There are stretches of the year when getting outside is not always possible. Work, weather, or life in general gets in the way. A good adventure travel book is the next best thing, and occasionally it is better, because the best ones send you somewhere you would never have thought to go on your own. Here are five worth your time.
Five Adventure Travel Books Worth Reading
The Yellow Envelope by Kim Dinan
Kim Dinan and her husband quit their jobs to travel the world. Before they leave, someone gives them a yellow envelope containing a sum of money and three rules for how to give it away: do not overthink it, share your experiences, and do not feel pressured to give it all away at once.
What follows is a journey through Ecuador, Peru, Nepal, and beyond, with all the relationship strain, travel mistakes, and personal reckoning that comes with leaving everything behind to live on the road. The yellow envelope becomes a lens for examining what it actually means to give of yourself rather than just your money. It is an uplifting read that does not shy away from the harder parts of the trip.
Find The Yellow Envelope on Amazon.
Funny Sh*t in the Woods by Brendan Leonard
Brendan Leonard runs the outdoor blog Semi-Rad and has been writing honestly and hilariously about the outdoor life for years. This collection pulls together 40 of his best pieces, complete with his own illustrations. The range goes from laugh-out-loud mishaps to genuine reflection on why people do the things they do outside, sometimes at significant personal risk.
It is the kind of book that is dangerous to read in public because of the involuntary laughing. It is also the kind of book that disappears when you loan it to someone. Buy a second copy before you hand it to a friend.
Find Funny Sh*t in the Woods on Amazon.
The Last Season by Eric Blehm
Randy Morgenson was a legendary backcountry ranger in California’s Sierra Nevada, the kind of person who preferred remote patrol assignments to everything else the job offered. In the 1990s he disappeared in the backcountry, triggering one of the largest search efforts ever conducted by the National Park Service.
Eric Blehm reconstructs Randy’s life and the search through interviews and records, painting a portrait of what it means to dedicate your life to wild places and what happens when those places take someone back. It is part biography, part mystery, and entirely absorbing. If you have spent any time in the Sierra Nevada it hits differently.
Find The Last Season on Amazon.
Car Camping by Mark Sundeen
Mark Sundeen is 22 and trying to figure out his life, so he drives it. The route takes him through Death Valley, the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, the Green River in Utah, Coos Bay in Oregon, and a handful of places in between. The adventures he sets out to find keep not quite happening, and that gap between expectation and experience is where the book lives.
What makes it worth reading is the voice. Sundeen’s naivety about what the outdoor life is supposed to look like cuts through the marketing version of adventure travel and gets at something more honest. He is searching for authenticity and keeps stumbling into it sideways. A good read for anyone who has ever set out on a trip that did not go according to plan.
Five Million Steps by Lon Chenowith
Lon Chenowith dreamed about hiking the Appalachian Trail from the time he was a teenager. When he finally sets out, it is not in one continuous push but as a series of section hikes that stretch across fourteen years and 2,200 miles through fourteen states. What starts as a training hike with his two young sons becomes a solo undertaking that tests his body, his patience, and his faith.
The fourteen-year relationship with the trail is the most interesting part of the story. The AT does not let you off easy and Chenowith does not pretend otherwise. For anyone who has thought about tackling a long trail in pieces rather than all at once, this one resonates.
Find Five Million Steps on Amazon.
All five of these are worth the time whether you are between trips or just need something to read while you wait for the weather to cooperate. If you have a recommendation that belongs on a list like this, leave it in the comments. Always looking for the next one.
If you are also a documentary watcher, the adventure documentaries post covers ten films in a similar vein. And if the Appalachian Trail section caught your attention, the post on hiking solo and what to think about before you go alone is worth a read before you lace up.
If you want more recommendations, the Podcasts section has more good listening for when you are between trips. When the books have you ready to get out, the Places section has real trip reports from across the US worth adding to your own list. The newsletter is where I share the extra stuff: finds, recommendations, and things that do not always make it to the blog. Subscribe on Substack if you want to follow along.