Along its roughly 2,100 mile route, the Appalachian Trail passes through many different areas and regions, some with vastly different geologic histories from one another. Underfoot, A Geologic Guide To The Appalachian Trail, introduces the reader (and hiker) to the various geologic histories that one traverses as one follows the Appalachian Trail.

The Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail (AT) is a trail that is near and dear to my heart – and was the beginning of my volunteering in trail design, maintenance and management.

The AT travels from Georgia to Maine and is roughly 2,150 miles long. Starting at Springer Mountain in Georgia, the trail follows the spine of the Appalachian Mountains northward. Staying on high ridges throughout much of its length, the trail descends through the Delaware Water Gap and again when it crosses the Hudson River in New York. Then it continues to travel northward, along the spine of the Green Mountains and White Mountains and then traveling through the wilds of Maine until it reaches the summit of Baxter Peak in Baxter State Park in Maine.

While I have never hiked the entire AT (for me, I’ve finished most of the New England and New York sections of the trail), people do hike the entire 2,150 miles at a time. On average, it takes about 5 or 6 months for a person to make it.

What do you get in the book?

V. Collins Chew sets out to write a book on the geology of the AT that is accessible and understandable to the general public, while being detailed enough to provide others, who may have more education in geology, to provide a solid reference to use to explore the geology of the AT.

Finishing at 270 pages, Underfoot takes the reader on an exploration of the geology of the entire Appalachian region, from Georgia, all the way into Maine. The book begins with an introduction to geologic concepts and ideas so that a reader without geologic background can understand the ideas presented in the rest of the book. The introduction provides information on the geologic time scale and presents several different generalized geologic maps of the route of the Appalachian Trail.

Chapter 1 of Underfoot, describes the history of the rocks along the trail, starting in Greenville time and ending with a review of Pleistocene time (that’s a pretty big span of time – a couple of billion years). The history is generalized for the entire AT and the various events in the geologic history of the area are clearly explained and described.

Chapter 2 reviews the various rocks that are exposed along the route of the Appalachian Trail, starting with the oldest rocks and continuing onto the youngest. Chew explains how the rocks were formed and if they have been subsequently modified by metamorphism and explores the possible conditions that existed while the rocks were being deposited.

Chapter 3 is a state-by-state guide to the geology you will encounter as you hike along the AT. The chapter starts in Georgia and moves its way up along the AT until reaching Baxter Peak in Maine. Underfoot is not a trail guide, you will not find step by step guide to the trail. Chew prefers instead to give a generalized description of the AT and then further describes the specific areas that he is using to explain the geology of an area. You should have no problem identifying the areas that he is writing about, as they are clearly explained and located. Small, simple maps also accompany each states’ description and help locate the areas where specific geology is explained. In general, this chapter gives a geologic overview of each state the AT passes through, but then focuses on several sites in each state to delve deeper into the geology. Readability should not be a problem, Chew keeps the descriptions straightforward and builds on the concepts that he introduced in the introduction and in Chapter 1.

While only made up of three chapters, Underfoot these chapters are further broken down into “sub-chapters,” and the entire book contains a great deal of information.

An extensive set of appendices follows the three main chapters and includes a geologic chart for the AT (which identifies rock units along the trail), a geologic trail log (a mile by mile guide to rock units along the trail), a glossary that defines the geologic terms used throughout the book, and an extensive bibliography.

Should I pick up a copy?

Yes! If you have ever wondered why the mountains are where they are, or what formed the Delaware Water Gap, or why Mountain Washington is the way it is, Underfoot will be a welcome addition to your collection. Chew writes in an enjoyably clear and straightforward manner that draws the reader throughout the book and at the same time, makes you want to get out and start exploring the Appalachian Trail to put all this new knowledge to work.

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Recommended: Yes