Adventure Travel Memoirs

Updated June 6, 2026
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Adventure Travel Memoirs

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Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Strayed, Cheryl
Paper Book
NATIONAL BEST SELLER * Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection. * 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...
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...
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
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 ...
Tracks
Davidson, Robyn
Paper Book
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Robyn Davidson's opens the memoir of her perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company with the following words: "I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know...
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....
To shake the sleeping self : a journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a quest for a life with no regret
Jenkins, Jedidiah
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "With winning candor, Jedidiah Jenkins takes us with him as he bicycles across two continents and delves deeply into his own beautiful heart."--Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things  ...
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...
Lands of lost borders : a journey on the Silk Road
Harris, Kate
Paper Book
"Lands of Lost Borders carried me up into a state of openness and excitement I haven't felt for years. It's a modern classic."--Pico Iyer A brilliant, fierce writer, and winner of the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize, makes her debut with this enthralling travelogue and memoir of her...
The catch me if you can : one woman's journey to every country in the world
Nabongo, Jessica
Paper Book
In this inspiring travelogue, celebrated traveler and photographer Jessica Nabongo―the first Black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world―shares her journey around the globe with fascinating stories of adventure, culture, travel musts, and human connections. ...
Tales of a female nomad : living at large in the world
Gelman, Rita Golden.
Paper Book
There's more than one way to do life. In a small cemetery deep in the jungle of Borneo, two men climb into a freshly dug hole and retrieve the bones of a long-dead grandmother. An American guest joins the procession from the cemetery to the elaborately decorated village square for a traditional...
Walking the Nile
Wood, Levison
Paper Book
The Nile, one of the world's great rivers, has long been an object of fascination and obsession. From Alexander the Great and Nero, to Victorian adventurers David Livingstone, John Hanning Speke, and Henry Morton Stanley, the river has seduced men and led them into wild adventures. English...
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...
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...
No summit out of sight : the true story of the youngest person to climb the seven summits
Romero, Jordan
Paper Book
Jordan Romero climbed Mount Everest at age thirteen--and he didn't stop there. In this inspiring young adult memoir that includes color photos, he tells how he achieved such great heights. On May 22, 2010, at the age of thirteen, American teenager Jordan Romero became the...
Life lived wild : adventures at the edge of the map
Ridgeway, Rick
Paper Book
A life worth living is lived at the edges where it is wild At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild, Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he's spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: "And most of...
Terra incognita : travels in Antarctica
Wheeler, Sara.
Paper Book
It is the coldest, windiest, driest place on earth, an icy desert of unearthly beauty and stubborn impenetrability. For centuries, Antarctica has captured the imagination of our greatest scientists and explorers, lingering in the spirit long after their return. Shackleton called it "the last great...
Before they're gone : a family's year-long quest to explore America's most endangered national parks
Lanza, Michael.
Paper Book
A longtime backpacker, climber, and skier, Michael Lanza knows our national parks like the back of his hand. As a father, he hopes to share these special places with his two young children. But he has seen firsthand the changes wrought by the warming climate and understands what lies ahead: Alaska's...
Finding elevation : fear and courage on the world's most dangerous mountain
Thompson, Lisa (Mountaineer)
Paper Book
Near the death zone on K2, the world's second-highest mountain, Lisa Thompson searched for the strength to...
No barriers : a blind man's journey to kayak the Grand Canyon
Weihenmayer, Erik
Paper Book
2018 Colorado Book Awards finalist in Creative Nonfiction, and National Bestseller and Honorable Mention Award Winner in the Outdoor Literature category of the 2017 National Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA) -- "A beautiful book about family and finding a way to achieve...
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 ...
Moms who hike : walking with America's most inspiring adventurers
Rochfort, Heather Balogh
Paper Book
Moms Who Hike celebrates the athleticism, wisdom, and skill of over twenty of America's most inspiring adventurer mothers ranging from legends to rising stars of today. The book is both inspirational and aspirational as each adventurer tells her story in her own words through featuring their...
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
What happens when an unadventurous adventure writer tries to recreate the original expedition to Machu Picchu? In 1911, Hiram Bingham III climbed the Andes in Peru and 'discovered' the famed archaeological site. While history recast Bingham as a liar and a thief, Mark Adams set out to retrace the...
The River of Doubt : Theodore Roosevelt's darkest journey
Millard, Candice.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait--the bestselling author of River of the Gods brings us the true story of Theodore Roosevelt's harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth. ...
Travels with Charley : in search of America
Steinbeck, John
Paper Book
A collectible 50th anniversary deluxe edition featuring an updated introduction by Jay Parini and first edition cover art and illustrated maps of Steinbeck's route by Don Freeman A Penguin Classic In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across...
Notes from a small island
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
Featuring an all-new cover, New York Times bestseller Bill Bryson's irrevent and hilarious journey through the beloved island nation he called home for two decades. From Downing Street to Loch Ness, this is a delightful look at the United Kingdom. Before New York Times...
The sex lives of cannibals : adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
Troost, J. Maarten.
Paper Book
At the age of twenty-six, Maarten Troost--who had been pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock of life by racking up useless graduate degrees and muddling through a series of temp jobs--decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of...
In Patagonia
Chatwin, Bruce
Paper Book
The masterpiece of travel writing that revolutionized the genre and made its author famous overnight   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...
The geography of bliss : one grump's search for the happiest places in the world
Weiner, Eric
Paper Book
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of un-unhappiness.
Without reservations : the travels of an independent woman
Steinbach, Alice.
Paper Book
Paris Dear Alice, Each morning I am awakened by the sound of a tinkling bell. A cheerful sound, it reminds me of the bells that shopkeepers attach to their doors at Christmastime. In this case, the bell marks the opening of the hotel door. From my room, which is just off the winding staircase, I...
Under the Tuscan sun : at home in Italy
Mayes, Frances.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The beloved memoir of self-discovery set against the spectacular Tuscan countryside that inspired the major motion picture starring Diane Lane--now in a twentieth-anniversary edition featuring a new afterword   "This...
A voyage for madmen
Nichols, Peter
Paper Book
"An extraordinary story of bravery and insanity on the high seas. . . . One of the most gripping sea stories I have ever read." -- Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm In the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, comes a breathtaking oceanic adventure about...
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