2000 Miles Together

Title: 2000 Miles Together
Author: Ben Crawford
Major Themes: Adventure, Appalachian Trail, Family
Synopsis: The story of the largest family ever to attempt a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

I don’t remember what prompted my search the day I found 2000 Miles Together. I remember looking for another book about the Appalachian Trail, but couldn’t remember the title, so when looking through a list of related books, this one came up. Since I am part of a large family, I’m naturally intrigued by stories of large families. This one was made even more interesting by the fact that they accomplished such a difficult feat together. Not many families would even attempt to do something like this, and even fewer would be able to carry it out. But the Crawfords did, and I was curious to find out how they did it.

Ben and Kami Crawford aren’t your typical large-family parents. They like a challenge, and they aren’t afraid to challenge their children to do the same things they dream of doing. They believe their children, if encouraged, can do much more than society believes they can—and they want to raise children that know how to push themselves to accomplish their dreams. After completing marathons and multiple multi-day hikes together as a family, Ben and Kami dream of tackling something they’ve both wanted to do for many years—hike the Appalachian Trail. Together. But with six children, ranging in age from 17 down to a 3-year-old, is it even possible to attempt the feat? Regardless of what others may think of their adventure, they decide to try. One chilly day in early March 2018, the Crawford family start their hike, walking up to the top of Springer Mountain in northern Georgia with their packs on their back, and rain, alternating with sleet, slashing at their faces. Through blizzards, having CPS called on them, and the kindness of many different strangers, this family stuck to their course and worked their way up to Maine.

2000 Miles Together impressed me on many different levels, not the least of which was that after reading this story, I wanted to get out hiking, too, even though I am one of the laziest, least-active people I know. I haven’t actually followed through on the urge, but reading this story has inspired me to at least think of doing something like that. As I mentioned before, I loved the large family element, and I also loved hearing how they worked together to attain their common goal—that felt very familiar to me. This wasn’t just a story that the father, Ben Crawford, told, too; this was a family project, and throughout the book, there are multiple journal entries from the children telling about their experiences on the trail. If you listen to the audiobook, there’s the bonus of extra interviews at the end of each chapter—I enjoyed hearing different family members’ perspectives that way!

Of course, there were some things that I didn’t appreciate so much in the story. I don’t agree with all of their beliefs or the way they chose to handle some things. But I expected that going into the story, so it didn’t bother me as much as it could have, I suppose. There were a few off-color mentions, and I didn’t appreciate all the language, so I can’t recommend this book to younger readers or listeners. At times, I considered stopping reading because of those things—there was more than I was comfortable with here and there—but in the end, I kept on and finished the story. Was it worth it? I think so. I can’t fully recommend the story, but at the same time, I was blessed by some of what I learned in these pages, too. Be sure to see the warnings before deciding!

WARNING: As I stated earlier in the review, there was a lot of language in the book. I kept track for the first few chapters, but ended up quitting because there was so much and it was often the same stuff over and over. Chapter 1: “h— of a lot of”. Chapter 2: “our lizard brains took over”, “[we] stopped and smoked cigars”, “frick’n”, “thank goodness”, and “oh my gosh”. Chapter 3: A mention of marital relations and women’s cycles, people drinking beer, “she was bisexual” (and only in audio: “shot to h—”, “holy c—”, “a—holes”). Chapter 4: “could swear”, “non-stop c—” (only in audio: “sh—” two times, “sh— storm”, and a discussion on why the authors don’t believe in corporal punishment). Chapter 5: “sh— all over the place”, “sh— storm”, “lame a—”, (only in audio: “jeez”). Chapter 6: “h—” used twice, “sh—”, “freaking”, and people smoke cigars (only in audio: “oh c—”). Chapter 7: “dumba—”, “a—hole”, “f—up”, “a—hat”, “h—”, “freaking”, “a—” (twice). Chapter 14: “[she] felt like her uterus was falling out.” Chapter 20: A mention of nude hikers and people smoking pot. Chapter 26: Characters take part in a nude photo shoot. Drinking beer and smoking cigars are mentioned multiple times (more than I’ve noted above). This book also mentions their family moving away from the Christian faith.

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