Trail of the Lost by Andrea Lankford

 Three hikers  gone missing on the Pacific Crest Trail: Chris Sylvia in 2015; Kirk Fowler in 2016; and David O'Sullivan in 2017.

Two women determined to find them:  Andrea Lankford and Cathy Tarr.

And their families who never gave up hope. 

I have always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. I even sent away for maps of it once. But I'm not good with dirt and bugs, sunburn and sweat, camping out for days at a time, or sleeping on the ground. So I'll probably never hike it from start to finish. (Though I do still harbor hope that I might manage to hike parts of it someday.) But I absolutely love reading about those who do set out on these long trails. I've read several accounts of thru-hikers who have hiked the Appalachian Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail. And I'm always amazed by their exuberance, optimism and tenacity. 

Trail of the Lost is an equally compelling account, but it's a sad one, too. Tarr and Lankford do everything they can to find the PCT missing: track down and interview other hikers, retrace the hikers' last known steps, organize search parties (lots of search parties!), hire drone operators to fly over the area, follow every lead and clue, and share in the parents' heartache and grief. Not just for a month or two. But for years. But sometimes the lost are never found. 

Lankford's writing is vivid and well-researched; she paints quite a picture of what it's like to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. And she meets a lot of very interesting people along the way. Trail of the Lost is an engrossing and memorable book. I'd give it 4.5/5 stars.

Happy Reading!

Similar--and equally good--read:

The Cold Vanish by Jon Billman

The Precipice by Paul Doiron

The Precipice is the sixth book in Paul Doiron's Mike Bowditch series, and the second book I've read by him; I thought it was just as good as Dead By Dawn, which happens to be the twelfth book in this series, but the first Doiron book I read. How's that for convoluted? 

The plot:  When two female hikers go missing while hiking the Hundred Mile Wilderness section of the Appalachian Trail, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch is called in to help search for them. He's teamed up with Nonstop Nissen, a volunteer who's hiked the AT himself many times. Mike takes an instant dislike to the man. Still, they track the girls to their last known campsite, but find no other sign of them.

The other game wardens fear the girls might have run into trouble along the trail either from wild animals like coyotes, or from a serious fall. Mike's girlfriend Stacey, a wildlife biologist, worries the two hikers ran into something more dangerous--a killer of the two-legged variety. She's even more stubborn and hard-headed than Mike. 

Their investigation leads to an injured hiker, a strange church, a crazy backwoods Maine family known and feared for their criminal behavior, and the rumor of a serial killer who's been stalking the AT.

My thoughts:  Mike Bowditch is fast becoming a favorite character! I like him, and I find his job as a game warden quite interesting. I didn't like Stacey nearly as much; I found her tendency to overreact and argue and go off on her own kind of off-putting. But Mike likes her. And I really liked Mike's investigation into the two hikers' disappearance. That Appalachian Trail/Maine wilderness setting is also a favorite of mine. It really adds to the mystery. The Precipice is suspenseful, well-written, and it reads fast. And it totally ties in to Dead By Dawn, which was fun for me because I just read that one. I'm really liking this series, and I can't wait to read the next one.

Happy Reading!