Source to Sea » Books for Backpackers

Ultralight Backpacking Books

John — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:26:49 +0000

Here are a few of my favorite Ultralight Backpacking Books. Equipment changes all the time, but the best gear is what you have between your ears.

Lightweight Backpacking and Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Equipment, Technique, and Style – Ryan Jordan Ryan Jordan really, really knows his stuff, and this book gets into the thick of things in a hurry. Think of it as an update to Beyond Backpacking. Overall, its probably the best book out on ultralight backpacking right now. Highly recommended if you want to learn the latest and greatest in ultralight backpacking gear and techniques.

The Backpacker’s Handbook -Chris Townsend Probably my favorite book for straight-up backpacking information. Chris is a great writer, and this book covers almost everything you’ll need to know about camping short of a full-blown mountaineering trip. Love this book.

Lighten Up!: A Complete Handbook for Light and Ultralight Backpacking – Dan Lagidin and Mike Clelland Dan and Mike were NOLS instructors from way back, and this little book hits the highlights without getting too deep into things. A very quick read, and a little thin if you’re a real gearhead, but it’s good for getting to the point. I’d give this to a scout group in a heartbeat.

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Books for Backpackers – Simple Foods for the Pack

John — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:06:55 +0000

You’ve got to eat when backpacking and paddling, and one of our favorite outdoor cookbooks is Simple Foods for the Pack. Our copy of this Sierra Club classic is dog-earred, food-stained, and used more and more each time we head out.

Reams of recipes, tips, and dietary guidelines are spelled out over 280 pages. I like the simple layout of the book, with just enough black and white line drawings to break up things. We usually concentrate on the faster-cooking foods when tramping around, but there are also a large selections of breads and other camp foods for the slow-down set. We’ve particularly enjoyed the Chili (p. 176,) Pumpkin Pie Cake (p. 63,) and Alpine Spaghetti (p. 188.)

I’ve eaten more then my fair share of processed rice and noodle meals and just can’t choke them down any more. When I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, my diet consisted of Little Debbie snack cakes, Lipton meals, and peppermint patties. Eating that kind of crap day-in and day-out didn’t cut it, and I felt horrible by the end of the trip. We’ve gone to trying out healthier meals while out on the trail, and I feel 100% better at the end of the day. Simple Foods for the Pack has been a great addition to our outdoor bookshelf.

For more selected Books for Backpackers, check out our Amazon AStore at http://astore.amazon.com/sourctoseapad-20. Proceeds from our Amazon links help defer the cost of this website and are used to further the efforts of the Source to Sea Expedition. Thanks again for your support.

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Books for Backpackers: Walking with Spring

John — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:22:20 +0000

I recently spent a couple of evenings re-reading Earl Shaefer’s Walking with Spring. Earl was the first person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail way back in 1948, and he wrote this book based on his journals and photos. I first read this about 15 years ago, and still go back every once in awhile for a fresh look. I love this book, just love it.Clearly, thru-hiking in the late 40’s was a far cry from what we see these days.

Large sections of the trail were still on roads, and the Appalachian Trail was something of an afterthought to many of the locals. His description of spending the night with a Forest Service ranger in a watchtower is something that one would never have these days. You can now go out with maps loaded into a GPS, have scads of info gleaned from books and websites, and spend every night with several companions if you wanted to. Not saying that’s better or worse, but that’s just how it is. Sometimes I wonder if we’re getting overloaded with information about the trail, and how that affects people’s experience.

Each chapter begins with a short poem by Earl, and there are scads of black and white photos scattered throughout. Many of the shelters and buildings in the book have been torn down over the years, so the book serves as an archival snapshot in time of what the Appalachian Trail was like. Earl went on to hike the trail two more times, in 1965 (southbound from Maine to Georgia), and 1998 (northbound again.) Earl lived an extraordinary life, including a tour in the Pacific during WWII, and passed away in 2002 from complications from liver cancer. He regarded his thru-hike as a way to “walk the war out of his system,” and we are richer for having his words still with us. Walking with Spring is a great read for anyone interested in the culture surrounding the Appalachian Trail.

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