Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail

Written by Andrea Lankford

Narrated by Kristi Burns

From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author’s quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up with an eclectic group of unlikely allies.  ​
 
As a park ranger with the National Park Service's law enforcement team, Andrea Lankford led search and rescue missions in some of the most beautiful (and dangerous) landscapes across America, from Yosemite to the Grand Canyon. But though she had the support of the agency, Andrea grew frustrated with the service's bureaucratic idiosyncrasies, and left the force after twelve years. Two decades later, however, she stumbles across a mystery that pulls her right back where she left off: three young men have vanished from the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile trek made famous by Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and no one has been able to find them. It’s bugging the hell out of her.
 
Andrea’s concern soon leads her to a wild environment unlike any she’s ever encountered: missing person Facebook groups. Andrea launches an investigation, joining forces with an eclectic team of amateurs who are determined to solve the cases by land and by screen: a mother of the missing, a retired pharmacy manager, and a mapmaker who monitors terrorist activity for the government. Together, they track the activities of kidnappers and murderers, investigate a cult, rescue a psychic in peril, cross paths with an unconventional scientist, and reunite an international fugitive with his family. Searching for the missing is a brutal psychological and physical test with the highest stakes, but eventually their hardships begin to bear strange fruits—ones that lead them to places and people they never saw coming.
 
Beautifully written, heartfelt, and at times harrowing, TRAIL OF THE LOST paints a vivid picture of hiker culture and its complicated relationship with the ever-expanding online realm, all while exploring the power and limits of determination, generosity, and hope. It also offers a deep awe of the natural world, even as it unearths just how vast and treacherous it can be. 
 
On the TRAIL OF THE LOST, you may not find what you are looking for, but you will certainly find more than you seek.

** THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ** 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Aug 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781668626788

Reviews for Trail of the Lost

[kalliegrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great thing to read right before a backpacking camping trip with the kids. I read the Cold Vanish last year, and this is very similar. This follows only three missing people in one specific location so it's a bit more focused. It's crazy how many ways there are to get lost.

[formerenglishteacher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audio version of this book. This is the third AT/PCT survival book I’ve read, and it’s pretty much like the other two. The author becomes mildly obssessed with finding lost hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail. That trail, like the Apalachian Trail on the opposite side of the country, draws thousands of hikers every year, many of them ill prepared to hike ten miles much less the 2,600 miles of the PCT or 2000 miles of the AT. And that is where the author comes in. She relates many stories of several searches she participated in and the relentless Facebook posting in an effort to aid in finding those people. While interesting and at times heart wrenching, the book wore me out with its trail nicknames (reminiscent of the old CB radio handles in the ‘70s and ‘80s) and countless searches. Some began to run into others and I lost track of who we were searching for. Some of that is on me because I use treadmill walking time to listen to books. Because of that, my attention is sometimes interrupted as I listen.

[streamsong_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After the phenomenal popularity of Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail, the number of hikers on this trail has jumped exponentially. With the amount of traffic, it seems improbable that hikers would go missing and vanish. And yet they do.

Frantic families search for days, months, even years for their loved ones, trying to backtrack the missings’ last known locations, nailing up posters on the trail and its surrounding towns, organizing professional search and rescue and amateur volunteer rescue teams. Drones, dogs, boots on the ground, social media fund raising and even psychics all play their part. Could the missing have been victims of a crime? Dropped out of the hike to join a nearby cult? Became confused or injured and lost their way, waiting for rescue that never came?

These are the stories of three of the missing and the herculean efforts to find them.

You’ll finish this book with respect for the searchers and the vastness of the wilderness trail that simply makes people disappear. You will also be left with the question of when to accept that your loved one’s fate may never be known.

This is a great book on how the searches are conducted and the efforts the families make. Ultimately it leaves more questions than answers and so I found the end unsatisfying.

[hccpsk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Author Andrea Lankford worked for many years as a search and rescue expert for the National Park Service before burning out and returning to school to become a nurse, but she still consults on cases from time to time. One such case leads her to a trio of missing hikers from the Pacific Crest Trail, and Trail of the Lost chronicles her journey as she and her small group of search friends meet, hike, post on social media, and a million other things in their attempt to find the missing hikers. The writing is uneven at times, and details of the three missing young men often get confusing as the stories intertwine, but overall a very interesting story for readers of nonfiction, nature, or true crime stories.

[msf59 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Andrea Lankford was a park ranger and first responder, who lead many rescue missions, tracking down missing hikers through our National Parks. She left the force and became a nurse but was drawn back into the mysteries of several missing hikers that disappeared on the PCT, (Pacific Crest Trail). With bulldog determination, she begins to piece these stories together, discovering some disturbing revelations along the way. This true-adventure story is a marvel and it definitely helps that Lankford is also a gifted writer. She is a new hero of mine. Highly recommended.

[loraineo_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author spent 12 years as a park ranger/law enforcement officer. She left this job and later becomes interested in 3 young men missing on the PCT. She joins with others who are also looking for the missing. I enjoyed this book although at times got a little confused as she tended to skip around . I will check into her other books as she has had a very interesting life. Lots of stories to tell!

[ozzer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The odds against finding someone lost in the vast wilderness that makes up the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) seems pretty remote. Yet it turns out that there are plenty of people willing to drop everything to go looking for the missing just to give their loved ones some sense of closure. This is the story of these remarkable people. They face the inevitable hardship of trekking in remote places with few clues. Lankford brings home just how difficult this task can be, especially when it is further compounded by fake leads, charlatan experts, and indifferent authorities. Yet, she emphasizes the importance of such work to the families of the lost. Despite some truly remarkable technology that can be brought to bear, there is no substitute for good old shoe leather. The book emphasizes not only just how popular through hiking the PCT has become, but also how treacherous it can be. Truly, the best part of this book is all the insider information about the trail and the ways the hiker community unites to cope with its challenges.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fans of Jon Krakauer's writing will devour this odyssey of trying to find three hikers who disappeared of the Pacific Crest Trail. Andrea Lankford, a former cop and park ranger, has gone on many different search and rescue missions and there is nothing worse than not being able to bring home a missing person. The Pacific Crest Trail is over 2,600 miles long and is not for the faint of heart. Cheryl Strayed popularized the route after her memoir, Wild, became an international bestseller. An experienced searcher and hiker herself; Andrea finds herself drawn to three missing person cases of hikers gone missing on the PCT trail. Together with their mothers and a tenacious searcher named Cathy they spend years of their life, sanity, and resources combing the wilderness and following up leads. Heartfelt, educational, and ultimately hopeful; rather than dissuading hikers from attempting the trek, this story still makes the route beautiful while putting on strong cautions and safety warnings for it. Wonderful writing.

[lea.pearl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Trail of the Lost is a fascinating, harrowing story about the PCT Missing and the emotions their families wade through to simply bring their loved one home.

Readers are taken on an incredible journey through each hiker's story. Lankford provides information that is easy to absorb. I found myself captivated right from the beginning, invested in each hiker's story, wanting to bring them home just like their families.
As well as a brief history and other ongoings of the Pacific Crest Trail, Trail of the Lost also provides a look into the sometimes eerie hiker culture and how much of a toll physically and mentally walking 2653 miles over 5-6 months through various weather situations and terrain can take on a person.

In the end, this book wasn't really what I thought it would be going into it. As I neared the end, I realized it wouldn't wrap up like I hoped. It left on a very open-ended note. And I understand not everything is happily ever after in nonfic and I definitely didn't expect smiles and sunshine, but the last few pages just felt flat and I was kind of like, "Oh, that's it?"

Overall, I'm glad to have read it and I do recommend this book to those that enjoy true crime mysteries and hiker culture, but I probably wouldn't read it again.


Thank you Hachette Books (HachetteGo) for the ARC to read and honestly review.