I would like to have a good book or series pertaining to exploring, or stranded on an alien planet.

Any suggestions?

A Deepness in the Sky
Hyperion has a lot of alien worlds in it

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Don't do too much research on it though, or you'll spoil it.

march upcountry/march to the sea/march to the stars/we few

Started on these... pretty good so far. Thanks.

supposedly there is a fifth in the works

As noted above the "Hyperion/Endymion" series (four books last I knew) by Dan Simmons is about other worlds (with farcaster transport between them).

There's the old Edgar Rice Burroughs "Barsoom" (i.e., Mars) series of books.  Very dated though.  Carl Sagan said that they were an influence to his interest in space.

The "Ringworld" books aren't too shabby, especially the first two.

The "Gateway" series isn't so much about exploring other worlds as it is about space exploration.  The first one ("Gateway") is excellent, and the next two are okay.

"DUNE" has one of the best depictions of an alien world.