Back in Paperback, with a new afterword by the author Of the thru-hikers who set out to walk the entire Appalachian Trail, most don’t make it. Robert Rubin’s chances didn’t look good. Thirty-eight years old, dispirited, and burned out by a job he no longer loved, he decided to leave mortgage and wife and cul-de-sac life behind for a journey that could take half a year—or perhaps never end. On the trail’s wooded ridges, Rubin found himself part of a strange vagrant culture of pilgrims and dropouts, a world with its own rules and rituals. With eloquence and humor, he recounts his trek—the people he met, the landscapes he passed through, the spiritual and physical endurance involved (despite a diet heavy in Snickers bars and macaroni & cheese, he lost seventy-five pounds along the way). On the Beaten Path is a wise, witty look at one of the few remaining pilgrimages in our disillusioned age.  “A beautiful story.” — Esquire “A book for the rest of us, who will never climb Annapurna but still need to do something to test our own physical and mental limits.” — National Geographic Adventure    “Delightful. . . . [Rubin] writes humorously and honestly.”— Seattle Times “Engaging and enjoyable.” — Library Journal “Rubin opens his heart to hikers, people in the nearby towns and the reader, inviting everyone along to share both hardship and discovery. ... [He] tells a human tale of the search for meaning and the understandable need to reduce a complicated life to a simple passage from white blaze to white blaze, from town to town.” — News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina How one man's six-month, end-to-end hike of the Appalachian Trail led him back home with a new afterword by the authorLeaving mortgage, wife, and cul-de-sac life behind to walk the Appalachian Trail, Robert Rubin found himself part of a strange culture of pilgrims and dropouts, a world with its own rules and rituals. With eloquence and humor, he recounts his 2,160-mile-long trek--the people he met, the landscapes he passed through, and the spiritual and physical endurance involved. On the Beaten Path is a wise, witty look at one of the few remaining pilgrimages in our disillusioned age. Robert Alden Rubin is a wirter and editor who lives with his wife, Catherine, in Sykesville, Maryland.  Used Book in Good Condition