Lost in the Stacks: Farther

You’ve heard of the Triple Crown, but have you heard of the Calendar Year Triple Crown? That, my friends, is a horse of a different color. In fact there are no horses involved just thru-hikers slogging, err hiking, their way to complete the Pacific Crest Trail (2,655 miles), the Continental Divide Trail (3,100 miles) and the Appalachian Trail (2,197 miles) in one calendar year. Yikes! 

In late winter 2018 Heather Anderson, a record-breaking thru-hiker, began her quest for the CYTC on a snowy mountain in Georgia. Battling deep snow and bone-chilling cold she followed spring from Georgia to Vermont before leaving the Appalachian Trail to knock off the southernmost part of the Continental Divide Trail. Now it was scorching heat, scorpions and dehydration that were her enemies. After a summer spent dodging choking smoke from wildfires on the Pacific Crest Trail, it was time to dodge grizzlies on the northern end of the Continental Divide Trail. 

For someone whose idea of hiking is a nice ramble around Cedar Crest, I surely do enjoy a good trail memoir. Whether funny or adrenaline-fueled or contemplative, I love to vicariously join the hike. Heather Anderson’s trail memoir Farther definitely leans in the contemplative direction, as Anderson processes her father’s death and ruminates on her current relationship with her fiancé as she knocks out the miles. There are also many lovely and lyrical passages about the beauty she finds along the trails. It’s a triple treat.