Must Read Autobiographies - XII

A Walk In The Woods

Bill Bryson

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, written by travel writer Bill Bryson, was published in 1998. The book by travel describes his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend "Stephen Katz". Bill could not complete hiking through the trail, as the toughness of the trail has a record of less than 25% success.

The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from the state of Georgia in the south, and stumble in the beginning with the difficulties of getting used to their equipment; Bryson also soon realizes how difficult it is to travel with his friend, who is a crude, overweight recovering alcoholic, and even less prepared for the ordeal than he is. Overburdened, they soon discard much extra food and equipment to lighten their loads.

After hiking for what seemed to him a large distance, they realize they have still barely begun, and that the whole endeavor is simply too much for them. They skip a huge section of the trail, beginning again in Roanoke, Virginia. The book recounts Bryson's desire to seek easier terrain as well as "a powerful urge not to be this far south any longer". This section of the hike finally ends (after nearly 800 miles of hiking with Bryson going on a book tour and Katz returning to Iowa to work.

In the following months Bryson continues to hike several smaller parts of the trail, including a visit to Centralia, Pennylvania, the site of a coal seam fire, and eventually reunites with Katz to hike the Hundred-Mile Wilderness in Maine, which again proves too daunting. 

Namaste

Prabir