Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“In an illuminating debut memoir about her solo, glass-ceiling and record-smashing thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, Heather Anderson heralds the simple empowering act of putting one foot in front of another.” —Shape Magazine

In 2013 I was battling depression.
The life I’d built had crumbled.
I was injured and couldn’t run or hike, the only things that were keeping me alive.
I knew that I was on the cusp of transformation. But it was going to require me to do something unimaginable, and given my current state, stupid.
Yet I could not back away from the deep instinctual urge to answer a call…
A call to return to the mountains of the Pacific Crest: To accept their challenge to give up my notion of what I was capable of and immerse myself completely in their lessons.
In the process, I discovered myself for the first time…

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Foreword Reviews

“She was wedded to the mountains, fully alive only in wild places, and this was enough. Beautiful and deftly written and intimate and searing in its honesty, Anish’s is a quest to conquer the trail and her own inner darkness.”

Shelf Awareness

“Filled with ruminative self-reflection, soaring natural descriptions and delightful accounts of the gracious, life-sustaining “trail magic” of hiking culture, Thirst is a testament to human endurance, inspiring to hikers and non-hikers alike.”

Boldly Went

“Reading her account of the experience in hindsight, it comes off not as the crowning achievement of a notable athletic career, but as the superhero origin story of a remarkable adventurer… . There’s something particularly timely about this aspect of the story – an unpretentious woman, setting out without fanfare and accomplishing something that most people would have said was impossible – crushing a longstanding athletic record set by Scott Williamson, a man, and a thru-hiking legend who’d spent years chiseling away at the FKT. While others have now hiked the PCT faster with the aid of support crew, Anish’s pure thru-hiker style speed record has still never been matched.”

Tim Mathis

Outside Online

“Thirst: 2,600 Miles to Home…draws from exhaustive journal entries written on the trail to track all 60 days, 17 hours, and 12 minutes of her record-setting PCT hike in captivating detail. But perhaps more impressive is the way it paints a complex portrait of the strong-willed yet vulnerable human being behind what seems like a superhuman feat. [It’s] a refreshingly candid account of how an average person can harness a steadfast determination to achieve the spectacular.”

Shawnte Salabert

Booklist

“How does someone go from an overweight high-schooler to a record-breaking endurance hiker? Certainly not by the conventional route. Averaging 40-plus miles a day, despite dehydration, sleep deprivation, and nighttime encounters with wild animals, Anderson simply never stops walking. Along the trail, she makes peace with her recent divorce and her decision to shuck societal pressure in order to live a non-traditional lifestyle. For her, a purposeful life means to dream big, live courageously, and move in sync with nature.”

Brenda Barrera

Book Riot

“It’s clear she feels most comfortable in the mountains, and the reader is transported onto the trail with her. If you liked Wild, you’ll want to read this one.”

Jaime Herndon

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Books By Heather Anderson