Outdoor books and upset hikers

[John Graham]

How madder will you be at him after you read his next book

Touche! I was taking the Red eye to London and had to grab some easily read rubbish at the airport bookstore. I do like the comparison with a sitcom- you know it's a bunch of rot, but at least it doesn't take much effort. I tossed it at Gatwick.

 

[bill bowden]

Early excerpts from "A Walk in the Woods"

It's certainly possible that some of the negative reaction to Bryson's book came from an excerpt published in "Backpacker" (I think it was) which had most of the things regular hikers and wilderness lovers find offensive in it. I certainly refused to buy the book after reading the excerpt. Later, I was given a copy and found it to be enjoyable.

 

[KayakDan]

I'm not sure why anybody would be upset by this book.Bryson wrote it to be a comedy,not a trail manual. We hike,we camp,and particularly for winter camping,we take some things seriously. Still,the point of doing these things is because we enjoy them,not because they are serious! I don't think the point of the book is to ridicule hikers,campers,slack-packers or anyone else. It's entertainment-nothing more.

 

[MattC]

"Bryson impulsively set about hiking the Appalachian Trail, a 2200-mile long path that stretches from Georgia to Maine. His companion on this adventure was one Stephen Katz, an equally ill-prepared and overweight gent with a penchant for beer and donuts."[/B]

Mmm... beer and donuts.

Music isn't just for musicians, art isn't just for artists, and hiking isn't just for hikers.

Matt

 

[RoySwkr]

I think the Katz character (the one who ditched his excess stuff) was probably a literary exageration. Sort of the Costello to Bryson's Abbot.

You got it, PB. A guy I know was commissioned to write a review of this book, and read other Bryson books in preparation. After reading about travels with Katz in Europe, he was sure that Bryson deliberately brought him along to help create comic situations. (Only non-hikers would believe that you need a companion to hike the AT.)

Anyway I went to a reading by Bryson a couple years ago, and one of the questions asked was, "What did Katz think of this book?" Bryson said he had been afraid of his reaction, and heard nothing after mailing him a copy. Finally he called and asked. Katz said, "oh it's a great book, very funny, but nothing like what happened!" Presumably Katz had also read the Europe book and knew what he was in for after a trip with Bryson. (The book says that Katz is a pseudonym.)

As to accuracy, a generation ago another man's odyssey across NH was published as "The Country Northward". One reviewer from the AMC pointed out that he had found many errors in the book but still gave several for Xmas presents. One WW II autobiography I read said it was "90% true", that way the author is saying that you should look elsewhere for pure fact but this is what I remember.

 

[funkyfreddy]

I loved the book and laughed my ass off during parts of it. Yeah, I know, my sense of humor can be pretty sophomoric too, but believe me - I've met some thruhikers who looked and acted like worse parodies than Bryson ever dreamed up. This would probably make a good thread all to itself - Strange Encounters With Thruhikers....... I know, there are good thruhikers, bad thruhikers, and indifferent ones, that goes w/o saying! My point is that yes, they're some real wackos who have hiked the AT.

2 incidents come to mind - sharing a lean-to with 2 stoned thruhikers during a thunderstorm and listening to them discuss religion and hygiene. It was priceless - like a bad out take from a Cheech and Chong film. Another time I had a thruhiker come over and proceed to give me unsolicited advice about everything I had out of my pack. This was in Maine at the Spauding lean-to and when I told him I wasn't interested in "doing miles", that I just wanted to bushwack and explore the Maine woods he acted like I was crazy........ meanwhile he was proselytizing for a 4-6 month thruhike and couldn't see the point of "detouring" to Mt. Abraham to enjoy the view on a beautiful day and pick blueberries.

Since then I've been less and less interested in the thruhiker mystique. For a lot of them it just seems to be about calories and miles. I enjoy walking, I enjoy hiking but it's not something I have to do, I do it because I choose to. I find that the hiking gets better when I'm not so obsessed about it and can do it with a clear mind and take my time. I love the AT but don't see the point of having to do it all in one season. I think you would miss a lot of good stuff by having to rush to Maine. That being said, I do have fantasies of chucking everything aside and going hiking for 4 months....

 

[omegaman]

I reread the book as I was travelling out to New Mexico for an 80 mile backpacking trip with a bunch of 15 year olds and I thought it was perfect mental preparation for me (not to be so serious or stressed out at little things). It is intended to be funny and maybe it just appeals to those of us who have a sophmoric sense of humor. Some people don't like the Marx brothers or the Stooges. We should start an organization of Hikers (or walkers) who have a sophmoric sense of humor (HOW WHSSH).

 

[Oldsmores]

...Some people don't like the Marx brothers or the Stooges...

Have you actually met any males who don't like the Stooges? Say it ain't so!

 

[strider]

I remember running into a whole group of thru-hikers a couple years ago heading up Wildcat. As I recall, the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello

Head Hiking Honcho: Hi. We're all thru-hikers. I've hiked the AT twice, and that guy over there's hiked it three times. My trail name is Bull Dyke.*

Me, wondering why they're sitting in the middle of the trial: Okay.

HHH: Everyone else has hiked it once, except for that girl. She had to bail out in southern Maine after twisting her ankle. Her trail name is Limbs Along.

Me, trying to step over everyone and continue my hike: Sounds great.

HHH: We like to get together once or twice a year and talk about the one significant thing we did in our entire lives ad nauseum.

Me, now fifty feet away: Have fun.

HHH: Oh, we will. We're all really good hikers and camping is like second nature to us and ....

I didn't catch the last part, as I was out of ear-shot by then. It was probably something really profound.

* All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

 

[dundare]

Katz is supposedly a real guy. I loved a Walk in the Woods and when I was hitting Europe for a month this summer was overjoyed to find that Bryson had a book on the subject.

So, as I took the train across the continent, I was reading Bryons and Katz's adventurers at the same time. The book was called Neither Here Nor There if i recall correctly and is as enjoyable as a Walk in the Woods.

As for the adventures of Bryson and Katz, they lacked a lot of the qualities many look for in hikers and they certainly lacked a lot of skills. However, in reading the book, they learned along the way and perhaps even more importantly came to realize some of what they had been missing out on.

Finally, if you like books on hiking along those lines, check out Chris Wren's Walking to Vermont. Its not meant to be hilarious, but turns out to be an entertaining and interesting read.