The AT is a nearly 2,200-mile trail between Springer Mountain, Georgia and Mt. Katahdin in Maine, passing through 14 states, including North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Vermont. Together with the Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail, these trails make up the Triple Crown. Nature/outdoors writing has long been filled with rugged individualistic tales of men, mostly white men. The outdoors has not always been — and still is not — a friendly place for those who aren’t men and for people of color, and the literature has largely reflected this: in 2021, it was noted that about 95 percent of AT thru-hikers identified as white. There are more initiatives that are changing this, and encouraging more diversity in the outdoors, including Melanin Base Camp, Diversify Outdoors, Native Women’s Wilderness, Pride Outside, and Latino Outdoors, to name only a few. I’ve put together some books about the AT, as well as books that are tangentially related about hiking, national parks/public lands, and politics of conservation. If you’re looking for even more books about hiking or nature, check out this post on memoirs of women who’ve hiked the PCT and this post on books about sustainability and nature. If you’d like to read about Appalachia, this post on the best audiobooks about Appalachia has you covered! Which book will you pick up first?
