Walking the Gobi: A 1600-Mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair

by Helen Thayer

Book Overview

* The ultimate Baby Boomer adventure story * The author is an icon among American women adventurers * By the bestselling author of Polar Dream (more than 40,000 copies sold) At the age of 63, Helen... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159485064X
• ISBN13: 9781594850646
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Inspiring

Wow! The author, and adventurer, Helen Thayer gives an excellent portrayal of her journey through the Gobi! I could have read this in a day, but I kept re-reading chapters over and over. I felt like I was right there in the desert with Helen and Bill. I even got thirsty while reading the book! To be honest, I didn't even pick this book. I am part of a book group and the book was picked for me. And my first reaction was why did they walk through the desert, give me a break. But as I read the book, and learned in detail of the Nomads in the dessert, I realized that I would have never 'met' these wonderful people had Bill and Helen not shared this experience with me. Also, now this is deep, but it is somewhat metaphoric as we are all walking our Gobi's right now. Whether you are a person recovering from cancer, looking for a job, getting married, suffering a loss, fighting an illness, going to school, or you may be a college student who is getting ready to graduate and start life. We are all walking our Gobi's. It reminds me, us, that we can not just sit and let life pass us by but we must take advantage of this FULL wonderful life and seize every moment. POWERFUL! Inspiring! Full of Hope! I look forward to reading more of the Thayer's adventures!

An Interesting Tale of Travel

If you like to read tales of travel like I certainly do than you will enjoy this gob of paper and ink. These people are old and yet they manage to head out on the sand of the Gobi Desert for some pretty big adventure. You will enjoy it !

Two great accomplishments- An adventure and the book about it

I want to invite Helen Thayer over to dinner. Mainly I want to hear her stories again, and more of them. As soon as I closed Walking the Gobi and set it down on my kitchen table, I felt at the same time winded and awed, but hungry for more. If you're reading this review, I'm sure you've read the synopsis: two people over age 60 decide to walk across 1500 miles of one of the least-studied deserts in the world. And they do it in the summer. When Helen Thayer sat down to write this real-life adventure story, she must have known that she had something good. After all, the idea itself is impressive; it tugs at the ear and challenges the imagination. But Thayer does much more in Walking the Gobi than recount a long trek in a string of stories or patronize the reader by giving only summary and analysis of the journey's meaning. Thayer's descriptions are careful and organized, educated and intuitive. She gives us the gift of recreating each day so we can experience them with her. Each day is numbered and recorded with useful detail- pointing out the unique moments that set it apart from the rest and reinforcing the monotonous heat, wind, and regional dangers that made the journey long and at times overwhelming. Helen Thayer accomplished a truly great feat when she crossed the Gobi, but what's even better is that she wrote a book about it. Happy adventuring!

Modern adventurers

Modern day adventurers do exist. This is the first thing the reader will realize wehn reading "Walking the Gobi" by Helen Thayer. Ms. Thayer brings the reader with us as she traverses one of the most dangerous places on earth, the Gobi desert. It details a journey she and her husband made across the Gobi desert. From page one, I could not really put the book down. With her we meet Mongolian tribesman, smugglers along the Chinease border, rare Gobi bears, desert scorpions and the occasional Mongolian bureaucrat. Throughout, Ms. Thayer never lets the reader forget how truly amazing and beautiful this part of the world is. Any expedition like this would be a challenge for any healthy individual, but Ms. Thayer manages her journey with an injured leg throghout most of the book. Through sheer mental fortitude Ms. Thayer wills herself to complete her journey across one of the most hostile environments on earth, on step at a time. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys the spirit of adventure.

Adventure writing at its best!

I could barely put this book down. The adventures that Helen Thayer and her husband encountered as they walked across the Gobi Desert are bigger-than-life. As a reader, you feel as though you are on the trail with them, step for step, sweating, thirsty, tired and dirty. Sprinkled throughout the book are wonderful and heartfelt encounters with Mongolian nomads who share what little they have with these two American travelers. Scorpions, snakes, smugglers, rifle-toting border guards -- it's all here. What makes it all the more amazing is that Helen Thayer was in her early 60s and her husband in his 70s when they made this trek. It is so refreshing to read an adventure tale from a woman's point of view. Helen's voice is authentic and down-to-earth. Yes, she can walk 1600 miles through the desert with the best of them, despite a serious hip and leg injury, but she also frets about the animal carcasses she sees along the way, wondering about the creatures' painful last moments. She worries about the plight of the nomad families they meet, but also recognizes and appreciates their quiet strength and close connection to the land. She'll make you laugh at the antics she and her husband go through to avoid eating some of the food and drink given to them by the warm and welcoming Mongolians. And you may find yourself in tears as their once-in-a-lifetime journey draws to an end. A wonderful adventure tale!