A Selected Bibliography of Henry David Thoreau’s Travels
Guidebooks, Maps, & Re-enactments

as outlined in episode eleven of the video series, Studying Thoreau.

Click on titles or photos to reach purchase links.

General
Gibson, John. In High Places with Henry David Thoreau: A Hiker’s Guide with Routes & Maps. Woodstock, VT: Countryman Press, 2013. Covers Mount Washington (West), Mount Greylock, Katahdin, Pack Monadnock, Grand Monadnock (East), Wachusett Mountain, Wantastiquet (Chesterfield) Mountain, Mount Kineo, Red Hill, Mount Washington (East), the Northern Presidentials and Mount Lafayette, and Grand Monadnock (Southwest). Cites what Thoreau did and saw, and includes directions and maps for tracing his path.
Howarth, William. Walking with Thoreau: A Literary Guide to the New England Mountains. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001. [Supersedes first edition: Thoreau in the Mountains: Writings by Henry David Thoreau. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1982.] Provides not only Thoreau's words about the mountains, but also detailed directions on how to trace his paths. Covers Wachusett, Greylock, Katahdin, Kineo, Wantastiquet, Fall Mountain, Mount Washington, Tuckerman Ravine, Mount Lafayette, and Monadnock. Both books still provide terrific information and maps. Thoreau in the Mountains includes charming historical drawings of many of the sites mentioned. Walking with Thoreau has a smaller format that is more portable for adding to a backpack, in addition to its updated directions.
Slayton, Tom. Searching for Thoreau: On the Trails and Shores of Wild New England. Bennington, VT: Images from the Past, 2007. Covers in colloquial travelogue fashion Thoreau's major travel destinations: Walden Pond, Concord woods, Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Monadnock, Wachusetts, Greylock, Katahdin, northern Maine, Cape Cod, and Mount Washington. Includes tips for tracking Thoreau and a few general maps, too.
Stowell, Robert F. A Thoreau Gazetteer. Ed. By William L. Howarth. Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 1970. An annotated atlas and a unique and useful reference, the first of its kind for this genre. Covers the territory of Thoreau's major trips (Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Walden, Maine Woods, Cape Cod, Quebec, and Minnesota). Includes copies of some maps that Thoreau used or drew.

Maine
Huber, J. Parker. The Wildest Country: Exploring Thoreau’s Maine. 2d ed. Boston, MA: Appalachian Mountain Club Books, 2008. [Supersedes first edition: The Wildest Country: A Guide to Thoreau’s Maine. Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club Books, 1981.] A good and vital guidebook was made even better when this resource was updated in a new edition. Both are detailed enough for careful following of Thoreau's three trips to Maine. The newer edition has more current information, color photographs, and color maps. It's also printed in a smaller format that could be easier to slip into a backpack or canoe.
Leff, David K. Canoeing Maine’s Legendary Allagash: Thoreau, Romance, and Survival of the Wild. Stonington, CT: Homebound Publications, 2016. The author recounts the paddling trip he took with a companion in the 1980s, following the course that Thoreau followed along the Allagash River in northern Maine. Provides an interesting juxtaposition of time periods and encounters.
Thoreau, Henry David. The Maine Woods. [PDF] Three essays representing Thoreau's experiences during his trips to Maine in 1846, 1853, and 1857: "Ktaadn;" "Chesuncook;" and "The Allegash and East Branch." First published in magazine article form, then in a separate volume in 1864. Edited by Ellery Channing and Sophia Thoreau.
Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Map and Guide. Orono, Maine: The University of Maine Press / Maine Woods Forever, 2007. A high-quality color map detailing the routes of the three trips that Thoreau took to Maine (1846, 1853, 1857). Notes important sites along the routes. With essays by Richard W. Judd and James Eric Francis, Sr. Available through the University of Maine Press here.
Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Map and Guide: East Branch of the Penobscot River. Orono, Maine: The University of Maine Press / Maine Woods Forever, 2013. The second map in this series, detailing Thoreau's route along the east branch of the Penobscot River in northern Maine. Includes an historical overview. Available through the University of Maine Press here.

Massachusetts
Mulloney, Stephen. Traces of Thoreau: A Cape Cod Journey. Northeastern University Press, 1998.  A narrative.
Gessner, David. A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod. University Press of New England, 1997. A collection of twelve essays. Look for the one titled "Following Thoreau."
Wheelwright, Thea. Thoreau's Cape Cod. With the early photographs of Herbert W. Gleason. Barre Publishers, 1971. An introduction by Wheelwright is followed by excerpts from Thoreau's writings, accompanied by historical photographs by Herbert W. Gleason.
Gamble, Adam. In the Footsteps of Thoreau: 25 Historic & Nature Walks on Cape Cod. Yarmouth Port, MA: On Cape Publications, 1997. A terrific guide for "finding" Thoreau from his four trips to Cape Cod. Provides maps and detailed directions for taking 15 specific walks, encountering 55 sites, and much more.
Leff, David K. Deep Travel: In Thoreau’s Wake on the Concord and Merrimack. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2009. In 2004, brothers David and Alan Leff paddled the rivers as Henry and John Thoreau had on that original excursion in 1839. They choose to end their reenactment in Lowell, instead of heading up into New Hampshire and the White Mountains.
Thoreau, Henry David. “A Walk to Wachusett.” [PDF] First published in The Boston Miscellany in 1843, this is the travel essay Thoreau wrote about his 1842 walk from Concord to Princeton and Mount Wachusett, with companion Richard Fuller. Includes his poetic tributes to the mountain.
Thoreau, Henry David. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. [PDF] Thoreau's first book and travel narrative, published in 1849. He condenses the two-week trip into one. After the opening "Concord River" chapter, he labels the rest with the names of the days of the week. This is the book he moved to the shoreline of Walden Pond to write.
Thoreau, Henry David. Cape Cod. [PDF] Ten essays based on the first three of Thoreau's four Cape Cod trips (1849,1850, 1855, 1857). Published posthumously as a separate volume in 1865. Chapters are: "The Shipwreck;" "Stage-Coach Views;" "The Plains of Nauset;" "The Beach;" "The Wellfleet Oysterman;" The Beach Again;" "Across the Cape;" "The Highland Light;" The Sea and the Desert;" and "Provincetown."
Young, Robert M. Walking to Wachusett: A Re-Enactment of Henry David Thoreau’s “A Walk to Wachusett.” Lulu.com, 2008. In 2005, the author re-enacted the walk that Thoreau took with Richard Fuller in 1842, from Concord to Princeton and the summit of Wachusett Mountain. Includes directions on how best to accomplish this feat with contemporary roads. Also includes the text of Thoreau's original essay.
Zwinger, Ann and Edwin Way Teale. A Conscious Stillness: Two Naturalists on Thoreau’s Rivers. New York: Harper & Row, 1982. Two former presidents of The Thoreau Society paddle where Henry did, along the Assabet and Sudbury Rivers, both separately and together. The narrative is written in separate voices. Includes detailed drawn maps for others to follow.

Minnesota
Smith, Corinne Hosfeld. Westward I Go Free: Tracing Thoreau’s Last Journey. Green Frigate Books, 2012. Follows the route taken by Thoreau and Horace Mann, Jr. in 1861, from Massachusetts to Minnesota and back. Includes historical context, directions on how to find the path today, and personal adventures of the author. This was a journey that Thoreau never had a chance to write about himself.

Quebec
Thoreau, Henry David. A Yankee in Canada. [PDF] A travel narrative based on the 1850 trip that Thoreau made with Ellery Channing from Massachusetts to Quebec. First published posthumously in 1866. Chapters are: "Concord to Montreal;" "Quebec and Montmorenci;" "St. Anne;" "The Walls of Quebec;" and "The Scenery of Quebec; and the River St. Lawrence."
"Other"
Christie, John Aldrich. Thoreau as World Traveler. Columbia University Press, 1965. Shows how Henry Thoreau "traveled" around the world by reading the travel narratives of famous explorers.