Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart

An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail

By: Carrot Quinn

Narrated by: Erin Spencer

Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Carrot Quinn fears that she's become addicted to the Internet. The city makes her numb, and she's having trouble connecting with others. In a desperate move, she breaks away from everything to walk 2,660 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. It will be her first long-distance hike.

In the desert of Southern California, Carrot faces many challenges, both physical and emotional: pain, injury, blisters, aching cold and searing heat, dehydration, exhaustion, loneliness. In the wilderness she happens upon and becomes close with an eclectic group of strangers - people she wouldn't have chanced to meet in the "regular world" but who are brought together, here on the trail, by their one common goal: to make it to Canada before the snow flies.

©2015 Carrot Quinn (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Fresh and surprising thru-hikealog

After finishing this book, I found I craved the narrator's voice and being on the trail with Carrot, so I started listening again. It's become the backdrop for life these days, and I listen as I drive, as I lay down to sleep, whenever I want to escape to the trail. It has re-opened the world of thru hiking for me just when I needed it! PCT '85

Inspirational

This book will stay with me for a while. Erin Spencer (Narrator) made me feel like I was right there, on the trail, soaking wet or extremely tired. Sometimes a narrator is so good that you think it has to be the author as they seem to maintain the cadence of the written speech as if it were their own. It was fantastically done.

That means the writing was natural and felt genuine. This was a journal of sort of the hiker, Carrot Quinn. She was honest and told the good and the bad of her travels. There were times that I laughed out loud at what happened. And there were tears of seeing the incredible scenery and tears of hurt along the way.

I have to admit I want to do this. But it seems so far away from possible when just getting the dog and I out for our mile walk is tough. A windy day will keep us in. Rain is my dog's least favorite. She won't go out, yet I have the raincoat and boots and plenty of umbrellas. Snow is my favorite, but my dog can't handle it very long, even with coat and pad coverings, so we walk around the yard. So much for my trek.

So it is fun to live vicariously through those who do the long hikes or marathons. Inspiration helps with daily life and gives hope for more.

I want to read this again soon.

Annoyingly great book

What did you love best about Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart?

"Bam! Bam! Bam!" "Hike, Hike, Hike"."What is a mountain? Who are these people? What does it even mean?"Carrot has an annoying tendency to repeat the same word 3 times too often and keeps asking herself silly rhetorical question over and over again.If it doesn't bother you too much, it's a fantastic book and I recommend that you shall read it, read it, read it.If it doesn't bother you too much, it's a fanta... you get the point

really enjoyed this

i will listen to this again .. probaly several more times. now i am typing to get the required twenty words needed for a review to be accepted

so freaking good.

loved every minute of the book! I am excited to read others from Carrot. I walk the PCT this year.

One of my favorite stories of all time

I had not expected to like this book. Oh my, was I ever wrong. At first I thought the book was missing something, but eventually Carrot tells me at least a little about why she is on the trail. I gotta say I really ended up not liking that tree-loving dude, but I looked up Brewer's Spruce anyway and bought one for my yard. I will be reminded of this excellent book and Carrot's superb writing as my lil 2 foot tall tree ever-so-slowly grows and makes me smile for years to come. Thanks Carrot for your story.

Too bad

This book was hard to finish. I love stories about hiking and especially the Pacific Crest Trail. But this book seemed more like a story of an aimless young woman looking for something that she never really found. I found myself wading through the descriptions of the author trying to trap the Catholic virgin with sex (and then wondering why it didn't work out) and hoping for more time spent experiencing the trail. Overall, the sex was a distraction. Every section of the hike seemed like a race to the next town for hotels and town food and access to the technology the author spent so much time wanting to get away from. I guess establishing that premise wasn't worth exploring after all. The near-death experiences in Washington indicated to me that the author spent little time learning to read the trail even after five months on it. That kind of neglect in the 2017 season would likely have ended in death. In the end it became clear that the author was not looking for an escape from technology but a path to companionship, and in this case the Trail did not provide. I guess I can sum up my impressions best by saying that the story was amusing as long as I thought the author was a twenty-one (two maybe) year old, fresh out of school wanderer that just hadn't gotten her bearings yet. When I found out she turned thirty-one on the trail, the story turned tragic. How can one waste so much of this amazing life by walking without a direction? Well, that's it I guess. To each his own. Hike your own hike as they say. My two cents.

Good, be aware of some sensual details

I actually really liked Carrot a lot, and her honestly in her account. That said, I was a bit surprised by her detailed accounts of several different sensual encounters that may not be appropriate for certain audiences.

Another non-content issue was the long chapters. For audio books I personally prefer shorter ones to keep from occasionally losing my place :)

Just what I was looking for!

I really enjoy being immersed in a long journey story, and find myself mentally imagining when I will do one myself. Have listened to a lot of the AT and PCT stories out there, enjoying them all in there own way. I found Carrot to be particularly skilled at writing and storytelling. I also admired her ability to be self aware, introspective, question asking, considering and thoughtful. In other words, a very deep thinker. I just downloaded her next book, and look forward to more Carrot. Keep writing, and I enjoyed the narration as well.

Inspiring and Honest

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to a friend. I loved her style, her vulnerability and honesty. It makes we want to hike like that, to just be free and shine a light on who I truly am at the heart with all the other stuff around me far away.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Carrot of course.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, not all at once, this is a long and slow listen, just like the hike.