On Trails is a wandering tale that blends hiking, science, and history

The article describes Robert Moor’s On Trails: An Exploration as more than a straightforward account of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. What begins as a personal hiking narrative becomes a broader look at trails, blending nature writing with science, history, and reflection.

The piece highlights continued reader interest in outdoor narratives that offer escape while also explaining human relationships with landscapes. Its appeal suggests that nature writing remains strongest when it connects personal experience to bigger questions about movement, memory, and place.

Hiking is one of life's great joys. Turning off the screens and stepping out into nature for an extended period of time, perhaps even several days, is rejuvenating. Unfortunately, as someone with two young kids and a bad back, I'm not really able to go backpacking anymore. So I often find myself trying to live vicariously through others who write about their lengthy travails along the Appalachian or the PCT. That's what I thought I was signing up for when I picked up On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor. But it turned out to be so much more. The prologue starts with Moor talking about his decision to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. And … Read the full story at The Verge.