Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

By Heather Anish Anderson

Book Overview

"Beautiful and deftly written and intimate and searing in its honesty, Anish's is a quest to conquer the trail and her own inner darkness." -- Foreword Reviews

"Filled with ruminative self-reflection, soaring natural descriptions and delightful accounts of the gracious, life-sustaining 'trail magic' of hiking culture, Thirst is a testament to human endurance, inspiring to hikers and non-hikers alike." -- Shelf Awareness

"A refreshingly candid account of how an average person can harness a steadfast determination to achieve the spectacular." ― Outside

Named "50 Best Hiking Books of all Time" by BACKPACKER MAGAZINE

By age twenty-five, Heather Anderson had hiked the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails--a combined distance of nearly eight thousand miles with a vertical gain of more than one million feet. Then, feeling it was time to settle down, Heather retired from long-distance hiking, married, and started a career. But her urge for wilderness was too strong, and she realized that nothing could replace the comfort she found while hiking. Her marriage crumbled. She quit her job. And she walked back into the mountains.

In Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home, Heather, whose trail name is "Anish," explores her motivations in returning to the trail--and to her record-setting success on the PCT when she hiked 40-plus miles a day, often walking late into the night by glow of a headlamp, and facing down rattlesnakes, mountain lions, bears, raging rivers, snow, and lightning. She shares her joy in leaving behind a mundane life, and amid the rigors of the trail--the pain, fear, loneliness, and dangers--she discovers the greater rewards of both community and self-fulfillment. She learns that setting records is merely a catalyst, teaching her how to live a life of courage, confidence, and purpose.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1680512366
• ISBN13: 9781680512366
• Release Date: January 2019
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Great read

Loved reading her story, couldn’t put it down

Better than I expected.

I knew this was a story about a Fastest Known Time attempt of the PCT. So, I expected a dry report full of numbers and times, by a conceded athlete boasting about their new record. And there is discussion of distances and times, but there is also a really good story. Thru-hiking is about the struggle...that never ends. This is a good description of that, and one of the better ones written. Would have loved to have gotten more on some of the background stories.

We get it. You were thirsty.

There's no doubt that Anish has accomplished more than most of us will in a life time. I wanted to like this book - to follow a literary journey through the depths of her soul. But the "thirst" emphasis was so repetitive, that it brought me right out of the book. Seldom do I leave a book unfinished, but I can't make myself reach the end of this one. While there are beautiful moments that bring readers to the PCT, they're quickly overshadowed by poor editorial decisions.