William Least Heat Moon's River Horse uses the tributary system of the Mississippi as the heart of their Atlantic to Pacific trip across the US by water. Lovely book.
William Least Heat Moon is great, the late Maureen Kincaid Speller introduced me to Prairyerth years ago. I think I've read most of his work. River Horse is one of those books that makes you want to go there, do that.
Are you familiar with the late Tim Robinson's work on Connemara and the Aran Islands? They are some of the most remarkable books I've read on any topic.
I started with the pair Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage (around the coast of Inis Mor) and Labyrinth (the interior of the island) which he wrote based on his walks creating his hand drawn map of Aran. He covers geology, botany, linguistics, folklore and history down to a field by field level.