walk” by Annabel Streets. It is described as “ The Surprising Science of Walking for Wellness and Joy, One Week at a Time”. I found it to be be both informative and inspirational!
Yes! I was going to add “52 Ways to Walk”. I am slowly reading it in 2024 and trying out all of the ways. I have learned something new in each essay.
Me too! I attempted the dance/walk suggestion this week with mixed results. It’s been fun to think about walking in a different way.
Thanks for this recommendation, even just reading the table of contents is inspiring. And how fun her name is Streets as it relates to walking!
I love walking and it is my main form of transport so I love this list. A couple of books were new to me and I added to my TBR. I also thought of the Salt Path (and its follow up books) which Shannan and Holly talked about recently on a Patreon bonus. Another great (and I think under the radar) book is Etta and Otto and Russell and James. Here is the publisher description:
“Etta’s greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 2,000 miles to water.”
I loved that book!
One more Appalachian Trail story. Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery. The true story of a 67 year old woman who became the first female to through walk the AT.
What the Psychic told the Pilgrim by Jane Christmas
Canadian journalist walks the Spanish Camino and writes about her experiences. She was very real and humorous in her responses to her pilgrimage.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk-The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery
Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by
Linda Lawrence Hunt
Both are very inspiring
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center (also a Netflix movie) 🥾
That was such a sweet movie; I didn’t realize it was based on a book. Thanks for the rec!
I was thinking of Happiness for Beginners too. The book is BETTER!
I love walking and hiking. A few of these book are already on my TBR list.
Is there a reason we cannot ‘pin’ your post on Pinterest? Some (like this one) I like to save.
Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life, by Arlene Blum. This memoir weaves together childhood memories, experiences of becoming a groundbreaking female biochemist in the 1960s, and the author climbing some of the highest mountains in the world in the 1970s. What a life and an inspiration!
I’m currently reading Trespassing Across America: One Man’s Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland by Ken Ilgunas, and finding it interesting though I’m not very far in. The author sets out to walk the entire length of the proposed Keystone oil pipeline from its origin in Canada to its outlet in Texas. Unlike other famed routes, this one has no trail of any kind and as the subtitle suggests, crosses many forbidden areas.
This one was an interesting read.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery. I just finished the audio version of this book and even though it had been on my TBR list for a long time, I did not expect to be as captivated as I was. It’s the story of Emma Gatewood who at the age of 67 became the first woman to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. You can’t help but love Emma and be inspired by her story.
Yes! Came here to suggest this gem as well!
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren I would call a hiking themed novel and very enjoyable!
“Transformative Walks” is one of my favorite genres!
I highly recommend Raynor Winn and her two books: Landlines and Salt Path. The latter is about her and her husband’s journey on England’s South West Coast Path.
My daughter and I are planning to walk half of The Island Walk, a loop around Prince Edward Island, next summer.
Two suggestions, one fairly new and one from the 20th century (!):
Waypoints: My Scottish Journey by Sam Heughan – Heughan is the hunky lead playing Jamie in the Outlander TV series. In this book, he talks about hiking the West Highland Way in Scotland on a spur of the moment decision when he was between acting jobs. He also muses on his life. He seems like a really decent guy and, at least at the time of writing the book, unattached.
One Foot in Laos by Dervla Murphy – I read Murphy’s obituary a year or so ago and her life story so intrigued me that I looked for her books. She travelled by foot and by bicycle through Laos in 1997 when she was 66 years old. She made it sound like it was a grand adventure but then she had been taking journeys through many different countries most of her life so she was not your typical tourist. Look her up and you’ll be astonished by this intrepid woman.
I enjoyed two books by Michigan writer Loreen Niewenhuis – A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach: One Woman’s Trek on the Perimeter of Lake Michigan; and A 1,000 Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure.
WILD, amazing book! ALso, the very moving memoir The Salt Path by Reynor Winn, who wrote it as a gift to her husband.
@noga I 100 % agree about Salt Path!
Ah, Lillian Boxfish is one of my favorite people/books. Talk about a life well lived!
We enjoyed “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk,” the story of Emma Gatewood, who hiked the Appalachian Trail three times!
Oh, yes! That is such a wonderful book!
Thank you for this list. I love to listen to a good book while walking and enjoyed several on this list already. Two books series I listened to recently and loved to add to this list are by Richard Paul Evans, “The Walk” and “The Road”. Excellent books that combine part travelogue, part interior life reflection, and part meeting characters along the way. They were all excellent.
The Walk by Richard Paul Evans is the first of a five book series about a man who loses everything and decides to walk across the country from his hometown on the West Coast to Key West, Florida. Along the way he meets many different types of people. Some of his adventures are wild. I love this series and now I feel like it is time to reread them.
I’m one of the few people who hated Wild. A scene right in the beginning about her mom’s horse made me sob for days and I haven’t read anything by the author since. Lillian Boxfish and the Bill Bryson book were both wonderful, highly recommend.
I am also not a fan of “Wild!”, but love all the good work the author does. I’m an avid multi-day backpacker (as well as walker and day hiker) and I cringe at stories of people unprepared to go into the wilderness. My well known PNW hiking group engages in rescues regularly. Pack your 10 essentials & go with experienced people. People get injured or die out here in the PNW because they are not prepared. 3 rescues, one fatality, just 2 weeks ago.
I loved The Impossible First, by Colin O’Grady. A trek across Antarctica. A trek he was well prepared for and highly trained for it. Inspirational!
I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it the way many people do. I thought the author was a good writer, but found basically all of her choices and viewpoints questionable or frustrating, and didn’t really want to read more.
Two Steps Forward and
Two Steps Onward
Both by Graeme Simsion (author of The Rosie Project
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn!
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery. We read this 7-8 years ago in my IRL book club and I loved it! Narrative non fiction account of a 67 yo woman’s totally unprepared-for solo journey on the equally poorly marked new Appalachian trail in 1955. A recent guest on wsirn mentioned this book as one of her favorites and I concur! Emma Gatewood’s perseverance and ability to make do with very few possessions was inspirational, albeit perhaps a bit foolhardy!
I read “A Walk Across America” by Peter Jenkins as a child, and it started my interest in long-walk memoirs!
“Leave Only Footprints” by Conor Knighton.
In the course of a single year, Conor visited every national park in the country. This not a parks guide, it’s a fun narrative of the amazing diversity of natural places contained in the United States, some of which you may have visited and many of which you’ve probably never heard of.
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.
I loved “Wild” and recommend this as a flight pick: “The Great Alone: Walking the Pacific Crest Trail” by Tim Voors. His illustrations and photos are gorgeous. Both books have inspired me to seek out the PCT when I hike.
Not a book, but my husband and I LOVE the movie “The Way”, a fictionalized account about people who make the pilgrimmage on El Camino de Santiago. It’s beautiful and depicts people’s raw and messy lives so well and is redemptive. We watch it whenever we need a dose of armchair travel, including swooning over the Spanish food and wine!
Earth’s Wild Music & River Walking, both are memoirs by Kathleen Dean Moore, set in Pacific Northwest, lyrical writing ties love of the wilderness to spirituality & ecology.
My daughter has been invited by a friend to walk the Camino de Santiago with a male friend pre-grad school. Not sure if my husband has approved the trip or not, lol. I think the friend plans to land in Paris and do the whole thing. She may just join for part. And now my other daughter is considering joining, so there may be a chaperone! I’d forgotten about Andrew McCarthy’s book/tape, so thanks for reminding me. I may find her the audio. Coincidentally, I was just watching the movie The Place Beyond The Pines last night and the young actor who played Bradley Cooper’s characters son A. J., Emory Cohen reminded me so much of Andrew McCarthy! I was familiar with Martin Sheen’s The Way, which I think his son Emilio directed.
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk is one of the best books written about the courage, perseverance and healing a person can experience by just hitting the trail.
Love your book lists!! Thanks!!!
Two Steps Foward by Graeme Simsion (author of The Rosie Project). Novel about two people who cross paths on The Camino de Santiago. Loved it! He also wrote a sequel, Two Steps Onward, but I have not read this one yet.
A pilgrimage to Eternity : From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith
By Timothy Egan
Did not know if I would enjoy this because of religion and questions of personal faith .
Its marvelous ,beautiful writing full of food ,history and the joys of exploring both the landscape and the journey .
Parable of the Sower and Psalm for the Wild Built are both about journeys made on foot.
Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck
Windswept by Annabel Abbs
Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly, LGBTQ+ fiction. Setting is the Pacific Crest Trail. Gentle story told with humor about coming out, family acceptance, and friendship.
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
Looking forward to picking some of these up. I recommend Leave Only FootPrints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton. He travels through every national park in a year. Instead of organizing chronologically, he organizes the parks around themes. Very enjoyable read!
Best Lake Michigan Hikes: 10 Favorite Lake Michigan Hikes on the Beach by Loren Niewenhuis
Loved wild! . Wanted to love the salt path but lost interest after a bit.
Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion & Anne Buist and its sequel, whose name I forget!
I very much enjoyed Station Eleven, a dystopian novel (which is more about travelling than walking), and have been interested in reading The Road, but I can’t stand graphic violence, serial killers, etc. Does The Road come into this category?
It has been years since I read The Road, but some of the content is pretty disturbing. However, I would not describe it as graphic.
Bold Spirit ( a favorite, true story)
HELGA ESTBY’S FORGOTTEN WALK ACROSS VICTORIAN AMERICA
By Linda Lawrence Hunt
In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant and mother of eight children named Helga Estby was behind on taxes and the mortgage when she learned that a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America.
Hoping to win the wager and save her family’s farm, Helga and her teenaged daughter Clara, armed with little more than a compass, red-pepper spray, a revolver, and Clara’s curling iron, set out on foot from Eastern Washington. Their route would pass through 14 states, but they were not allowed to carry more than five dollars each. As they visited Indian reservations, Western boomtowns, remote ranches and local civic leaders, they confronted snowstorms, hunger, thieves and mountain lions with equal aplomb.
I was going to recommend this book! Fascinating story.
I just found out about this new book that won the 2024 National Publication of the Year Award from the Public Lands Alliance. It’s The Land We Share: A Love Affair Told in Hunting Stories by Steve Meyer and Christine Cunningham. I’ve been watching Steve and Christine’s articles and writings for a long time and I love their heartfelt perspective on being outdoors in Alaska, especially with their dogs. If you’ve ever hunted and especially hunted with dogs, you know that it’s all about walking and walking and walking. Unfortunately, the book is only available through a regional publisher, Alaska Geographic. (https://alaska-geographic.mybigcommerce.com/the-land-we-share-a-love-affair-told-in-hunting-stories/)
Well, I guess I’m the rare person who doesn’t like Wild. Actually, I hated it. It’s one of the most boring books I’ve ever read! Can’t understand the appeal at all, but we all like different books!
Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust: A History of Walking should also be on this list!
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Mongomery
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery
Another book about a group of women on a walk is The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright.