Book picks similar to
Secret Worlds of Colin Fletcher by Colin Fletcher
hiking
non-fiction
travel
nonfiction
Extreme Sleeps: Adventures of a Wild Camper
Phoebe Smith - 2013
In this sometimes scary, frequently funny and intriguing journey around the country, Phoebe attempts to discover and conquer its wildest places.From spending the night in the decaying wreckage of a World War Two bomber at Bleaklow to pitching next to the adrenaline-inducing sheer drops of Lizard Point, Phoebe’s extreme sleeps defy her perceptions of the great outdoors and teach her about herself along the way.
Pedalling to Hawaii: A Human Powered Adventure
Stevie Smith - 2004
One rainy, miserable Monday he resolves to grab life with both hands and embark on an adventure: the first entirely human-powered journey around the world. Although he had never been on an expedition of any kind and had no money, Stevie and his friend Jason dreamed up a voyage that would take them from England to Hawaii by bicycle, inline skates and ocean-going pedal boat. For 111 days, they pedalled 7,500 kilometers across the Atlantic, and then crossed the United States to take on the challenge of the Pacific. Pedalling to Hawaii is hilarious, entertaining and refreshingly non-heroic, packed with thrills and spills as the intrepid and sometimes blundering duo make their way around the world. It is also a meditative account of a search for simplicity and integrity.
The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures
Lee Stetson - 1994
Each included adventure has been selected to show the extent to which Muir courted and faced danger, i.e. lived "wildly, " throughout his life. From the famous avalanche ride off the rim of Yosemite Valley to his night spent riding out a windstorm at the top of a tree to death-defying falls on Alaskan glaciers, the renowned outdoorsman's exploits are related in passages that are by turns exhilarating, unnerving, dizzying and outrageous.
Lost with Directions: Ambling Around America
Rob Erwin - 2016
Aside from the bipolar hillbillies, unfriendly wild animals, run-ins with the law, a mental breakdown, a bad first date, and a near-death experience . . . things actually went pretty well. Taking plenty of detours along the way, Rob’s contagious and hilarious sense of wanderlust carries him on a whirlwind road trip from the Smoky Mountains in the East, to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Colorado’s snow-covered peaks in the West. In a refreshing style that brings these incredible wild places to life like no travel guide ever could, on seemingly every page we’re reminded of the one universal truth of travel . . . the best parts of any journey are the adventures we least expect.
THIS is Africa
Mat Dry - 2012
THIS is Africa is a compilation of stories that defines the maxim "Truth is sometimes stranger, and more wondrous than fiction." From a place known for its continent-wide diversity, notorious for its dramatic turbulence, and beloved for its animals and untamed wildness, Mat Dry, brings his incredible true tales of living and working in Africa as a Safari Guide.
The Great Outdoors: A User's Guide: Everything You Need to Know Before Heading into the Wild (and How to Get Back in One Piece)
Brendan Leonard - 2017
With 400 strategies for engaging in the outdoors, and expert tips and tricks, The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide makes Mother Nature easier to understand than ever before. Brendan Leonard, writer, filmmaker, and outdoor adventurer, shows the reader how rewarding it can be to live life away from the computer and get outside. From mountain climbing, to skiing, sledding, and sailing, Leonard shows that you don’t need to be a risk taker to enjoy the outdoors. And if the reader does find himself at the point of man vs. nature, Leonard shares survival skills from how to bandage a wound and read a topographical map, to how to drive on sand and remove a tick from your skin—all organized thematically and written in short takeaway entries with helpful line drawings. Bound in a uniquely rugged (and waterproof!) PVC cover material, The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide is a friendly way into the outdoor lifestyle, whether you're looking to dabble or go all in.
Twenty-Seven Years in Alaska: True Stories of Adventure in the Alaskan Wilderness
Jennifer Hellings - 2015
From canoe camping next to unnamed lakes, to kayaking in Alaska’s pristine waters, she describes her many encounters with the bears, moose and other animals that make this wilderness their home. With her partner David she helped to build a cabin on a remote piece of property, off the grid and accessible only by boat. Illustrated with the photos she took along the way, her story is sometimes comic, and sometimes tragic, but throughout its pages she speaks with the voice of one who loves nature and the wilderness.
Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage
Jennifer Hahn - 2001
Much more than a memoir, Spirited Waters is a remarkable blend of adventure travel, natural history, personal challenge, vivid animal encounters, Northwest mythology, and heartwarming coastal characters.
Old Lady on the Trail: Triple Crown at 76
Mary E. Davison - 2018
Not beginning long-distance hiking until age 60, Mary takes us with her on her trail journeys to experience encounters with the beauty of wilderness from the Eastern ranges of the Appalachian Trail, the challenges of desert, snow, granite and thick forests of the Pacific Crest Trail, and the rugged and the remote grandeur of the Continental Divide Trail. Along the way, she introduces the Trail Community. Hikers of many ages and walks of life labeled with colorful monikers called trail names, and trail angels, planned and total surprises, grace her journey. Bears, moose, deer, coyotes, turkey vultures, hawks, eagles, owls, pronghorn, and endless supplies of squirrels and chipmunks share the world through which she walked. Everyday challenges of completing seemingly endless miles, encountering new adventures, sometimes with friends and much of the time solo, brought Mary to the first pages of this book on a glorious day sighting two grizzly bears and completing long-distance hiking's Triple Crown at age 76. Throughout this inspirational journey, Mary shares the perspective of an aging adult. Challenges of failing body parts add drama and obstacles to be overcome like rocks in the trail or adapted to like the trails that wind slowly up steep mountains. Come along and experience long trails with the Old Lady on The Trail.
Nothing Wasted: God Uses the Stuff You Wouldn’t
Kasey Van Norman - 2019
In Nothing Wasted, counselor and teacher Kasey Van Norman's vulnerability invites you to discover God's personal and purposeful design for your future--not in spite of your story, but through it.What if the pain and mistakes of your past are exactly what God wants to use to redeem your future?A difficult childhood, public infidelity, and a fight with cancer--Kasey Van Norman has walked a rocky road of regret and loss. Shockingly, God would take her back to move her forward, uprooting her undealt-with wounds, secret shame, and intimacy-sabotaging patterns of behavior. No longer running from her past, but instead, allowing herself to be defined by it, Kasey discovered a God more intentional and loving than she'd ever believed him to be.In this book, she shares the truth that no part of our life story is wasted--but purposefully designed and used by God to shape who we are meant to be. With vulnerability, sound doctrine, and humor, Kasey unfolds the brokenness in her own life to:Remind you that a holy, sovereign God lovingly works through your past mistakesHelp you look at your own past to embrace it as the necessary setup for your futurePoint to the God who can weave together a beautiful story of redemption in your lifeNo experience or relationship has been a mistake. You are no mere byproduct of random events, and you do not need a do-over! Because with God, nothing is wasted.Also available: video study and study guide.
The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers
Eric Weiner - 2020
We turn to philosophy for the same reasons we travel: to see the world from a different perspective, to unearth hidden beauty, and to find new ways of being. We want to learn how to embrace wonder. Face regrets. Sustain hope. Eric Weiner combines his twin passions for philosophy and global travel in a pilgrimage that uncovers surprising life lessons from great thinkers around the world, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, Confucius to Simone Weil. Traveling by train (the most thoughtful mode of transport), he journeys thousands of miles, making stops in Athens, Delhi, Wyoming, Coney Island, Frankfurt, and points in between to reconnect with philosophy’s original purpose: teaching us how to lead wiser, more meaningful lives. From Socrates and ancient Athens to Simone de Beauvoir and twentieth-century Paris, Weiner’s chosen philosophers and places provide important signposts as we navigate today’s chaotic times. In The Socrates Express, Weiner invites us to voyage alongside him on his life-changing pursuit of wisdom and discovery as he attempts to find answers to our most vital questions.
46 Days: Keeping Up With Jennifer Pharr Davis on the Appalachian Trail
Brew Davis - 2011
Brew led her pit crew, the group of generous, loving hikers who supported Jen along the way, providing company along the epic trail and as much food as Jen could stomach. Experience the trek with Jen and Brew as they battle shin splints and a stomach scare that threatens to end the attempt early, encounter wildlife at every turn, and meet the colorful cast of characters that help Jen complete her journey. 46 Days also includes an introduction and afterword by Jennifer with first-hand reflections on her life-changing voyage.
Bear in the Back Seat I: Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Carolyn Jourdan - 2013
For over thirty years, Kim DeLozier acted as a referee in the wild, trying to protect millions of park visitors from one of the densest populations of wild black bears in America -- and the bears from tourists who get too close.Written with 3-Time Wall Street Journal bestselling author Carolyn Jourdan who has several highly-regarded #1 Amazon bestsellers about the Smoky Mountains and Appalachia. Her other books are "Heart in the Right Place," "Medicine Men," and "Out on a Limb."
Without a Paddle: Racing Twelve Hundred Miles Around Florida by Sea Kayak
Warren Richey - 2010
A reporter with a beautiful wife and talented son, Richey couldn’t imagine how it could be any better....Then his marriage falls apart and he can’t imagine how it could be any worse.The divorce leaves Richey questioning everything, while struggling to find a way forward. To get his bearings, he enters the first Ultimate Florida Challenge, an all-out twelve-hundred-mile kayak race around Florida.The UFC is less of a race than it is a dare or a threat. The thirty-day deadline sets a grueling, twenty-four-hour-a-day pace through shark- , alligator- , and even python-infested waters. But those twelve hundred miles are only a fraction of a journey that pulls Richey back to when he was embedded with troops in Iraq, reporting on missing children, and hiking the mountains of Montana with his son, and shows him where he went wrong, where he went right, and how to do it better the second time around.Warren Richey’s memoir Without a Paddle is a remarkable physical and emotional journey that cuts to the heart of what it means to be a man, a husband, and a father.
The Fish's Eye: Essays about Angling and the Outdoors
Ian Frazier - 2002
He sees the angler's environment all around him--in New York's Grand Central Station, in the cement-lined pond of a city park, in a shimmering bonefish flat in the Florida Keys, in the trout streams of the Rocky Mountains. He marvels at the fishing in the turbid Ohio River by downtown Cincinnati, where a good bait for catfish is half a White Castle french fry. The incidentals of the angling experience, the who and the where of it, interest him as much as what he catches and how. The essays contain sharply focused observations of the American outdoors, a place filled with human alterations and detritus that somehow remain defiantly unruined. Frazier's simple love of the sport lifts him to a straight-ahead angling description that's among the best contemporary writing on the subject. The Fish's Eye brings together twenty years of heartfelt, funny, and vivid essays on a timeless pursuit where so many mysteries, both human and natural, coincide.