On Trails: A Journey of Discovery with Robert Moorhead

Lincoln: Hiking is one of my favorite things. I have hiked parts of the Camino of Santiago in Spain on five different occasions, starting in 2003. I have hiked different trails in Mississippi and Louisiana. This past summer, I have hiked part of a route that links the old California missions. Hiking these trails has been good for my soul and has given me a very different perspective on life and on my existence here on earth. I loved this book, interviewing people who have pioneered the process of preserving old trails or promoting hiking on trails. Anyone connected with hiking will love this book. A big thank you to the author for this wonderful work.

United States on Oct 06, 2022

Graham B.: Surprisingly in his early 20s this gifted writer discerned the thread of what was to become a fascinating book related to the physical movement of life forms. From fossilized primitive organisms leaving traces of their movements across the earth to the tracks and trails of animals and mankind Robert Moor takes the reader on a philosophical, intricate and remarkable journey. While most of us would, at such a young age, stare at the multitude of tracks and trails and see no clear way forward, Moor leads the way with tales of his own expeditions and research to draw the reader in. His prose and clever thinking will take you on a remarkable journey. You may never walk a track, path or trail again without thinking about the author and the deep questions he poses. Certainly an author to follow.

Canada on Apr 24, 2021

Bill C.: I enjoyed the book. It is a trail in and of itself. It's format and presentation reflects what the author ultimately describes a trail to be. It is a scholarly read from an introspective highly educated writer. Some chapters I found more interesting than others, but it was worth the time to read it all. It is well written, well researched, and at the same time an enjoyable read. I think that fact alone may be what prompted so many favorable literary reviews. It asks more questions than it answers and it reports heavily on the writings and thoughts of others via research, direct quotes and discussions, as opposed to the sole thinking and independent thoughts and observations of the author. Those who are similar in age to that of the author may be better able to relate to the author's approach and may find it as enlightening as I found Walden when I read it many many years ago as a young man. If you believe that nature and wilderness is meant to be explored beyond the physical, then you will really appreciate this book. If you think being outdoors and learning by observing is a reward in and of itself, then this book may be too much. It delves much more deeply than that.

United States on Jun 15, 2020

Mikio Miyaki: Robert Moor wrote “On Trails” is a book searching for the wisdom of trails. Where on earth are people attracted to hiking? What drive them to move around? Do they have any clear impetus, need some time to clear their head, or attempt to find themselves, peace, or God? Are they fleeing from something? Are there any inciting incident? Grieving? Depressed? Recovering? After the industrial revolution, nature-starved urbanites are said to invented leisure to hike. Road walking became a popular American pastime in the late nineteenth century. The Appalachian Trail itself was completed only eighty years ago, in 1937. Moor has walked through the whole Appalachian trail. With this experience he ponders over a question, why we trail. What does the trail mean to us? With journalist’s perfectionism and persistence, he moves into action. He comes to professionals, researchers, even to men of businesses. His knowledge is extensive, covers biology, ethology, entomology, geography, topography, mineralogy, archaeology, ethnology, folklore, linguistics, and so forth. He widens various knowledge in his youth burning through books the way a chain-smoker smokes, picking up one even as he was...

United States on Jun 02, 2018

Joy Llewellyn: This was my favourite book of last year. I originally took it out of the library but found I kept wanting to underline or highlight phrases or sentences so I stopped reading my library copy, and bought one I could make notes in as I read. What a glorious writer. Recommended, recommended, recommened!

Canada on May 17, 2018

SR: I have not read this book yet myself, but gifted it to my father for Christmas. He talks about it every time I see him, is reading it again, and is following the author's blog as a result of how much he has enjoyed this book. It is not quite what I expected, the chapters are all about different types of trails, not just human trails, and he describes it as a bit random but fantastic. I think this would make a good gift for any reader interested in nature, hiking or travel.

Canada on Jul 13, 2017

Steven: I bought this book as a fan of adventure travel writing and particularly hiking tales, and was expecting this to be a breezy ramble. It's so, so much more than that. It's part science, part anthropology, part adventure... and it comes together seamlessly with a writing style that's assured and engaging.

Moor ties together the threads of these subjects, covering the biological triggers of 'trails' in animals and humans, asking deep questions as to their role in life itself, while interspersing them with tales of his own in-the-field research and expeditions, and the current hiking environment. The individuals he meets along the way are as interesting as anything else in the book, and add a human connection to the concepts at hand.

I was intrigued to read that the Appalachian Trail (which I hadn't heard of since Bill Bryson's classic A Walk In The Woods) was currently in the process of becoming a globe-spanning epic route, something that Moor carefully dissects from all angles.

On Trails is an instantly essential text on the subject, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

United Kingdom on Nov 03, 2016

Mike Clayton: Good book. Unexpected focus. Will reread slowly after first speed reading and update review.
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Updated after first speed reading.
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You are warned that this is not a fun-filled Bryson book and likely will not be made into a Hollywood movie. But after 75 years of hiking globally from Allegheny mountains to Rockies to Inca trail with Cusco hometown amateur guide that played the flute for 4 days backpacking to ancient ruins never found (and thus never "improved") by the Spanish I finally "got it." And this book is a bigger deeper personal exploration story that imparts almost academic depth to the why how when where of trails and the details of geology and biology over eons that one can see in fossil records and terrain and climate history that can bring deeper meaning to any trail hike.

It reminded me of John McPhee "Annals of a Former World" which turns roadside geology across the US via route 80 into a pleasant if lengthy lesson that adds plate tectonics to your mental pictures of mountains and basins and rangeland. That got McPhee a Pulitzer Prize (huge book) and after reading all of it over 3 years I then bought the shirt paperback sections of those...

United States on Oct 20, 2016

M Clark: This is a book of philosophy exploring the meaning of trails. Why do they exist? Who creates then and maintains them? How do the people walking them impact the trails and how are they impacted by walking the trails. After reading this, you will never walk a trail in quite the same way.

The book begins by looking at how animals create trails and then explores how Indians in the Eastern USA created their trails and maintained their forests. A large part of the book (too much of the book) seems devoted to the Appalachian Trail and the people who walk it all the way. Although it includes a discussion of efforts to extend that trail to Europe, the book is admittedly over-focused on the Eastern USA. Since I was reading this book while walking the Via Claudia Augusta roman highway over the Alps, I missed a discussion of European trails.

Germany on Sep 09, 2016