Kip Redick is professor of philosophy and religion at Christopher Newport University.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Getting to the MountainChapter 2: Spiritual Journey Versus Aesthetic Tourism Chapter 3: A Social/Spatial JourneyChapter 4: Can Wildness Be Found on a Wilderness Trail?Chapter 5: Wilderness as Sacred Space Chapter 6: Spiritual RamblingChapter 7: Veterans, Healing, and Long-Distance HikingChapter 8: Summiting Katahdin and Coming Home

Kip Redick takes us on a restorative endeavor and a journey of meaning making, in his exploration of the Appalachian Trail as a spiritual journey. The Appalachian Trail, a sacred space for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness, comes alive through his storytelling. With every turn of the page, Redick recounts a fascinating journey of spiritual awakening as he and others engage with all constituents of the trail - both human and non-human. The embodied experience of a long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail is indeed a uniquely American contribution to pilgrimage. Wilderness ramblers, saunterers, wanderers, long-distance hikers and walkers, spiritual pilgrims, religious scholars, philosophers, social scientists, civilians, and veterans alike will find this volume most illuminating.

Kip Redick is professor of philosophy and religion at Christopher Newport University.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Getting to the MountainChapter 2: Spiritual Journey Versus Aesthetic Tourism Chapter 3: A Social/Spatial JourneyChapter 4: Can Wildness Be Found on a Wilderness Trail?Chapter 5: Wilderness as Sacred Space Chapter 6: Spiritual RamblingChapter 7: Veterans, Healing, and Long-Distance HikingChapter 8: Summiting Katahdin and Coming Home

Kip Redick takes us on a restorative endeavor and a journey of meaning making, in his exploration of the Appalachian Trail as a spiritual journey. The Appalachian Trail, a sacred space for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness, comes alive through his storytelling. With every turn of the page, Redick recounts a fascinating journey of spiritual awakening as he and others engage with all constituents of the trail - both human and non-human. The embodied experience of a long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail is indeed a uniquely American contribution to pilgrimage. Wilderness ramblers, saunterers, wanderers, long-distance hikers and walkers, spiritual pilgrims, religious scholars, philosophers, social scientists, civilians, and veterans alike will find this volume most illuminating.

Kip Redick is professor of philosophy and religion at Christopher Newport University.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Getting to the MountainChapter 2: Spiritual Journey Versus Aesthetic Tourism Chapter 3: A Social/Spatial JourneyChapter 4: Can Wildness Be Found on a Wilderness Trail?Chapter 5: Wilderness as Sacred Space Chapter 6: Spiritual RamblingChapter 7: Veterans, Healing, and Long-Distance HikingChapter 8: Summiting Katahdin and Coming Home

Kip Redick takes us on a restorative endeavor and a journey of meaning making, in his exploration of the Appalachian Trail as a spiritual journey. The Appalachian Trail, a sacred space for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness, comes alive through his storytelling. With every turn of the page, Redick recounts a fascinating journey of spiritual awakening as he and others engage with all constituents of the trail - both human and non-human. The embodied experience of a long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail is indeed a uniquely American contribution to pilgrimage. Wilderness ramblers, saunterers, wanderers, long-distance hikers and walkers, spiritual pilgrims, religious scholars, philosophers, social scientists, civilians, and veterans alike will find this volume most illuminating.