Adventure Travel Memoirs

Updated June 6, 2026
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Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Strayed, Cheryl
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century At...
We came, we saw, we left : a family gap year
Wheelan, Charles J.
Paper Book
Charlie Wheelan and his family do what others dream of: They take a year off to travel the world. This is their story. What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre-COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family...
Spirit run : a 6,000-mile marathon through North America's stolen land
?lvarez, No
Paper Book
In this New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, the son of working-class Mexican immigrants flees a life of labor in fruit-packing plants to run in a Native American marathon from Canada to Guatemala in this "stunning memoir that moves to the rhythm of feet, labor, and the many...
The Sun is a Compass : A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds
Van Hemert, Caroline
Paper Book
For fans of Cheryl Strayed, the gripping story of a biologist's human-powered journey from the Pacific Northwest to the Arctic to rediscover her love of birds, nature, and adventure. During graduate school, as she conducted experiments on the...
A walk in the park : the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paper Book
* Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Air Mail, Smithsonian Magazine, and Financial Times "A...
Blue highways a journey into America
Heat Moon, William Least.
Paper Book
Bicycling with butterflies : my 10,201-mile journey following the monarch migration
Dykman, Sara
Paper Book
Winner of the 2021 National Outdoor Book Award Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration--a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles....
How to be a family : the year I dragged my kids around the world to find a new way to be together
Kois, Dan
Paper Book
In this "refreshingly relatable" (Outside) memoir, perfect for the self-isolating family, Slate editor Dan Kois sets out with his family on a journey around the world to change their lives together. What happens when one frustrated dad turns his kids'...
A walk in the woods : rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
A laugh-out-loud account of an outrageously rugged hike--by the beloved comic author of Lost Continent and Notes from a Small Island. Published in the 75th anniversary year of the Appalachian Trail. Father's Day merchandising.
Wandering in strange lands : a daughter of the Great Migration reclaims her roots
Jerkins, Morgan
Paper Book
One of TIME's 100 Must Read Books of 2020 and one of Good Housekeeping's Best Books of the Year "One of the smartest young writers of her generation."--Book Riot From New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing Morgan Jerkins, a powerful story of her journey to...
Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia
Gilbert, Elizabeth
Paper Book
One of the most iconic, beloved, and bestselling books of our time. This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success...
The ride of her life : the true story of a woman, her horse, and their last-chance journey across America
Letts, Elizabeth
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER .The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion presents a "heartwarming and engaging folk-hero biography" (Kirkus Reviews) of a woman who fulfilled her lifelong wish to see the Pacific Ocean by riding...
The lost city of the Monkey God
Preston, Douglas J.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic. An acclaimed journalist takes readers on a true...
In a sunburned country
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down, and over the Appalachian Trail (well, most of it) resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. Now he has traveled across the world and all the way Down...
Thirty below : the harrowing and heroic story of the first all-women's ascent of Denali
Randall, Cassidy
Paper Book
The gripping story of a group of female adventurers and their treacherous pioneering ascent of Denali. Excerpted in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and Men's Journal, and named one of the most noteworthy books of the month by the Washington Post ...
WAY OF THE HERMIT
SMITH, KEN
Paper Book
Could you leave behind the bustle of modern society and spend your days immersed in nature? In The Way of the Hermit, seventy-four-year-old Ken Smith recounts a life he has chosen to spend alone with the wilderness.Ken Smith has spent the past four decades in the Scottish Highlands. He lives alone,...
Tracks
Davidson, Robyn
Paper Book
A cult classic with an ever-growing audience, Tracks is the brilliantly written and frequently hilarious account of a young woman's odyssey through the deserts of Australia, with no one but her dog and four camels as companions. Davidson emerges as a heroine who combines extraordinary courage with...
Leave only footprints : my Acadia-to-Zion journey through every national park
Knighton, Conor
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "A delightful sampler plate of our national parks, written with charisma and erudition."--Nick Offerman, author of Paddle Your Own Canoe From CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Conor Knighton, a behind-the-scenery look at...
North : finding my way while running the Appalachian Trail
Jurek, Scott
Paper Book
From the author of the bestseller Eat and Run, a thrilling memoir about his grueling, exhilarating, and immensely inspiring 46-day run to break the speed record for the Appalachian Trail. Scott Jurek is one of the world's best known and most beloved ultrarunners....
Welcome to the goddamn ice cube chasing fear and finding home in the great white north
Braverman, Blair
Ebook
A rich and revelatory memoir of a young woman confronting her fears and finding home in the North. Blair Braverman fell in love with the North at an early age: By the time she was nineteen, she had left her home in California, moved to Norway to learn how to drive sled dogs, and worked as...
The world walk : 7 years. 28,000 miles. 6 continents. : a grand meditation, one step at a time
Turcich, Tom
Paper Book
For fans of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and Suleika Jaouad's Between Two Kingdoms, the invigorating true story of a man and his dog who circled the globe on foot. "Gripping . . . The World Walk ...
Enough : climbing toward a true self on Mount Everest
Reid, Melissa Arnot
Paper Book
A searching, uplifting memoir by the celebrated, groundbreaking climber: a journey of overcoming where the mountain's highest peaks can only be reached by traversing the dark crevasses of the soul At twenty-seven, when Melissa Arnot Reid accepted a tank of oxygen just short of...
Tip of the iceberg : my 3,000-mile journey around wild Alaska, the last great American frontier
Adams, Mark
Paper Book
In 1899, railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman organised a most unusual summer voyage to the wilds of Alaska: He converted a steamship into a luxury 'floating university,' populated by some of America's best and brightest scientists and writers, including the anti-capitalist eco-prophet John Muir....
The adventurer's son : a memoir
Dial, Roman
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER  "Destined to become an adventure classic." --Anchorage Daily News Hailed as "gripping" (New York Times) and "beautiful" (Washington Post), The Adventurer's Son is Roman Dial's extraordinary and widely acclaimed account of his two-year quest to unravel...
Dark star safari : overland from Cairo to Cape Town
Theroux, Paul.
Paper Book
In the travel-writing tradition that made Paul Theroux's reputation, Dark Star Safari is a rich and insightful book whose itinerary is Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town: down the Nile, through Sudan and Ethiopia, to Kenya, Uganda, and ultimately to the tip of South Africa. Going by train, dugout...
Walking the Nile
Wood, Levison
Audiobook
Starting in November 2013 in a forest in Rwanda, where a modest spring spouts a trickle of clear, cold water, Levison Wood set forth on foot, aiming to become the first person to walk the entire length of the Nile. He followed the river for nine months, over 4,000 miles, through six nations-Rwanda,...
The Amur River : between Russia and China
Thubron, Colin
Paper Book
"A gripping read with fascinating political insight." (Sunday Times, London) "Elegant, elegiac and poignant...Thubron is an intrepid traveler, a shrewd observer and a lyrical guide... to the river, much of it along the border between these two powers at a time of rapid and tense...
After the North Pole : a story of survival, mythmaking, and melting ice
Kagge, Erling
Paper Book
"A dazzling book -- soulful, awe-inspiring, and deeply thought-provoking. Erling Kagge takes readers on a journey they'll never forget." -- Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life "After the North Pole is a thrilling, insightful, and magical journey with something...
Mother, nature : a 5,000-mile journey to discover if a mother and son can survive their differences
Jenkins, Jedidiah
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From the author of To Shake the Sleeping Self . . . "Exquisitely written and completely compelling . . . As Jedidiah Jenkins traces a 5,000-mile route with his wildly entertaining mother, Barb, he begins to untangle the live wires of a parent-child...
Dogtripping : 25 rescues, 11 volunteers, and 3 RVs on our canine cross-country adventure
Rosenfelt, David.
Paper Book
David Rosenfelt'sDogtripping is moving and funny account of a cross-country move from California to Maine, and the beginnings of a dog rescue foundation When mystery writer David Rosenfelt and his family moved from Southern California to Maine, he thought he had prepared for...
Blood river : a journey to Africa's broken heart
Butcher, Tim
Paper Book
Published to rave reviews in the United Kingdom and named a Richard & Judy Book Club selection--the only work of nonfiction on the 2008 list--Blood River is the harrowing and audacious story of Tim Butcher's journey in the Congo and his retracing of renowned explorer H. M. Stanley's...
Swimming to Antarctica : tales of a long-distance swimmer
Cox, Lynne
Paper Book
• At age fourteen, she swam twenty-six miles from Catalina Island to the California mainland. • At ages fifteen and sixteen, she broke the men’s and women’s world records for swimming the English Channel—a thirty-three-mile crossing in nine hours, thirty-six minutes...
The last ride of the Pony Express : my 2,000-mile horseback journey into the Old West
Grant, Will
Paper Book
USA Today bestseller!  Cowboy and journalist Will Grant takes us on an epic and authentic horseback journey into the modern West on an adventure of a lifetime, boldly illuminating both our mythic fascination with the Pony Express, and how its spirit...
Rough magic : riding the world's loneliest horse race
Prior-Palmer, Lara
Paper Book
"Think the next Educated or Wild. Palmer's memoir of beating the odds to become a horse champion is an inspiring saga of perseverance--and a classic underdog tale." --Entertainment Weekly At the age of nineteen, Lara Prior-Palmer discovered a...
In the shadow of the mountain : a memoir of courage
Vasquez-Lavado, Silvia
Paper Book
"In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own life--one brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us."--Elizabeth Gilbert Endless ice. Thin air....
Love with a chance of drowning : a memoir
DeRoche, Torre.
Paper Book
A hilarious, heartwarming, and often mishap-strewn account of sacrificing it all for love and facing one's biggest fears in the process. New love. Exotic destinations. A once-in-a-lifetime adventure. What could go wrong? City girl Torre...
Before they're gone : a family's year-long quest to explore America's most endangered national parks
Lanza, Michael.
Ebook
A lifelong backpacker, Michael Lanza knows our national parks like the back of his hand. As a father of two, he hopes to share these special places with his kids. But he has seen firsthand the changes wrought by global warming and understands what lies ahead: melting glaciers, disappearing species,...
No barriers a blind man's journey to kayak the Grand Canyon
Weihenmayer, Erik
Paper Book
National bestseller-- "A beautiful book about family and finding a way to achieve more than you ever thought possible." --Brad Meltzer, NYT bestselling author Erik Weihenmayer is the first and only blind person to summit Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Descending...
Becoming Forrest : one man's epic run across America
Pope, Rob
Paper Book
The remarkable true story of an unrivalled journey to recreate the greatest run in film history: 15,621 miles, five-times across the United States. 'Rob Pope has made his name revelling in challenges that range from the unconventional to the extraordinary.' BBC News ...
All the way to the tigers : a memoir
Morris, Mary
Paper Book
One of NPR's Best Books of the Year From the author of Nothing to Declare, a moving travel narrative examining healing, redemption, and what it means to be a solo woman on the road. In February 2008, a casual afternoon of ice skating derailed the trip of a...
Fast into the night : a woman, her dogs, and their journey north on the Iditarod Trail
Moderow, Debbie Clarke
Paper Book
A captivating memoir of one woman's attempt to finish the Iditarod, led by her team of spunky huskies with whom she shares a fascinating and inextricable bond At age forty-seven, a mother of two, Debbie Moderow was not your average musher in the Iditarod, but...
Touch the top of the world : a blind man's journey to climb farther than the eye can see
Weihenmayer, Erik.
Paper Book
The incredible, inspiring story of world-class climber Erik Weihenmayer, from the terrible diagnosis that foretold of the loss of his eyesight, to his dream to climb mountains, and finally his quest to reach each of the Seven Summits.Erik Weihenmayer was born with retinoscheses, a degenerative eye...
Amazon woman : facing fears, chasing dreams, and a quest to kayak the world's largest river from source to sea
Gaechter, Darcy
Paper Book
An extraordinary and inspiring chronicle of one woman's harrowing journey to become the first female to kayak the entire Amazon River. Part memoir, part feminist manifesto, Amazon Woman shows what incredible feats we are capable of and...
Halfway to Heaven : my white-knuckled--and knuckle-headed--quest for the Rocky Mountain high
Obmascik, Mark.
Paper Book
Fat, forty-four, father of three sons, and facing a vasectomy, Mark Obmascik would never have guessed that his next move would be up a 14,000-foot mountain. But when his twelve-year-old son gets bitten by the climbing bug at summer camp, Obmascik can't resist the opportunity for some high...
Turn right at Machu Picchu : rediscovering the lost city one step at a time
Adams, Mark
Paper Book
Mark Adams has spent his career editing adventure and travel magazines, polishing hair-raising tales about the exploits of famous explorers. So his plan to investigate the allegations against Bingham by retracing the explorer's perilous path to Machu Picchu isn't completely far-fetched, even if it...
The river of doubt : Theodore Roosevelt's darkest journey
Millard, Candice.
Paper Book
At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, "The River of Doubt" is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. The River of Doubt-- it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes...
Travels with Charley : in search of America
Steinbeck, John
Paper Book
An intimate journey across America, as told by one of its most beloved writers   To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light--these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to...
Notes from a small island
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
Before New York Times bestselling author Bill Bryson wrote The Road to Little Dribbling, he took this delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation of Great Britain, which has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh...
The sex lives of cannibals : adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
Troost, J. Maarten.
Ebook
In Patagonia
Chatwin, Bruce
Paper Book
An exhilarating look at a place that still retains the exotic mystery of a far-off, unseen land, Bruce Chatwin's exquisite account of his journey through Patagonia teems with evocative descriptions, remarkable bits of history, and unforgettable anecdotes. Fueled by an unmistakable lust for life and...
The geography of bliss : one grump's search for the happiest places in the world
Weiner, Eric
Paper Book
Now a new series on Peacock with Rainn Wilson, THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS is part travel memoir, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide that takes the viewer across the globe to investigate not what happiness is, but WHERE it is. Are people in Switzerland happier...
The salt path
Winn, Raynor
Paper Book
THE MULTI-MILLION COPY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING GILLIAN ANDERSON AND JASON ISAACS "Polished, poignant... an inspiring story of true love."--Entertainment Weekly A BEST BOOK OF 2019, NPR's Book Concierge ...
Under the Tuscan sun : at home in Italy
Mayes, Frances.
Paper Book
Buying a villa in the spectacular Italian countryside is a wonderful fantasy -- even if 17 rooms and a garden in need of immediate loving care are included in the asking price. Frances Mayes -- gourmet cook, widely published travel writer, and poet -- changed her life by doing just that. Sprinkled...
Down the Nile : alone in a fisherman's skiff
Mahoney, Rosemary.
Paper Book
Rosemary Mahoney presents an exciting and amusing adventure that offers a fresh view of Egypt in the past and the present.
A voyage for madmen
Nichols, Peter
Audiobook
In 1968, nine sailors set off on the most daring race ever held: to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe nonstop. It was a feat that had never been accomplished and one that would forever change the face of sailing. Ten months later, only one of the nine men would cross the finish line and earn...

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