Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home
When Heather Anderson was a child struggling to make it around the track during gym class, she made a vow: one day, she would set an athletic record and prove to herself that she was not only capable, but extraordinary.
As a young adult working at the Grand Canyon, she fell in love with the beauty of nature and the transformational power of hiking. Soon, she had tackled the three most challenging trails in the United States — the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail.
Thirst details Anderson’s second journey along the Pacific Crest Trail, from the deserts of Southern California to the dense woods of Washington, as she attempts to break the record for fastest hiking time on the full 2,650-mile trail. Written with humor and humility, her adventures on the trail are by turns quirky and inspiring.
Also recommended: Wild by Cheryl Strayed and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Quote:
“My pack was light as I pounded out the miles as fast as I could. My hamstring still hindered me, but I ignored it. Instead I focused on maintaining my range of motion and not compromising my stride in ways that could lead to additional injury. I was logging over forty miles every day now and I didn’t plan to stop. My body, amazingly, seemed to have surpassed athleticism and become a machine. When I was awake, I walked. When I stopped, I slept. There was not much else. Its operation often seemed to be on autopilot. But there was a deeper meaning behind this sleep, eat, walk mechanism. It meant that it was no longer my body that was most likely to fail — only my mind could stop me now. Can it handle the loneliness, the lack of sleep, the unrelenting drive necessary to cover another thirteen hundred miles in less than a month?”
Author:
Heather Anderson is a personal trainer, mountaineer, endurance athlete, and the author of Thirst. She was the first woman to complete the Triple Crown of hiking — the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide trails — within a calendar year. Her trail name is Anish.
Published: 2019
Length: 208 pages
Set in: California, Oregon, and Washington, U.S.