Book 5: A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple's Trial by Trail

In honor of our friend Nick Brown--who has challenged my Western tendencies towards consumerism and comfort by embarking on the Pacific Crest Trail (a trail from Mexico to Canada along some of the Western U.S.'s highest points)--and in honor of some of our summer backpacking trips to many of the national parks, I'd like to offer "A Blistered Kind of Love", a story about a couple who traveled the Pacific Crest Trail before they got married, and the insights and hijinks they encountered along the way.

Alternating chapters, the Ballards describe their arduous 2,655-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, which zigzags its way from Mexico to Canada, crossing three states, three national monuments, seven national parks, 24 national forests, and 33 federally mandated wildernesses. Grappling with thirst, fear, and pain, they completed the trail in 132 days. In addition to providing detailed information on pretrip planning (meal preparation, gear, medicines), they also relate many amusing anecdotes about the characters they met along the way, including one pair whose goal was hiking 1 percent of the trail while intoxicated (they were successful). In between breathtaking descriptions of the many scenic vistas, which they viewed very briefly because of their manic devotion to covering a set amount of miles per day, the couple speak insightfully about their dynamics, which sometimes deteriorated into fights over the size of each other's steps. Although many of the couples they encountered on the trail had broken up by the end, the Ballards got married. This delightful title has appeal beyond hard-core backpackers.