Walking on the Wild Side: Long-Distance Hiking on the Appalachian Trail

Wow. What a waste of money ! I’ve read many books on the AT but this is the worst.

Very interesting socialogical study of long distance hikers. Enjoying the authors insights and approach. Worthwhile reading for thru-hikers, section hikers and wannabe thru hikers. What makes 'em tick?

Even though this was for Qualitative class, this was a great read and opened my eyes to things i didn’t know before in the hiking world!

intelligently written

Most expectations were met.

Great book!

Fondren gives us a sociological treatise of Appalachian Trail hikers. She concentrates on thru-hikers, those who hike the trail in one season. Why do it? How do the hikers interact with each other and with town people? As a section hiker who completed the trail in 1998, I realize that I'm no longer up to date with current trail mores. But I did recognize several hikers in Fondren's book by their trail names.If there's one thing that really grated on me, it was her constant use of the word "stranger" or worse "complete stranger". The author is playing on readers fear of walking, talking, sleeping with other hikers. She wants to hype up the tension between people, tension that I never thought existed I the first place.Still, there aren't too many studies of long-distance hikers for the general public and this is an important book.