[Book Giveaway] “Americana,” Graphic Novel About the PCT

Luke Healy’s Americana is a graphic memoir chronicling the author’s 2016 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. Through illustrations and interludes of prose, Healy brings to life the everyday joys, struggles, and banalities of the thru-hiking experience. 

Americana

Author: Luke Healy
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Nobrow
MSRP: $18.95

*Want to win a copy of Americana? We’re giving away two signed copies, info at the bottom of this post.*

An Outsider’s Perspective

Everyone has their own reasons for embarking on a border-to-border journey of thousands of miles on foot, but Healy’s seems especially unique. He writes in the first pages of how, growing up in Ireland in the 1990s, he was obsessed with America. He describes the US of his childhood imagination, the feeling of wonder he experienced as a young boy witnessing the Fourth of July parade at Disney World in Orlando, and the relatively drab and unexciting life he felt he was bound to live if he stayed in his hometown of Dublin. By the time he read Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and learned about the PCT, he says, America had already broken his heart twice. After studying in Vermont for two separate years during college, only to be hastily kicked out of the country at the conclusion of each, he had desperately applied for extensions and jobs that would sponsor a work visa to no avail. Thus, when he applied for a tourist visa that would permit him to spend six months hiking the length of the West Coast, he claims to have done so with the hope of soaking up so much Americana that he would fall out of love with the country once and for all. 

Personal Journey

Of course, there are other ways to gorge oneself on America that don’t involve any grueling slogs through some of the country’s highest mountains and most remote wildernesses. It is clear that Healy set out, like nearly every thru-hiker, on a soul-searching journey as well. His roller coaster of self-doubt, determination, guilt at leaving his family, elation, awe, utter boredom, physical pain, and delight at discovering his own potential will feel all too familiar to anyone who has attempted a similar undertaking. Most of these trials and triumphs are stated simply through his illustrations rather than through prose. This allows Healy’s illustrations to speak for themselves and sidesteps some of the irony of describing landscapes and experiences that are essentially indescribable. 

His account of his journey is charming and humble. He does not boast about his physical prowess, but admits how good it felt transitioning from one of the slowest hikers in the deserts of California to one who actually passed others in the forests of Washington. He notes the tense political atmosphere of the particular election year in which he hiked, but does not frame his hike in political terms. He is honest about skipping miles and about nearly quitting in Agua Dulce. He describes the odd mixture of guilt, gratitude, and discomfort that comes with receiving trail magic from people who go on to espouse views you find distasteful or even threatening. He captures the boredom and the loneliness; the pull to join up with a trail family and the push to go it alone. He peppers in references that will give past PCT hikers the same warm fuzzy feeling of an inside joke. One panel in which he and his companions are sitting on the ground in Southern Oregon staring at the giant volcano they’ve been skirting around for hundreds of miles saying they are “so sick of looking at Mount Shasta,” made me smile and laugh to myself, “same.”

Familiar Ambiguity

By the end of the book, it was unclear to me whether hiking the PCT helped Healy fall out of love with the US or not. I think it is safe to say that by the time he reached the Northern Terminus (and well before) he had a far more nuanced vision of the States than he had when he saw the parade at Disney World on the Fourth of July. He also makes clear that he was ready for more regular showers and less regular physical punishment by trail’s end. But had he had his fill? Had he done what he set out to do? Gotten everything out of the hike that he wanted? Healy does not provide those answers. However, this also rings true. Many a long-distance hiker can probably attest to the feeling that a thru-hike on the one hand is a life-changing, paradigm-shifting experience, and that on the other its lessons can be elusive and sometimes devastatingly vague. Some readers might find it dissatisfying that Healy does not neatly sum up the relative success of his American experience in terms of the motives he presents at the outset, but his choice to refrain from any such proclamations feels relatable and honest. 

A Fresh Look at Thru-Hiking

I usually hesitate when it comes to reading thru-hiking memoirs. Of course, every thru-hiker has a unique journey and story to tell, but it is not always easy to make a tale that starts at Campo or Springer, ends at Manning or Katahdin, and winds along a path that thousands of others have walked and written about feel fresh and interesting. What I appreciated about Americana was that it offered a foreigner’s perspective of trail life and America as a whole, and that it did so utilizing a medium that is rarely, if ever, used to depict thru-hiking, despite being perfect for it. Thru-hikes are internal journeys, of course, but so much of the experience is about immersing oneself in what is outside, about slowing down and seeing the world in a way that it cannot possibly be seen at the speeds at which we now normally travel. Thru-hiking is a very visual experience, and Healy does a wonderful job of conveying it that way. 

Want to win a copy of Americana?

We’re giving away two signed copies of Americana. To win, comment on this post telling us what inspires you about the PCT. Winners will be chosen at the end of the day on October 16.

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Comments 11

  • JP : Oct 10th

    The PCT inspires me the same way any trail through the beauty of the world inspires me – with places, sights, sounds, smells, experiences, trials, opportunities, and reminders of who we are and what we have been given.

    Reply
  • Linda "eArThworm" Patton : Oct 11th

    I’m the librarian for the Research Library at the Appalachian Trail Museum in Pennsylvania. We’d love to have a copy of your book in our collection, so I hope to win one.
    ~~ eArThworm See: atmuseum dot org slash research-library dot html

    Reply
  • Scott A Brotherton : Oct 11th

    W/out ? to me it is the varied landscape and terrain you have to traverse…the trail diversity is unparalleled

    Reply
  • Nikki : Oct 12th

    The PCT inspires me because it reminds me of home – as a Westerner who has been living on the East Coast for the past seven years, I’m a bit homesick.The landscapes are also beautiful and are a constant reminder of how important this planet is and how much we need to protect all life on Earth.

    Reply
  • ryne tobar : Oct 12th

    I flew airplanes over the Cascades while in the Navy. I would see the stratovolcanoes through the windscreen and name them off. As soon as I learned that the PCT was a footpath where I could pass through and link together my favorite mountains, I was sold. I saw a landscape I’d only seen from an airplane. Moving slowly with a new perspective along the PCT inspires me.

    Reply
  • Cheryl R. : Oct 12th

    I first learned about the PCT after reading WILD a few years ago. I didn’t know anything like a thru hike existed and I have been obsessed with the stories and videos ever since. At 59 and a life’s obligations, I’ve wished that I’d have known about this 40 years ago, but I am inspired by others my age and women hiking alone to get out and get walking right where I’m at. I’ve never done a thru hike but last year I had the chance to walk a 7 mile section of the PCT in Washington State and the golden larches and reddish pink ground cover was a sight to behold! The PCT is an amazing feat of human endurance, but then there’s the awesome beauty of it and also the mental and spiritual aspects. It makes you believe that you can become the best you there is just by walking a few thousand miles, experiencing the myriad wonders of nature
    and clearing your head.

    Reply
  • Travis : Oct 13th

    What I inspires me are the views and challenges. You’ll go from hot and dry, to snow, to rain and evergreens. Snow capped mountains.

    Reply
  • ChumbaWamba : Oct 13th

    When someone imagines a long trail, there’s a good chance they marvel at the physicality of hiking 2,000-some odd miles. (And there’s a high chance some will be truly odd miles.) On the AT, I found that the journey was physical, sometimes intensely so, but it was also an internal odyssey.

    I am inspired by the many facets of hiking the PCT: the physical challenge, the changing ecosystems, the stunning views, and the time for internal exploration that the simplicity of trail life allows.

    Reply
  • Dearbhla : Oct 14th

    I kinda get where the author is coming from I think, I too grew up in ireland n have an unwilling fascination with the place. I can’t say the PCT inspires me because I haven’t been fortunate enough to go but god I’d like to. I can’t imagine all that space and wilderness and beauty together, and to be able to be alone in it for such a time would be great.

    Reply
  • Julie velasquez : Oct 15th

    I learned about thru hiking from growing up around the Appalachian trail- but the pacific crest trail was the one I always wanted to do. I did the AT first to get myself ready for the PCT – I knew the AT would be easier for me because I grew up on that trail. The pacific crest trail inspires me because I’ve never seen the west coast before- other than colorado the furthest I’ve been west is Illinois. I’m so excited to see the desert, climb really tall mountains and be amongst wildlife I’ll only experience if I’m on that side of the country. America has always been my home and the wilderness is my home but the pacific crest trail is so different from what I’m used to. I’m so inspired by all the videos, books, and movies I’ve seen of it’s scenery and can’t wait to see it for myself in person. I would not be trying to win this if it’s wasn’t a graphic novel. My 10 year old niece is obsessed with anime and graphic novels. It’s all she will read. I want to win this so I can show her where I’ll be hiking next year. I tried showing her YouTube videos and such for my Appalachian trail to get her to understand but I realize this is probably a better way to get through to her. After I show her it and let her look at it so she will know what I’m doing, I will donate it to someone else who is thru hiking the pacific crest trail. – Garden State

    Reply
  • Marlene Wulf : Oct 16th

    I’m going to borrow words from the poet Robert Service to explain what inspires me about the PCT. Here are excerpts from his poem, “The Wanderlust”:

    The Wanderlust has got me…by the belly-aching fire,/ By the fever and the freezing and the pain;/ By the darkness that just drowns you, by the wail of home desire,/ I’ve tried to break the spell of it – in vain.

    The Wanderlust has blest me…in a ragged blanket curled,/ I’ve watched the gulf of Heaven foam with stars;/ I’ve walked with eyes wide open to the wonder of the world,/ I’ve seen God’s flood of glory burst it’s bars.

    Wild heart, child heart, all of the world your home./ Glad heart, mad heart, what can you do but roam?/ Oh, I’ll beat it in the morning, boys,/ With a pinch of tea and a crust;/ For you cannot deny/ When you hark to the cry/ Of the Wan-der-lust.

    Grim land, dim land, oh, how the vastness calls!/ Far land, star land, oh, how the stillness falls!/ For you never can tell if it’s heaven or hell,/ And I’m taking the trail on trust;/ But I haven’t a doubt/ That my soul will leap out/ On it’s Wan-der-lust.

    Reply

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