
The Trail
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Jake Hunsbusher
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By:
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Ethan Gallogly
About this listen
A Transformative Journey on the John Muir Trail.
Set authentically in the High Sierra, The Trail is a moving story of how nature helps us find what’s missing in our lives.
The Trail is fused with humor, philosophy, and trail lore. Woven in is a back story detailing the origins of the John Muir Trail: a 211-mile trail spanning the rooftop of the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States.
The tale begins with Gil, who in the wake of his father’s death and recently fired from his job, agrees to accompany his father’s old hiking partner Syd on a monthlong trek on the John Muir Trail. There’s just one problem: Gil hates camping and is woefully unprepared for the rigors of the journey. Moreover, he soon learns Syd may not survive the hike.
Former Sierra Club leader Ethan Gallogly takes you on a wild tour across the Range of Light, describing its glorious scenery in vivid detail while introducing you to a diverse cast of characters drawn from his own personal experiences as a hiker.
Narrator Jake Hunsbusher brings the Audiobook to life with his fantastic reading of what is destined to become an outdoors classic!
Includes a PDF of the 43 maps and sketches by acclaimed mountain illustrator Jeremy Ashcroft, showing the topography of each section with illustrations of the trail’s iconic scenery.
Whether you’re planning your own John Muir Trail trek, have walked the trail before, or are simply an armchair explorer looking for a compelling story—this book is for you.
Critic Reviews:
“The author shines in his descriptions of the natural world... A subtle and vivid tale of finding peace in the great outdoors.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Unreservedly Recommended.” (Midwest Book Review)
“It’s a fantastic book. Everything rings true.” (Elizabeth Wenk, author of the best-selling John Muir Trail guidebook)
“A Walk in the Woods meets Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” (Peter Snow Cao, Bike China Adventures)
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Ethan Gallogly (P)2022 Ethan GalloglyListeners also enjoyed...
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Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Mexico to Canada
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Overall
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Performance
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One April morning I left the Mexico border and walked north on the Pacific Crest Trail. For five months I hiked through the California desert, the snows of the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. My goal was to succeed in an epic challenge: to hike 2,650 miles and reach Canada before the October snows.
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Trail journal published for money...
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Destined to become a classic of adventure literature, The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada - mountains as perilous as they are beautiful. Eric Blehm's masterful work is a gripping detective story interwoven with the riveting biography of a complicated, original, and wholly fascinating man.
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Well Written Character Study of an NPS Ranger
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Nowhere for Very Long
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this beautifully written, vividly detailed memoir, a young woman chronicles her adventures traveling across the deserts of the American West in an orange van named Bertha and reflects on an unconventional approach to life
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not what I thought
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
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Depressing from Cover to Cover
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Critic reviews
"The author shines in his descriptions of the natural world... A subtle and vivid tale of finding peace in the great outdoors." (Kirkus Reviews)
"It's a fantastic book. Everything rings true. I already have several people I plan to give copies to." (Elizabeth Wenk, author of the best-selling guidebook John Muir Trail: The Essential Guide to Hiking America's Most Famous Trail)
"A Walk in the Woods meets Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." (Peter Snow Cao, Bike China Adventures)
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Story
In 2003, software engineer David Miller left his job, family, and friends to hike 2,172 miles of the Appalachian Trail. AWOL on the Appalachian Trail is Miller’s account of this thru-hike from Georgia to Maine. Listeners are treated to rich descriptions of the Appalachian Mountains, the isolation and reverie, the inspiration that fueled his quest, and the rewards of taking a less conventional path through life. While this book abounds with introspection and perseverance, it also provides useful passages about hiking gear and planning.
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Enjoyable but severely lacking.
- By Amazon Customer on 07-01-13
By: David Miller
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A Walk in the Park
- By: Kevin Fedarko
- Narrated by: Kevin Fedarko
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his friend, the National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon, a journey that, McBride promised, would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed to the scheme. The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was richer, and far more complex, than anything the two men had imagined.
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I so wanted to love this book but I just couldn’t.
- By Barbara W. on 05-31-24
By: Kevin Fedarko
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The Secret of Snow
- A Novel
- By: Viola Shipman
- Narrated by: Nancy Peterson
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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When Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist whose job is all sunshine and 72-degree days, is replaced by a virtual meteorologist that will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract, the only station willing to give the 50-year-old another shot is the very place Sonny’s been avoiding since the day she left for college — her northern Michigan hometown.
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Hallmark
- By Rachel 9 on 11-29-21
By: Viola Shipman
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When Mountains Move
- By: Julie Cantrell
- Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Millie’s mind is racing and there seems to be no clear line between right and wrong. Either path leads to pain, and she’ll do anything to protect the ones she loves. So she decides to bury the truth and begin again, helping Bump launch a ranch in the wilds of Colorado. But just when she thinks she’s left her old Mississippi life behind, the facts surface in the most challenging way.
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sequel - into the free
- By Angie on 12-07-21
By: Julie Cantrell
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Bliss(ters)
- How I walked from Mexico to Canada One Summer
- By: Gail M. Francis
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Just before her 40th birthday, Gail Francis quit her perfectly good job and set out to hike one of the great trails of the world. Carrying everything she needed on her back, Francis spent five months walking from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. Along the way, she lost her pack scrambling over scree in the desert, struggled to navigate high mountain passes, and wore the soles off her boots trekking across lava fields - all within some of the most pristine wilderness in the nation. Though she set out alone, her story includes an eclectic cast of characters.
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Bummer
- By CHRISTOPHER on 03-14-19
By: Gail M. Francis
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Going to Maine
- All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail
- By: Sally Chaffin Brooks
- Narrated by: Sally Chaffin Brooks
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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From comedian Sally Chaffin Brooks comes a memoir about the thing she can't seem to shut up about— her life changing thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. 25-year-old Sally has no reason to upend her comfortable, conventional life to spend 5 months hiking the Appalachian Trail; no reason except that her charismatic best friend, Erin, asked her to come along. A woefully out-of-shape Sally quickly realizes she may not actually be prepared for the realities of thru-hiking— brutal weather, wrong turns, and painful blisters have her wanting to quit almost as soon as she starts.
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Must read for trail memoir lovers and everyone else
- By Christian Baer on 04-13-25
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I Hike Again
- Mostly True Stories from 15,000 Miles of Hiking
- By: Lawton Grinter
- Narrated by: Lawton Grinter
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Back again with even more "mostly true" tales from the trail, Lawton Grinter's new book I Hike Again is sure to find a place in every adventurer's library! I Hike Again imparts hard-earned wisdom from trails both in the United States (Arizona Trail, Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail, Wind River High Route) and abroad (Spain's GR11 and New Zealand's Te Araroa).
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I love this guy’s books!
- By kgohl on 06-26-23
By: Lawton Grinter
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Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart
- An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail
- By: Carrot Quinn
- Narrated by: Erin Spencer
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Carrot Quinn fears that she's become addicted to the Internet. The city makes her numb, and she's having trouble connecting with others. In a desperate move, she breaks away from everything to walk 2,660 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. It will be her first long-distance hike.
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Like an infinity of switchbacks...it just never ended
- By Anonymous User on 12-20-17
By: Carrot Quinn
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Heaven's My Destination
- A Novel
- By: Thornton Wilder
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet George Marvin Brush, one of Thornton Wilder's most memorable characters. Brush, a traveling textbook salesman, is a fervent religious convert who is determined to lead a good life. With sad and sometimes hilarious consequences, his travels take him through smoking cars, bawdy houses, banks, and campgrounds from Texas to Illinois - and into the soul of America itself.
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All-American
- By SandyK on 05-04-24
By: Thornton Wilder
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We Must Not Think of Ourselves
- By: Lauren Grodstein
- Narrated by: Brad Griffith, Jesse Vilinsky, Sharon Freedman, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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On a November day in 1940, Adam Paskow becomes a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jews of the city are cut off from their former lives and held captive by Nazi guards to await an uncertain fate. Weeks later, he is approached by a mysterious figure with a surprising request: Would he join a secret group of archivists working to preserve the truth of what is happening inside these walls? Adam agrees and begins taking testimonies from his students, friends, and neighbors.
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A beautiful book.
- By Donna Morgan on 12-04-23
By: Lauren Grodstein
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Home Waters
- A Chronicle of Family and a River
- By: John N. Maclean
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In the spirit of his father's beloved classic, A River Runs through It, comes John N. Maclean’s true chronicle of his family and their bond with Montana's Blackfoot River - a profound and beautiful story about the power of place to bind generations, past and present.
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The Real Paul Maclean and Much More
- By Jeff Antalik on 06-07-21
By: John N. Maclean
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Where Butterflies Wander
- A Novel
- By: Suzanne Redfearn
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd, Vivienne Leheny, Jordan Cobb, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief. Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either.
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The dichotomy between the characters
- By Linda on 03-24-24
By: Suzanne Redfearn
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How the Wild Effect Turned Me into a Hiker at 69: An Appalachian Trail Adventure
- By: Jane E. Congdon
- Narrated by: Andrea Gappmayer
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a terrific audiobook. It's interesting, well-written, and timely. It's the story of a textbook editor who retires, reads the popular book The Wild Effect and decides to hike the Appalachian Trail - and have an unexpected adventure! The tone is wry humor, tongue in cheek - the author has a great sense of humor, is perky, and as she learns in this adventure, is often in over her head! She is a very likeable character.
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Appalachian Trail ...personal memoirs
- By Sandy Grandma on 07-23-18
By: Jane E. Congdon
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The Women of the Copper Country
- By: Mary Doria Russell
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In July 1913, 25-year-old Annie Clements had seen enough of the world to know that it was unfair. She’s spent her whole life in the copper-mining town of Calumet, Michigan, where men risk their lives for meager salaries - and had barely enough to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. The women labor in the houses of the elite and send their husbands and sons deep underground each day. When Annie decides to stand up for herself and the entire town of Calumet, nearly everyone believes she may have taken on more than she is prepared to handle.
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Great, but frustrating if you're a Michigander!
- By Maria on 08-11-19
What listeners say about The Trail
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- april
- 10-29-22
Listen to this!
I would highly recommend this book. We are section hiking a trail similar to this and have shared some of the struggles that they go through. There are parts that made me laugh out loud and parts that made me cry. It is well written.
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- Arionis
- 11-16-22
Nice listen for a old hiker like me
I really enjoyed this book. The best part about it is that the author drew on his own experience on the trail and used it to craft a fictional story. This is especially enjoyable to me since I have also written a couple of hiking related books (Sawyer's Run and The Last Hike) that were a mix of non-fiction and fiction. You don't see that very often. Most hiking stories are memoirs, and while I have enjoyed a great deal of them, it's nice to read them as fiction as well. Great job Ethan!
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-12-22
Fantastic mix of travel story and philosophy!
If you enjoy traveling vicariously through the books you read and contemplating the bigger questions in life, you won’t want to miss this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved how natural history and tidbits about Asian philosophies were sprinkled through the story of the trip. Also enjoyed the story telling - very engaging!
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- Kris
- 09-23-22
wonderfull book
Not often one can find book so engaging , entreating and valuable. Multithreaded story offes little gemstones for everyone. Some statements are worth direct memorization :-)..
Beutifull, concious take on basic life dillemas. Highly recommend.
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- tawntawn
- 02-07-23
What an adventure!
This book resonated with me in so many ways. I love it! Couldn’t stop listening to it once I started. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me ponder the meaning of life.
The narrator is SO good! There are so many characters in the book and he made them each and everyone of them come alive in ways that I really cannot imagine anyone else could. Can’t wait to read other books narrated by him.
The ending was poignant and I liked it. But I was sad nonetheless, when the book ended. Looking forward to reading other books by this author.
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- Karrie C
- 01-01-23
Loved it
I have hiked part of PCT and JMT and really loved this book and all of the historical information. Great story too!
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- Dusty O'Banion
- 11-13-23
great story
great story with relatable circumstances that I found hilarious. was disappointed to find out at the end that it wasn't a true story.
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- Myles lewis
- 02-01-24
Correlation
This book shows hiking can provide solitude and a break from routine, allowing individuals to reflect on their thoughts, values, and priorities. The natural surroundings often inspire self-discovery and a deeper connection with one’s inner thoughts and feelings.
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- NANCY J.
- 05-03-24
The human spirit and challenge of this awesome hike!
I Loved everything about this book! It even had my husband intrigued with, what happens next! Makes you feel like you are on the hike with the characters and that draws you in so good and I enjoyed every bit of it. Awesome book I would definitely recommend it to all my friends and I already have to a couple of Hiking friends so hopefully they do get it. It’s pretty awesome! Sincerely, Nancy Jones
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-13-24
A trail journey
There is so much I liked. Trail philosophy, common sense, Trail sense, all presented in a colorful way that brings the listener on the journey.
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