For readers drawn to the intersection of outdoor adventure and Christian spiritual reflection, Five Million Steps delivers a consistent and unambiguous perspective that is rare on the trail-memoir shelf. Chenowith's specificity of conviction is the memoir's primary strength — he positions faith not as a backdrop but as the central subject, which sets the book apart from purely athletic or naturalist AT accounts. The independently published origin means some readers may notice less structural polish than a traditionally published title, but the book fills a genuine niche for those who want to see the Appalachian Trail through a pastoral eye. It is most rewarding for readers who welcome memoir in which outdoor experience and explicit faith reflection are treated as inseparable.

Five Million Steps: Faith Adventures along the Appalachian Trail

Name: Five Million Steps: Faith Adventures along the Appalachian Trail by Lon Chenowith
Author: Lon Chenowith

by Lon Chenowith

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At a glance

First published2020

AudienceAdult

About the Author

Lon Chenowith

1 book reviewed

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LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who welcome trail memoir in which Christian faith is the central, structuring lens — particularly those drawn to the Appalachian Trail who want to experience it through the eyes of a pastor, church planter, and missionary for whom every mile is an act of spiritual devotion.

Worth it if

The devotional framing is a draw rather than a deterrent — if you are looking for AT memoir in the tradition of Christian pilgrimage writing, or are curious about the intersection of wilderness endurance and explicit faith reflection, this fills a genuinely under-served niche.

Skip if

Secular hiking enthusiasts or readers seeking a purely adventure-driven AT narrative should be aware that the Christian spiritual interpretation is pervasive and structural throughout, not a minor strand, and the book's independent publication means it lacks the editorial development of a traditionally published title.

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Five Million Steps: Faith Adventures along the Appalachian Trail is Lon Chenowith's memoir of pursuing a lifelong dream to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine — not as a single thru-hike, but as a series of journeys in which physical endurance and Christian faith are treated as inseparable. The book occupies a genuine niche at the intersection of trail literature and Christian pilgrimage writing, making it a strong fit for readers who want to see the AT through a pastoral lens. Secular hiking enthusiasts or those seeking a broadly spiritual rather than explicitly Christian narrative should know that the devotional framework is structural, not occasional, throughout every section.

Is it worth reading?: For readers drawn to the intersection of outdoor adventure and Christian spiritual reflection, Five Million Steps delivers a consistent and unambiguous perspective that is rare on the trail-memoir shelf. Chenowith's specificity of conviction is the memoir's primary strength — he positions faith not as a backdrop but as the central subject, which sets the book apart from purely athletic or naturalist AT accounts. The independently published origin means some readers may notice less structural polish than a traditionally published title, but the book fills a genuine niche for those who want to see the Appalachian Trail through a pastoral eye. It is most rewarding for readers who welcome memoir in which outdoor experience and explicit faith reflection are treated as inseparable.
Similar books: Readers who enjoy Five Million Steps may want to explore other books at the intersection of wilderness and spiritual or philosophical reflection. Kevin Fedarko's A Walk in the Park offers immersive trail-based adventure writing rooted in the Grand Canyon's landscape. Barry Hoffner's Belonging to the World explores themes of faith, place, and human connection in an outdoor context that echoes Chenowith's blend of landscape and conviction. For a more literary naturalist perspective, Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a classic of reflective nature writing, while Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods remains the definitive humorous secular account of the AT itself. Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, though fiction, shares the pilgrimage-as-transformation structure that underlies Chenowith's memoir.
Who should read this?: Five Million Steps is most directly suited to readers who share or are open to Chenowith's Christian faith framework and want to see the Appalachian Trail through a pastoral lens. It will resonate strongly with fans of Christian pilgrimage writing, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts who integrate faith into their relationship with nature, and readers who appreciate memoir in which community and spiritual encounter are treated as seriously as physical challenge. Those already familiar with the AT who are curious about a devotional perspective on its demands — weather, isolation, endurance — will find a consistent and committed voice throughout.
About Lon Chenowith: Lon Chenowith is the author of Five Million Steps: Faith Adventures along the Appalachian Trail, a book rooted in a lifelong dream to trek the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He has served in Christian ministry across four states as a church planter, pastor, and missionary. He and his wife have two sons, a daughter, three grandsons, and a granddaughter, and his family enjoys the outdoors.
What are the main themes?: The central theme of Five Million Steps is the inseparability of physical endurance and Christian faith — Chenowith treats the Appalachian Trail's demands of weather, isolation, and mileage as tests of both body and spiritual conviction. A second major theme is community: the memoir traces the relationships formed on the trail, particularly a 276-mile friendship with seminary acquaintances Prune Picker and the Traveler, framing human connection as essential to the journey alongside solitude. The tension between individual pilgrimage and shared experience recurs throughout, as does the idea — expressed directly by Chenowith — that "God was at work in this crazy project of mine." The trail itself, one of the world's most iconic long-distance routes at approximately 2,190 miles, functions as both setting and spiritual metaphor.
What is the Appalachian Trail?: The Appalachian Trail is one of the most iconic long-distance hiking routes in the world, stretching approximately 2,190 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The title Five Million Steps refers to the sheer physical magnitude of completing the full trail — a figure Chenowith uses to anchor the spiritual stakes of his undertaking. The traditional starting point for southbound or approach hikers is Amicalola Falls in Georgia, which features directly in the memoir. Completing the full AT is an immense physical challenge, and Chenowith uses the trail's inherent demands to frame what he describes as tests of faith and will.

Summarize this book

Is it worth reading?

Who should read this?

About Lon Chenowith

What are the main themes?

What is the Appalachian Trail?

Summarize this book

Five Million Steps: Faith Adventures along the Appalachian Trail is a memoir by Lon Chenowith — pastor, church planter, and missionary — chronicling his decades-long pursuit of hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Rather than a single unbroken thru-hike, the book presents a series of faith-infused trail adventures, including a preliminary hike with his two young sons beginning at Amicalola Falls and a 276-mile stretch completed across three stints with two seminary friends known on the trail as Prune Picker and the Traveler. The title's "five million steps" anchors the spiritual stakes Chenowith attaches to the undertaking, framing the AT's approximately 2,190 miles as a theater for encounters with the divine. Community, solitude, and explicit Christian reflection are woven together as recurring structural elements throughout the memoir.

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Skip if you're looking for a secular or broadly spiritual hiking adventure narrative rather than explicitly Christian devotional memoir.

Editorial Review

Five Million Steps: Faith Adventures along the Appalachian Trail is an independently published memoir by Lon Chenowith, a pastor, church planter, and missionary, that recounts his long-held dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail — a dream that began in his teens and eventually became a series of real journeys testing both physical endurance and spiritual conviction.

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Books like Five Million Steps

Curated picks for readers who enjoyed Five Million Steps, with our reasoning for each match.

If you liked Five Million Steps

In our catalogue

A Walk in the Park

Kevin Fedarko

Another grueling long-trail memoir where physical suffering opens into something larger — ideal for readers who loved Chenowith's blend of endurance and meaning-making.

Readers looking for what to read after Five Million Steps will find a kindred spirit in Kevin Fedarko's A Walk in the Park, which follows an improbable hike through Grand Canyon terrain that pushes the human body to its limits. Like Lon Chenowith's Appalachian Trail journey, Fedarko's trek is less about athletic achievement and more about what extreme wilderness reveals about character, purpose, and the relationship between a person and the land beneath their feet. Both books treat the trail as a crucible — a place where ordinary life falls away and something essential emerges. If you were drawn to the way Five Million Steps used physical endurance as a lens for deeper questions, Fedarko's vivid, high-stakes narrative will resonate strongly, even as it swaps the AT's forested ridges for canyon walls.

In our catalogue

Belonging to the World

Barry Hoffner

A journey memoir driven by grief and spiritual searching — matches Chenowith's tone of faith tested and renewed through movement and encounter.

If you liked Five Million Steps because Lon Chenowith used travel as a vehicle for faith and personal reckoning, Barry Hoffner's Belonging to the World speaks directly to that same hunger. Hoffner moves through loss and disconnection toward connection and healing, using the act of physical and emotional journeying as the engine of his story. Like Chenowith, he is not writing a neutral travelogue — he brings a searching, spiritually honest voice to every encounter along the way. For readers who want to explore books like Five Million Steps that sit at the intersection of memoir, pilgrimage, and quiet spiritual transformation, this is a strong and underread recommendation. The emotional register is tender rather than triumphant, making it a good fit for readers who appreciated the reflective, pastoral quality of Chenowith's writing.

In our catalogue

She Explores

Gale Straub

Collects real women's stories of trail and wilderness — shares Chenowith's conviction that outdoor adventure reshapes identity and deepens what matters most.

Gale Straub's She Explores gathers personal narratives from women who have taken to trails, mountains, and open roads and come back changed. If Five Million Steps by Lon Chenowith appealed to you because of the way the trail becomes a mirror for inner life — revealing faith, resilience, and purpose — then She Explores offers a chorus of voices making the same discovery. The book is especially well-suited for readers who want to see how the wilderness-as-transformation framework plays out across different backgrounds, ages, and motivations. While the book does not share Chenowith's explicitly Christian framing, it carries a genuine reverence for what wild places do to the human spirit. For anyone searching for books like Five Million Steps that celebrate adventure as a form of self-discovery, this is a warm and inspiring companion.

Not your thing?

In our catalogue

River Hippies & Mountain Men

Patrick Taylor

If Chenowith's Christian framing felt too devotional, Taylor's outdoor adventures deliver the same rugged nature writing with a secular, humor-forward voice instead.

Some readers pick up Five Million Steps hoping for immersive trail writing and find that the explicitly Christian devotional thread isn't quite their thing — and that's a fair reaction. If that describes you, Patrick Taylor's River Hippies & Mountain Men is a great next step. Taylor's real-life outdoor adventures in the American backcountry share Chenowith's love of wild places and physical challenge, but the tone is earthy, funny, and entirely secular. There's no pastoral reflection here — just vivid storytelling about what happens when you push into remote landscapes with more enthusiasm than gear. For readers who want what to read after Five Million Steps but without the faith-based framing, Taylor delivers the same sense of adventure and genuine affection for the natural world, packaged in a voice that feels more campfire than chapel.