Walking Home

Common Sense and Other Misadventures on the Pacific Crest Trail

By: Rick Rogers

Narrated by: Marcus Pierce

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

A heartwarming adventure!

Can a comically straightforward American man learn patience and understanding in the wilderness?

Tightly written, witty, and agile, the most heart-touching and curveball characters are brought to life in a rich narrative that will have you laughing out loud, shaking your head, drying your eyes—but always, always absorbed and eager to hear more.

The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2,600-mile footpath from Mexico to Canada through the mountains of the West, and Rick sets out for the six-month trek looking forward to being immersed in nature. But once on the trail, he's surprised to find that his fellow humans, when observed and listened to at foot speed, are the more interesting and instructive creatures.

Written by a former West Coast climbing instructor and guide, and narrated by an East Coast sight and sound artist, Walking Home celebrates the people and their adventures on the trail with comic insight, rather than the usual "man vs. wilderness" narrative. The book is also liberally sprinkled with real-life tips and hacks for the experienced and fledgling backpacker alike.

The trail is likely an adventure that you too can take on, and Walking Home will make you want to.

We can all use a good, long trail.

©2021 Rick Rogers (P)2022 Rick Rogers

Loved this Book!

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the journey it took the author on. I loved the valuable lessons he learned along the way. It has hilarious moments that the narrator delivered exceptly well. I loved the narrators accents of the people making different characters easy to distinguish and vividly creates a visual image of them. Thank you for the journey. Having lived or traveled in most of those areas, your experience was a delight to walk along with you. Keep sharing.

Fun

From the start I didn’t think I’d enjoy this book but quickly changed my mind. Having hiked most of the PCT in section hikes, I enjoyed his description of familiar ground, and his encounters with PCT trail culture. He also included the funniest description of how to poop in the woods. A highly entertaining read for any prospective or past PCT hiker.

What a fun adventure!

There is no time like any other than to enjoy this daily adventure and hike with Rick Rogers. For those who want a break from life, and get away from it all..they might as well take a journey with Walking Home! And isn’t that what we all need? To walk internally “home”? I have certainly enjoyed this light entertaining book escaping from the tough world of today, and I ESPECIALLY enjoyed the narration by Marcus Pierce! Marcus climbed into these characters and created a fun envisionmint of each character that was passed along the journey.. And there were a lot of characters! I thought he did fantastic! Do you know how hard it is to do all kinds of accents and characters? Anyone who knows anything about voiceovers (and I do professionally know as a professional trained entertainer) knows that is a wonderful challenge to undertake! I loved it.
Personally I beg to differ of opinion about a voice of a 50 year old?? 1) voices don’t change that much when you get older. My voice is the SAME at 48. IF they do, they might get a little softer or with a glottal or throat covering on the vocal cords and that could be really if they overworked their vocal cords. Or trauma. 2) Athletes on average truly have boisterous energy even at later ages. I am a professional dancer, AND have professional athlete-we’re talking pro’s here-athletic or proactive friends from their 50’ss to 80’s! I am also a hiker and have hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
Enjoy this hiking adventure wondrously illustrated by Marcus Pierce.
Bravo!
By the way, I did give 4 stars vs 5 only because I personally want to know more of what our adventurer was learning more soulfully or spiritually if anything along the way, or if any sort of “mindful awakening” had happened as he encountered new friends along the way. :)
Thanks for the fun!

Great story, engaging narrator.

Loved the story and the characters along the way. The authors humor is definitive. Very enjoyable book.

Pretty Good Story, But ...

I certainly admire Rick Rogers for taking on the Pacific Crest Trail at a relatively advanced age. He must be in incredible shape to be able to cover the distances that he did, particularly near the end of his hike. I also enjoyed his stories about the colorful characters encountered along the way. Rogers comes across as a pretty nice guy who would be a good traveling companion and who would help others on the trail.

There were two things, however, that I found a bit off-putting about this book. First, although Rogers claims to have become more open minded as a result of his journey, that does not stop him from labeling a whole town as racist as a result of an incident (admittedly a disgusting incident) involving one resident and his hiking companion. A few other similar moments come through--I wish he had left such generalizations (which generally seem out of character) on the trail.

Second, I found the narration annoying. The story is told in the first person. Rogers is an older guy, but the narrator sounds like a vigorous guy in his twenties or early thirties. Further, the narrator affects a rather cloying voice when imitating women. Just not a great fit for this book.

Felt pessimistic and negative.

I usually love long Hike books. This one however, just felt like it was so negative. The first part of the book everyone seemed so rude. It was hard to listen to. I am not sure if it was the author's intent or if it was tone in which the narrator read it.

Not a Walk in the Woods.

Author seems like a nice person. He does tend to virtue signal and preach *open mindedness* and claims to be socially conservative. I could tolerate hearing his views most of the time, and he did provide some interesting information and observations.
Then, at the end, he let his true colors fly and we get treated to his shame about our country and citizenry’s response to the covid epidemic and other things. I immediately regretted buying this book.