Lost on the Appalachian Trail

Kyle sure knows how to envelop you into his journey. It had just the right amount of humor and grit. It was fascinating to see encounters through his eyes. It is a must read for me, one of my favorite books.

I have walked a very small part of the AT that ended up being a half of page in this book. Laughable I know. But I enjoyed this book immensely. Thank you for writing this and sharing your experiences with us closet hikers.

Best book that I've read about a hiker's AT experiences! I loved the humor, and descriptions of both hardships and joys of the trail. Also, liked reading about the personalities of Kyle's hiking friends. Katana rocks!!

I have walked a very small part of the AT that ended up being a half of page in this book. Laughable I know. But I enjoyed this book immensely. Thank you for writing this and sharing your experiences with us closet hikers.

Best book that I've read about a hiker's AT experiences! I loved the humor, and descriptions of both hardships and joys of the trail. Also, liked reading about the personalities of Kyle's hiking friends. Katana rocks!!

Absolutely enjoyed reading this book and was SO sad when it ended! Kyle's adventures with Katana and all the hikers he met along the way made for an exciting read! Very informative! Have you a true assessment of the AT!

Kyle has written a great account of his experiences on the AT. He does not present the macho image so often presented by most male AT chroniclers. He presents just what most people who through hike experience.. pain, disappointment, joy, a tremendous sense of accomplishment, and depression at the end of this great accomplishment. I would have only one criticism, in that he did not give landmarks so that one could follow his adventure more closely using the AWOL AT guide. One of the better AT books I've read.

Love, love, loved this book! This is the first time I've ever written a review. His story telling skills and sense of humor had me at times laughing out loud while reading. We can all see ourselves in the positions he sometimes gets himself into. Very entertaining....didn't want it to end!

An AT thru hiker's story; the good, the bad, the great, the greater. Detailed, with a wealth of first person perspective and insight. People, places, emotions. It ain't Pulitzer material, but I sure enjoyed the author's adventure more so than most of the other dozen or more AT books I've read.

Kyle has written a great account of his experiences on the AT. He does not present the macho image so often presented by most male AT chroniclers. He presents just what most people who through hike experience.. pain, disappointment, joy, a tremendous sense of accomplishment, and depression at the end of this great accomplishment. I would have only one criticism, in that he did not give landmarks so that one could follow his adventure more closely using the AWOL AT guide. One of the better AT books I've read.

Love, love, loved this book! This is the first time I've ever written a review. His story telling skills and sense of humor had me at times laughing out loud while reading. We can all see ourselves in the positions he sometimes gets himself into. Very entertaining....didn't want it to end!

An AT thru hiker's story; the good, the bad, the great, the greater. Detailed, with a wealth of first person perspective and insight. People, places, emotions. It ain't Pulitzer material, but I sure enjoyed the author's adventure more so than most of the other dozen or more AT books I've read.

This is not a work of literature. However, the author provides perhaps one of the best blow-by-blow descriptions of the AT, its rigors and its beauty, that you will find. It will be extremely useful to anyone who is considering whether or not to hike the Trail.

Very poor writing style. Stream of consciousness is fine but repetitive and tedious read throughout. Cop out on descriptions, I don't buy a book to read " you had to see it to understand." Would have preferred more organization and helpful facts, but this really just came off as the author constantly patting himself on the back. Overall disappointed.

I have read almost every book on thru hiking the Appalachian Trail and this one is by far the most negative account of the six months journey on the AT. Perhaps if he had left his dog in Florida, reduced his pack weight, and used two trekking poles his journey would have been less of a challenge. This account is more discouraging than encouraging for prospective thru hikers.

Ignore the small grammatical and structural issues and this is an amazing book. Really awesome guy and his little Shiba hiking the Appalachian trail. Thoughtful detail presentation and personal struggle and insight. Make this the first book you read when thinking about hiking the at, or if you want to relive the authors experience. Finally a book with enough detail and personality to get emotionally invested in!

I have read almost every book on thru hiking the Appalachian Trail and this one is by far the most negative account of the six months journey on the AT. Perhaps if he had left his dog in Florida, reduced his pack weight, and used two trekking poles his journey would have been less of a challenge. This account is more discouraging than encouraging for prospective thru hikers.

Ignore the small grammatical and structural issues and this is an amazing book. Really awesome guy and his little Shiba hiking the Appalachian trail. Thoughtful detail presentation and personal struggle and insight. Make this the first book you read when thinking about hiking the at, or if you want to relive the authors experience. Finally a book with enough detail and personality to get emotionally invested in!

I liked that it was little of everything about the AT food,fellowship,hardship,mishaps. Enjoyed the friends and the mix of some female hikers. The dog part of the journey would not have been good for me. I really liked the Read

Excellent book, makes me want to get out and see more of the trail. Glad to see that Katana ( his dog ) was able to complete the hike with him. A great read. Hope to see Kyle and Katana on the trail one day.

The title is misleading. He never gets lost, and doesn't really do a good job of explaining how he lost himself either. Some interesting portions, but overall only an OK read. If you want something better, read Becoming Odyssa.

As a future AT thru hiker, I loved reading this book. I gave it 4 stars just because I didn't necessarily agree with some of his trail etiquette. Still, he's a great writer and the book was highly enjoyable!

Man Kyle has this way of writing that makes you feel like your living the experience! I loved how he introduced people he met on the trail in great detail and shows a very down-to-earth mentality. He goes into great explanation of why he hiked the trail at the beginning which I appreciated! Must Read!!

This hiker goes into great detail to describe the terrain and the vicissitudes of nature that provided great challenges to his journey. Tedious at times, he nevertheless provides great insight into the workings of his mind and the intestinal fortitude required to complete such a difficult challenge.

Good read, fun topic. Funny stories, animal encounters and great friendships are shared. This book is VERY detailed in regards to the hike, as in, exactly how many feet up and down every mountain. It got a bit tedious towards the end. The recap of LTR story was unnecessary, to me, as well. The author is a big LTR fan and gives you a full history of the story at one point in the book - I skipped past this chapter till he returned to his journey on the AT.

Loved it! Only negatives are SUPER long chapters with no breaks so hard to find appropriate places to take pauses. Also grammar errors make me cringe and the frequent lack of appropriate capitalization distracts me.

When I began this book I was excited to hear what his experiences were and how the trail affected him. With nearly each page he became less and less sympathetic and interesting. The book is poorly written, and Rohrig comes across as self-absorbed and immature. In many ways he embodies many of the negatives that have taken over the trail and resulted in people in trail towns being less enthused about hikers. His attitude that the rules are for someone else is tedious at best.
The Appalachian Trail is becoming overused and one of the things that can at least extend its life is to adhere, pretty tightly, to the Leave No Trace principles. They can be difficult but it is a small price to pay to continue the opportunity of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Rohrig's either ignorance or willful ignoring of those principles are emblematic of the sort of problems that can exacerbate all the issues that the trail is suffering. His attitude towards the person confronting him about taking his dog onto Katahdin was a good example of this. As much of a pita as the "system" is, its there to protect this amazing experience that we have and his pretending that this is rebellion against something unfair comes across as a way to rationalize his immaturity, I'm sure he is, at heart, a good person but in this book he is not someone that I have much admiration for.
If you want to understand the experience, "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail" by David Miller or "Walking With Spring" by Earl V. Shaffer (the original thru hiker) are both excellent. Also very good are "Rethinking Life on the Appalachian Trail" by Gary Bond or "A Sign of Madness" by Mark Heying.

I was excited to read this book but it looks like it was poorly written and the writer was not very engaging.

The book was painful to read with all the poor sentence structure. It was a bit repetitive.

The book is fine but there are a few things that bugged me. Handling/harassing snakes and other wildlife is just not what I would call responsible. When he picked up his winter clothes in New England he said his pack weighed 70 pounds. Hey he made it so I can't say much except with all the problems he had with his feet maybe he should have done more research on his gear selection. I realize you have to make a lot of compromises on the AT, but eating all that junk food seemed really nuts. Interesting read but don't let this be your authority on how to hike the trail.

As an avid hiker along the Appalachian Trail, I found this story to fade constantly, and honestly, a bit "far-fetched" with some of the statements. Rather large to pack and take as your read on a long hike, but it was entertaining to read on the subject of "trail-life" while hanging in own hammock along a wooded path

Not very well written. The author could use help smoothing out sentences & using words correctly. I was disappointed at his disregard for the rules of the trail systems in Maine & the AMC huts. The author regards these incidents as victories of the little guy over 'the man'.

I've read many books about the AT. This one was poorly written. It was hard to reconcile the various spots and descriptions with other books and experiences due to the over-exaggeration of the steepness, difficulty and danger, etc. He could have definitely used a proof-reader. That would have helped with both the spelling and grammatical mistakes, but also some of the inadvertently funny descriptions, such as exposing his dog to "repelling". In places the author comes across as self-absorbed and inconsistent. For example he explains in great detail why he berated a 7-year-old on Mt Lafayette for questioning the wisdom of bring a dog, yet turns around and does the same thing a few pages farther on, berating a hiker he never met over a dog he never saw because of some bloody footprints.

Finally, his lack of respect for the principles of Leave No Trace and for the regulations in the Whites and in Baxter State Park in particular are a shame. If the Baxter State Park Authority does follow through and remove Katahdin as the northern terminus of the AT, we will have hikers like the author to thank....

I was excited to read this book but it looks like it was poorly written and the writer was not very engaging.

The book was painful to read with all the poor sentence structure. It was a bit repetitive.

The book is fine but there are a few things that bugged me. Handling/harassing snakes and other wildlife is just not what I would call responsible. When he picked up his winter clothes in New England he said his pack weighed 70 pounds. Hey he made it so I can't say much except with all the problems he had with his feet maybe he should have done more research on his gear selection. I realize you have to make a lot of compromises on the AT, but eating all that junk food seemed really nuts. Interesting read but don't let this be your authority on how to hike the trail.

As an avid hiker along the Appalachian Trail, I found this story to fade constantly, and honestly, a bit "far-fetched" with some of the statements. Rather large to pack and take as your read on a long hike, but it was entertaining to read on the subject of "trail-life" while hanging in own hammock along a wooded path

Not very well written. The author could use help smoothing out sentences & using words correctly. I was disappointed at his disregard for the rules of the trail systems in Maine & the AMC huts. The author regards these incidents as victories of the little guy over 'the man'.

I've read many books about the AT. This one was poorly written. It was hard to reconcile the various spots and descriptions with other books and experiences due to the over-exaggeration of the steepness, difficulty and danger, etc. He could have definitely used a proof-reader. That would have helped with both the spelling and grammatical mistakes, but also some of the inadvertently funny descriptions, such as exposing his dog to "repelling". In places the author comes across as self-absorbed and inconsistent. For example he explains in great detail why he berated a 7-year-old on Mt Lafayette for questioning the wisdom of bring a dog, yet turns around and does the same thing a few pages farther on, berating a hiker he never met over a dog he never saw because of some bloody footprints.

Finally, his lack of respect for the principles of Leave No Trace and for the regulations in the Whites and in Baxter State Park in particular are a shame. If the Baxter State Park Authority does follow through and remove Katahdin as the northern terminus of the AT, we will have hikers like the author to thank....

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was an honest and often engaging tale of his experiences on the trail. However, the book would benefit greatly from the services of a good proofreader. The many errors were very distracting.

It felt like after the halfway point, everything was "better" than before and while it might have been, it got old reading. A good read, not great. Not currently excited to dive into another trail read.

This book was apparently self-published, and because of that lacked many fundamental elements that would have at least helped make it a little better. It could have used some editing, for sure. The chapters seem to run together and go on forever, as there is nothing different or new in each chapter. It's an extremely difficult book to read as one becomes bored with the general narrative. The title suggests getting lost on the trail -- this doesn't happen, and even if it's suggested that the writer (I will not call him an author) is getting lost in a metaphorical sense while hiking, this definitely does not happen. There is absolutely no depth in anything the writer relays to the reader. After slogging through 344 pages, the writer suggests he is free from the bondage of materialism, and he makes it quite clear that he thinks anyone in society who is not thru-hiking is miserable and fake and only alive to make money and buy things. The writer has a very arrogant attitude in this regard. The writer uses no voice, personality, or sense of character in these pages and it becomes very boring the longer the story goes on. I am not one who writes a lot of negative reviews, if any, but I've read enough trail books and paid my own money to read this one so I feel my harsh criticism are warranted.

I have a great deal of respect for anyone who completes a thru-hike. I attempted one the same year Kyle hiked, though I never met him on the trail. Thankfully.
As I read the account of his hike I was disappointed that he seemed to think that everyone he incountered owed him a ride or a meal or doggie daycare. His attitude is what gives hikers a bad reputation along the trail. The fact that he let his dog roam the trail out of his sight is scary enough. HIS hike is much more important than anyone else’s trail experience.
This is just not how hikers should treat each other. The trail does do amazing things to those who walk it, maintain it and live near it. The concept of Responsibility seems to be one Kyle missed.

I enjoyed most of it, but do not like the insensitivity to animals, including bringing a dog out there. It is one thing to make the choice to do the AT, but I don't approve of putting a dog through it. He is too lax on the care of the dog, nearly loosing his dog over a cliff and he should not have had the dog off leash. Too many risks to the dog. He was a good writer and I enjoyed reading about the day to day trials. He seems like a nice guy, but could definitely use a bit more sensitive toward the animals out there.

There is a reason the book is self published. I love hiking and backpacking and bought the book for those reasons, but it is poorly written and the authors over use of exclamation points and "quotes" had me to the point of putting it down by page 60. The story is told in a very haphazard way and besides recounting his trip and making use of his blog I couldn't find much reason why it was written. It really came across to me like it was written by someone who had no idea how to write and or edit a novel from the story of him hiking the AT

I am a sucker for Appalachian Trail stories and have read at least ten in recent years, enjoying them immensely and hiking the trail vicariously through the authors' stories. Lost on the Appalachian Trail, by contrast, was literally painful to read...and I read every single word of it :( . Major complaints include, but are not limited to:

...Horribly written. The paragraphing and sentence structure are not worthy of a 10 year old's best efforts. The descriptions are overly flowery and employ repetitive vocabulary (example: landforms, such as beautiful ponds, almost always "reside" in their location). The content is redundant - I can't begin to count the number of times a climb 'kicked the author's butt', or something similar. It appears that this book wasn't proofread by anyone, certainly not a copy editor.
...Juvenile. I was treated to a boatload of sophomoric philosophizing that often went on for pages and pages and pages and pages.
...Egocentric. The author's writing is very self-focused, even self-centered.
...Irresponsible. The author sets a bad example for those of us who respect that the rules of the trail are in place to protect and preserve it for future hikers. He doesn't adhere to the basic LNT rules, setting up camp in pristine and fragile environments. He expresses scorn and even hostility to those who enforce even the most basic rules and goes out of his way to outwit them.

When I give a book a single star, I always make sure to read it in its entirety. With Lost on the AT, this was a long and painful journey!

Good grief. I'm becoming quite a correct-language-usage snob in my old age. The story may be good, but I'm having a hard time getting through it because of all the errors!! And, the overuse, of exclamation marks!!! It reads like a transcription of a story told around the lunch table or over a beer or two or six.
I'm going to try to finish this book to find out if the guy really did get lost, or what?!!! BUT, the lack of good editing (!) is so, like, distracting, that I may just have to walk away from this one. And it's repetitive, did I mention that?!!!!

I am genuinely astonished at the avalanche of five-star reviews here. To me, Rohrig's account of his AT thru hike is like a Leave No Trace advocate's worst nightmare, a self-centered, atrociously edited neon sign flashing the author's deep lack of self-awareness and ability to think beyond his own immediate needs and desires.

The positive: It's an accurate reflection of the challenges hikers must confront to complete an Appalachian Trail thru hike. It's clear that Rohrig enjoyed his hike and grew in the process.

The not-so-positive:

Obviously self-published, the writing here is competent in terms of basic structure, but a thorough embarrassment when it comes to niggling details such as spelling, getting verb tenses right and even basic information right. It is riddled with egregious errors; consider that the author couldn't be bothered to spellcheck the name of Great Smoky (no "e" in that last word) Mountains National Park.

One hopes Rohrig will grow up a bit and stop viewing nature as something to be conquered and himself as some sort of crusading hero in the woods. Yeah, he eventually begins to ponder whether slaughtering every rattlesnake he sees without question is, you know, a good thing. Note to Rohrig: You were in their house; they weren't a "danger" simply existing near a shelter; and no, roasting and eating the snake you bashed to death didn't make it better. Ditto for the squirrel. Imagine if every thru hiker on the trail fancied killing and eating every critter he saw to prove his macho caveman chops; there wouldn't be any wildlife left.

He pats himself on the back for retrieving a dog leash someone has dropped along the trail ... then later tires of carrying it and tosses it over a cliff, "out of sight, out of mind." Seriously, leaving the leash on the trail, where a more responsible, less lazy hiker or ridgerunner could have removed it, would have been a much better choice than chucking it deeper into the woods.

One hopes that the grueling experience of completing his thru hike kicked Rohrig's maturity level, self-awareness and ability to see beyond his own brutish impulses to a higher level.

This one falls into the bottom drawer of thru hiking books, where it has plenty of company.

I enjoyed reading about the author's hike and adventures however I kept waiting for him to actually be "lost" and he was never lost! Also I really was bothered that he brought his dog. I felt bad for the dog the whole time.

From time to time I get a book that gives me internal feelings that only physical actions would create. This book is one of them! From beginning to end it had me either giggling, laughing, almost crying, feeling anxious, scared, amazed, and my personal favorite, like I needed to be at the exact spot Kyle was writing about. I've been educated about the trails rich deep woods history at different locations. Reminded of places I've been or wanted to now see with my own eyes.
This was a well written book and at no point was I ever bored with his story. In fact I purposely did not read it all right away because I did not want it to end, but all good things must...
Bravo Kyle Rohrig, I held my breath to the end!
Thank you for sharing your story so well that this has soared to the top of my list of favorite books. I look forward to reading about your next adventure, hope it's as great as this one and better.

A nice guy, writing honestly and pretty transparently about his AT experience. Obviously not a professional writer, and the story gets a bit drawn out in lots of descriptive details that could have been summarized. A good personal diary that many friends and family might enjoy, but not really a very gripping adventure story. Kyle Rohrig would have benefitted from hiring a ghost writer to help tell his story, but its an OK read if you skim it a bit and try to enjoy it as a personal account from a very nice person whose trying to be very honest about his journey and observations along the way. Maybe a good read for people contemplating an AT hike, but not a page-turner.

Too long and detailed. At one point he said he smelled something dead but didn't investigate. Then he goes on to say he always wondered if it could have been a person (or something along those lines). Talk about anticlimactic. Why even bother putting that part in?

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars for a couple of reasons:
1) I don't know if the author used an editor, but he should have, because there were multiple grammatical errors throughout the book.
2) I could have done without the diarrhea story. Too much information.
3) I also could have done without the author's childish, cocky, "we stuck it to the man" attitude at the end of the book. Finishing a thru-hike is a time for celebration and introspection, not "we screwed the system and got away with it." It left me with a negative impression of an otherwise good book.

I enjoyed his description of each of the states in the hike, and his admiration of nature and its beauty. He also described the people he met and the friendships he cultivated in detail, which let the reader appreciate that hiking the AT isn't just about lightweight gear and hiking for endless miles. He also detailed how his relationship changed for the better with his dog, Katana, who accompanied him for most of the hike.

One more quirk, and I don't know if this is just the Kindle edition - the photos were microscopically small and blurry. This was a downer because they were probably neat photos!

Overall, I recommend the book, as it was a nicely-detailed memoir of what a thru-hike of the AT is actually like.

The author provides his first hand experiences and learning's in hiking the full length of the trail from FL to ME. If you are considering a similar trek, this will clearly help you determine if you have the right physical stamina and back woods savvy to live in the bush for 6 months with minimal creature comforts. He provides numerous photos (not of best quality) that depicts many of the experiences and the other hikers he met along the way. If you are a dog lover, you will enjoy the accounts of his dog's trek with him on most of the journey (not recommended) and he shares how his bond grew for man's best friend.