From Publishers Weekly
art outdoor adventure tale, part feminist empowerment treatise and part plain old gripping read, Winters's story of hiking the Appalachian Trail ably conjures the smell of pine and the taste of cold oatmeal. After a difficult breakup with her boyfriend, Winters (Side Roads of Long Island) decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of hiking the blazed path alone. When she starts her six-month trip in Georgia, her will is strong, but her thoughts are confused; she keeps hoping that the 2,000-mile hike will clear her head. It does, eventually, but it's a sometimes grueling journey, physically and emotionally. Yet the book doesn't merely chart the interior journey of a bisexual woman on the rebound. Winters relates her many encounters with lack of food, rain, bad knees, the nuances of hiker shelter etiquette, and in off-trail hostels, making this a lively if at times rambling and tediously detailed story of self-reliance. She also evokes the unique culture of the "thruhikers" (those who undertake walking the entire trail uninterruptedly), who track each other through logs at shelters and tend to meet up along the way, sometimes walking together for days or weeks at a time. Written with honesty and wry insight, Winters's account will appeal most to sporty women who enjoy a rousing tale of emotional triumph. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Blackened toenails, swollen fingers, salamanders in the water supply, mice in the shelters, trails that go up or down and are rarely level, rain, rain, and more rain these are but a few of the physical discomforts endemic to hiking the Appalachian Trail. Add to this a bizarre subculture created by dedicated "thruhikers" that includes choosing unusual, evocative trail names (Winters herself becomes "Amazin' Grace") and the scene is set for what many would consider "a walk on the wild side." Bill Bryson had more fun with the subject in his A Walk in the Woods, though he was criticized by many for his irreverent attitude. Winters (Side Roads of Long Island), who took six months to hike the 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine, chose a different path: her mission was to search for the self and to (re)define her sexuality. The result is an uneven, facile travel memoir at once laden with superfluous and often sordid details of a love affair gone wrong and the author's impressive knowledge of the region's flora and fauna. Recommended for extensive adventure collections in large public libraries; also appropriate for lesbian literature collections. Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail has inspired, challenged, and frustrated countless hikers who have followed the white blazes over each mountain's summit from Georgia to Maine. Some see the trek as a holy journey and the epitome of outdoor culture. Winters found it a personal pilgrimage as she hiked alone, meeting others in the loosely knit confederation of hikers at the shelters along the way, and cooking and sometimes sharing meals with them. She lived in the woods for six months as she walked northward, enduring hunger, hypothermia, loneliness, and deteriorating knee injuries. She marks the particular moment when another hiker's laughter made a shelter a home; the terrifying disorientation that came with low blood sugar and intense cold; and the feeling of dirty clothes turning from wet and cold in the early morning to wet and steamy during the day. She trusted that "trail magic" would provide a pen or a friend, as needed. To read of her transformation on the trail is to be transported. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Kirkus Reviews, July 21, 2001
"Winters engagingly narrates her trekalong most of the Appalachian Trail... [Reading this book is] a breath of fresh air."


Booklist, September 1, 2000
"To read of her transformation on the trail is to be transported."


Book Description
The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, a grueling 2,000-mile journey doggedly leading to the summit of every mountain in its path. For hikers, it represents a pilgrimage to the very heart of outdoor culture. For Kelly Winters, it was that and more. Winters's account, in the tradition of our best outdoor chroniclers from John Muir to Jon Krakauer, is an exceptionally truthful, often funny, exciting account of an emotional and spiritual journey filled with courage, healing, developing trust, unexpected strength, and most surprisingly, lasting love.


About the Author
Portions of Walking Home have appeared in the following books: Women & Thru-Hiking on the Appalachian Trail, edited by Beverly "Maine Rose" Hugo, published by Insight Publishing, 1999. A Woman's Path: Women's Best Spiritual Travel Writing, edited by Lucy McCauley, Amy G. Carlson, and Jennifer Leo, published by Travelers' Tales Press, 2000. Her Fork in the Road: Women Celebrate Food and Travel, edited by Lisa Bach, published by Travelers' Tales Press, 2001.


Excerpted from Walking Home : A Woman's Pilgrimage on the Appalachian Trail by Kelly Winters. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Certainty grows in me that there is a "place" I need to get to: not a physical place, but an emotional, psychological, spiritual one. And although the place is not physical, somehow the only way to get there is to physically walk, a long, slow, arduous process. A pilgrimage. I don't know what the place is or what I'll find there, but I trust that it exists, it's reachable, and it's as necessary as blood or breath."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, a grueling 2,000-mile journey doggedly leading to the summit of every mountain in its path. For hikers, it represents a pilgrimage to the very heart of outdoor culture. For Kelly Winters, it was that and more. Winters's account, in the tradition of our best outdoor chroniclers from John Muir to Jon Krakauer, is an exceptionally truthful, often funny, exciting account of an emotional and spiritual journey filled with courage, healing, developing trust, unexpected strength, and most surprisingly, lasting love.

Author Biography: Kelly Winters is a freelance writer and editor living in New York State. She is the author of Along Long Island, published by Side Roads Press. An excerpt of Walking Home appeared in A Woman's Path: Women's Best Spiritual Travel Writing, published by Travelers' Tales Inc.

FROM THE CRITICS

Lucy McCauley

Winters's story, written with humor, keen visual observations, and timely reflections, offers up an inspired and inspiring read. But reader beware: If you've ever longed for adventure, Walking Home will have you packing your bags and heading out the door.

Publishers Weekly

Part outdoor adventure tale, part feminist empowerment treatise and part plain old gripping read, Winters's story of hiking the Appalachian Trail ably conjures the smell of pine and the taste of cold oatmeal. After a difficult breakup with her boyfriend, Winters (Side Roads of Long Island) decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of hiking the blazed path alone. When she starts her six-month trip in Georgia, her will is strong, but her thoughts are confused; she keeps hoping that the 2,000-mile hike will clear her head. It does, eventually, but it's a sometimes grueling journey, physically and emotionally. Yet the book doesn't merely chart the interior journey of a bisexual woman on the rebound. Winters relates her many encounters with lack of food, rain, bad knees, the nuances of hiker shelter etiquette, and in off-trail hostels, making this a lively if at times rambling and tediously detailed story of self-reliance. She also evokes the unique culture of the "thruhikers" (those who undertake walking the entire trail uninterruptedly), who track each other through logs at shelters and tend to meet up along the way, sometimes walking together for days or weeks at a time. Written with honesty and wry insight, Winters's account will appeal most to sporty women who enjoy a rousing tale of emotional triumph. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Blackened toenails, swollen fingers, salamanders in the water supply, mice in the shelters, trails that go up or down and are rarely level, rain, rain, and more rain these are but a few of the physical discomforts endemic to hiking the Appalachian Trail. Add to this a bizarre subculture created by dedicated "thruhikers" that includes choosing unusual, evocative trail names (Winters herself becomes "Amazin' Grace") and the scene is set for what many would consider "a walk on the wild side." Bill Bryson had more fun with the subject in his A Walk in the Woods, though he was criticized by many for his irreverent attitude. Winters (Side Roads of Long Island), who took six months to hike the 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine, chose a different path: her mission was to search for the self and to (re)define her sexuality. The result is an uneven, facile travel memoir at once laden with superfluous and often sordid details of a love affair gone wrong and the author's impressive knowledge of the region's flora and fauna. Recommended for extensive adventure collections in large public libraries; also appropriate for lesbian literature collections. Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

A travelogue of the author's time hiking the vast majority of the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mahoosuc Notch in Maine. She recounts the travails of attempting to thru-hike the entire trail and recalls the many characters she met who were also thru- hiking the 2,000 mile trail. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews