On Trails

An Exploration

By: Robert Moor

Narrated by: Robert Moor

New York Times Bestseller • Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award • Winner of the Saroyan International Prize for Writing • Winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award • “The best outdoors book of the year.” —Sierra Club

From a talent who’s been compared to Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, David Quammen, and Jared Diamond, On Trails is a wondrous exploration of how trails help us understand the world—from invisible ant trails to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways to the Internet.

While thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Robert Moor began to wonder about the paths that lie beneath our feet: How do they form? Why do some improve over time while others fade? What makes us follow or strike off on our own? Over the course of seven years, Moor traveled the globe, exploring trails of all kinds, from the miniscule to the massive. He learned the tricks of master trail-builders, hunted down long-lost Cherokee trails, and traced the origins of our road networks and the Internet. In each chapter, Moor interweaves his adventures with findings from science, history, philosophy, and nature writing.

Throughout, Moor reveals how this single topic—the oft-overlooked trail—sheds new light on a wealth of age-old questions: How does order emerge out of chaos? How did animals first crawl forth from the seas and spread across continents? How has humanity’s relationship with nature and technology shaped world around us? And, ultimately, how does each of us pick a path through life?

Moor has the essayist’s gift for making new connections, the adventurer’s love for paths untaken, and the philosopher’s knack for asking big questions. With a breathtaking arc that spans from the dawn of animal life to the digital era, On Trails is a book that makes us see our world, our history, our species, and our ways of life anew.

Our collective trails

This is a fascinating deep dive into how every species develops trails and how they connect us collectively. The author gives a great and witty voice to this story.

Excellently told, wxtremely thoughtful, and unique.

Highly recommend this listen. It’s educational and thought-provoking. It nicely balances gentle tension with a soothing meandering back to its storylines. The author seems to intentionally and successfully evoke the feeling of the book, itself, being a trail. Definitely getting his next book as well: In Trees.

The Wonder of Wandering

I loved the
Sense of adventure and the desire to learn by becoming one with the many locations, characters and climates through which the author traveled. I began to feel as if I accompanied him through the forests, deserts and relationships he encountered.

Great to listen to while I was on the trail!

I listened to "On Trails" while backpacking the Minong Trail at Isle Royale National Park last week. It was a super interesting book that helped me pass several challenging days while hiking. I usually listen to the natural world while hiking in the early morning. However, as the sun rises and other chitchatting hikers join me on the trail, I will pop in an ear bud and listen to an audio book to pass the time. "On Trails" was great to listen to while I was on the trail. It made the miles and terrain pass quickly. The book has tons of super interesting facts and great personal stories. For example, who knew the same man that advocated the creation of the Appalachian Trail also was involved in envisioning the USA's Interstate Highway System! Or, that something like 85% of our roadways are on old Native American trails! These are just a few of the interesting facts you'll learn as you listen to this highly engaging book.

Where Every Step Starts to Mean Something

On Trails: An Exploration surprised me in the best way. Robert Moor doesn’t just talk about trails; he listens to them. He moves from ants to animals to ancient pathways and somehow ties history, science, and personal experience into something that feels alive. Every chapter made me slow down and see the deeper beauty in how paths are formed—not by certainty, but by need, hunger, and the courage to keep moving.

What hit me most was how personal it becomes. Moor shows that every trail, whether in the wilderness or in our own lives, begins with a simple truth: someone kept walking even when they didn’t have it all figured out. That resonated with me. It made me look at my own journey differently—how every step, good or bad, becomes part of a path someone else might follow one day.

This book is calm, thoughtful, and quietly powerful. It leaves you feeling grounded, reflective, and connected to something bigger. If you’ve ever been lost, wandering, healing, or just trying to understand the world a little better, this book speaks to that. Easily one of the most beautiful listens I’ve had on Audible.