Rue McKenrick is the founder of the American Perimeter Trail (APT)—a proposed 15,000-mile trail encircling the United States. He founded the Trail and its governing organization, the American Perimeter Trail Conference 501(c)3. Since 2019, he has spent years on foot scouting and documenting this route, producing one of the most ambitious trail-building efforts in the country.

The American Perimeter Trail book series documents that journey.

This is not just a story of miles. It is a record of landscapes, communities, conservation challenges, and the long-term vision of establishing a future National Scenic Trail.

American Perimeter Trail

Volume I West and Volume II have been completed.

Volume III & IV

This fundraiser directly supports completing the series.

Funds will be used for:

• Writing, editing, and manuscript completion

• Professional design and publishing (IngramSpark, KDP, global distribution)

• Photography and map production

• Printing and production costs

• Field research and route documentation for remaining volumes

This work is being produced independently to preserve accuracy, authorship, and long-term ownership of the project.

The goal is to complete and publish the full American Perimeter Trail series—creating a permanent record of the trail and advancing the broader conservation vision behind it.

If you believe in large-scale conservation, public access, and documenting landscapes that define this country, you can support this work here.

Check out Rue and The APT Conference 501(c)3 @ www.americanperimetertrail.org

NBC Nightly News, National Geographic, and Backpacker Magazine.