Book Review: A Long Trek Home

225 pages, 2009, Erin McKittrick

I received A Long Trek Home as a gift in 2009 and I’ve since read it a couple of times. The story follows the author and her husband as they hike, packraft, and ski about 4000 miles (over 6000 km) from Seattle, Washington, to the Aleutian Islands in far west Alaska. It’s an impressive trip through remote, mountainous terrain full of grizzly bears and extreme weather.

I’m from this part of the world, so I can really appreciate the magnitude of the trek, and frankly I find it astounding. The book lacks the emotional peaks and valleys that create tension and make for a really great adventure story though, which is kind of disappointing considering the epic scale of the journey.

They did have to overcome some really tough obstacles, like slogging up mountains through chest-deep snow and having their packrafts ripped apart by a hungry grizzly bear while camping on a remote island, but these moments don’t have the impact they would in a John Krakauer book, for example, or the humor of Bill Bryson, or the emotional vulnerability of Cheryl Strayed.

That criticism aside, the book is still definitely worth reading if you dream of one day completing a long packrafting trip yourself, or even if you just enjoy adventure stories.

Interestingly, I don’t really recall much river paddling in the book, but they sure did lots of ocean paddling, including some very long open water crossings! It’s amazing where a packraft can take you.

My recommendations:

• Is it worth borrowing this book from a friend or library? Absolutely.
• Is it worth buying it used? Yes.
• Is it worth buying it new? Sure.

Have you read this book, or do you have another book recommendation for people interested in packrafting? If so, please leave your thoughts below!