How the Wild Effect Turned Me into a Hiker at 69: An Appalachian Trail Adventure

By: Jane E. Congdon

Narrated by: Andrea Gappmayer

This is a terrific audiobook. It's interesting, well-written, and timely. It's the story of a textbook editor who retires, reads the popular book The Wild Effect and decides to hike the Appalachian Trail - and have an unexpected adventure!

The tone is wry humor, tongue in cheek - the author has a great sense of humor, is perky, and as she learns in this adventure, is often in over her head! She is a very likeable character.

©2018 Jane E. Congdon (P)2018 Bettie Youngs Book Publishers

A Little Disappointed

I will keep this brief... I did not dislike this book, but I ended up feeling like I had listened to a lot of personal whining. The basic information about the AT was good, very informative, but the decisions about personal relationships got a bit tiresome.

Great motivation!

This book was recommended to me because I am scared of everything too. Especially wild animals and bugs. This was a great story about persistence and facing your fears and mind over matter and never giving up, even when you are with someone who judges you constantly and makes you feel inferior. I have read "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed, which is referenced in this book a lot. I am glad i read that book before this one. They go together very well. So not to give spoilers, I will say the ending was very inspiring, and validation is always so nice!

I wish the narrator had an older sounding voice, but she was good, with the exception of mispronouncing Cheryl Stayed's name the entire time. So be prepared to overlook that.

Enjoyable Book! LOVED IT.

Makes me wanna go hike! Very enjoyable book! Hope she hikes the PCT and writes a book!

Appalachian Trail ...personal memoirs

Loved this book....lived near the AT in the East for first 32 years of life and always loved the short hikes....for someone to try to take on 2200 miles is fascinating. JC is within a few years of my age and I wanted not only an older hiker's thoughts but also a woman's point of view...was not disappointed....was sad to get to the end!

Meh

As a 56 yr old woman, I'm planning to thru hike the AT next year. So I was drawn to a book about an older woman doing it. Jane is likable enough but uncomfortably insecure. I was rooting for her but so disappointed in her continuing to put up with a bossy-pants hiking partner. I know "Miles" type, and there's no way in the world I would even do a day hike with her. lol But the book was well written, and hopefully Jane has found her inner badass by now. I admire her for embarking on the journey.

Know what you are getting into!

This book is about Jane's hike of the Appalachian trail with her friend Myles. If you expect a Wild - style book with reflections into author's life from the trail, this is not it. The author goes into great details about the specifics of the trail, and her journey. It might get boring soon if you expect a lot of reflection into the author's life just like Wild.

interesting trail story

I don't love the narrator but once I got passed that, I found the story interesting.

Not a bad read

Spoiler alert she doesn’t finish the hike. But still a very compelling and motivational story.

The narrator ruins it!

The story is great. The author bounces around a bit, but the narrator has a thick Utah accent that just grates.

A mean feat hiking of and with Miles on the AT

When a wordsmith and former book editor chooses (and even in the earliest stages, feels an unsettled sense of misgiving) to walk as a hiking rookie with an admitted proponent of brevity, "Issues" will arise.

Ms Congdon's account of her travails and stumbles with Trail-named "Miles", a former underling at their previous employment.(Red flag, Ms Congdon!) Through significant portions of the Appalachian Trail in 2015, she reveals insights and introspection as challenging as her wariness and fear of thunderstorms and things which might or might not go bump in the night as the trail itself. I wonder if Ms Congdon is a Virgo, whose animal totem is the rabbit and, in the form of the gift of a tiny glass rabbit, was one of her most valued companions.

I cringed and gritted my teeth as the author related incident after incident in which her female companion, "Miles", berated, railed and demanded Ms Congdon to commit to meeting Miles's vaunted expectations of a trail companion. Knowing Ms Congdon grew up in a tiny West Virginia town with alcoholic parents did help me to understand her reluctance to challenge authority, but, oh, dear! How I longed for Ms Congdon to "grow a pair"!

In balance, if you seek a memoir of the Appalachian Trail, absolutely listen to her book. A note to potential younger readers: this is the account of your mother, grand-mother and great aunt. No skinny dipping, "smoking", boozing or intimate encounters on this trail! :-) But you will learn about perseverance and about the critical components of truthful commitment along the AT and in the journey of life.

Ms Congdon returned from this adventure and other forays into section of the AT with a significant appreciation of Nature and the esteem with which, at the end of the day, one cannot obtain from another without sourcing it within self.