A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple's Trial by Trail (Barbara Savage Award Winner)

Additional A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple's Trial by Trail (Barbara Savage Award Winner) Information

They’re not sure which came first—falling in love with each other, or falling in love with the idea of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (Mexico to the Canadian border). At the trailhead, they were warned that there would be tears, that each would have to find their own separate pace, and that at times the tent would seem awfully small for the two of them. They were told that their biggest obstacles to success would be…each other.

Their first surprise: freeze-dried meals do funny things to your GI tract. Their first fight: when Angela noticed that Duffy’s long legs propel him along the trail faster than she can muster. But on they pressed— encountering snakes, bears, and fellow thru-hikers with trail names like Crazy Legs and Catch 23. They baked in the deserts of Southern California, gazed awestruck at the snowy, serrated peaks of the High Sierra, and attempted to hide from Northern Washington’s seemingly incessant rain. 132 days later, they made it—blisters and all.

What Customers Say About A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple's Trial by Trail (Barbara Savage Award Winner):

There are many guidebooks on the trail itself. As someone planning this trip, the emotions from both the male and female perspective displayed in this book is also a very important aspect to be informed about also. I loved this book.

I picked this book because it won the Barbara Savage memorial award, and it did not disappoint. This was a great account of adventure travel told from two points of view. The two perspectives made it humorous and insightful to hear about their adventures from two perspectives.

I like the chapters in the "he said, she said" point of view. I could really feel what each was going through. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

It's almost as if we get to alternate sharing the trail with each author, hearing ones view of the trail tale before we hang back and join the other, listening to the same story with that author's particular way of looking at the adventure. A Blistered Kind of Love is a terrific account of one couple as they trek the Pacific Crest Trail. Very quickly, the reader gets the sense of being on a hike with good friends. The narrative alternates between authors Angela and Duffy Ballard, and that sets the book apart from other hiking memoirs. Seeing the hike from both perspectives invites the reader to share the experience with greater depth than most single-perspective narratives. It helps that both writers do a terrific job of letting us see through their eyes. This book is strongly recommended for hikers, adventurers, and people interested in the way relationships develop in extreme situations.

For anyone with a sense of adventure and the urge to find it inside themselves. Both fun and inspirational - this is what good travel writing is all about - and it comes with an added twist. Duffy and Angela alternate writing chapters and their distinct styles (and perspectives) are what really make this book fresh and original.