A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

(Book Review)

Since I've been busy with school and work, I've not had a lot of free time for reading. But thankfully there's always time for audio books.

This is a book I should have read a long time ago. My aunt gave it to me for Christmas 10 years ago (wow, that long ago already!) after my friends and I had hiked the Smoky mountains during spring break. (Not hiking on the Appalachian trail per se, but intersecting it a couple of times on our route).

Around the same time, my best friend Brett read the same book. And I still remember him recounting some of the funnier parts of the book to me on one of our hiking trips. (With all the major things you forget over the years, it's strange some of the inane things you remember, isn't it?)

I didn't read this book at the time for a number of reasons. Back when I was 20, I was trying to make up for a childhood that consisted almost entirely of solitude and books by trying to be more social and making a conscious effort to limit the amount of books I read. (Sounds a bit silly now, but that was my attitude at the time). Also, partly because I'm a slow reader, it takes a tremendous amount of time and energy for me to get through a book. And so I rarely read a book simply on someone else's recommendation, and will only pick up a book unless I'm personally motivated to get through it.

I did however spend two different spring break trips during college hiking the Smoky mountains, and at points overlapping with the Appalachian trails. I posted my journal from second trips as a retrospection a few years ago. The first trip, from Sophomore year, was before I started my journal, which is a pity because we had much more adventures and interesting stories on that trip. At least I can still remember a lot of it even if I didn't write it down at the time.

...Anyway, both trips were among the best experiences of my life. I love hiking, and the only thing better than a good hike is being able to share it with some of your best friends and have a lot of laughs along the way. And the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Words can't describe the beauty of the Smoky mountains. At times the woods were so thick with foliage we thought we were in a rain forest.

And it ended up being quite an adventure as well. I've mentioned this before, but on our first trip the trail criss crossed the river at several points. We had of course noticed this while we were looking at the map, but didn't think anything of it. I guess we had just assumed there would be bridges at all of these points. Not being experienced hikers, we were shocked when we came to the first crossing and there wasn't a bridge in sight.

The first river crossing we were able to hop skip and jump across using some rocks. But, just like a video game, the crossings became progressively more and more difficult as we continued. Pretty soon we were having to make long detours in order to find a spot with rocks we could jump to. Then we had to shimmy across a fallen tree to get across. Finally we got to a large river where there didn't seem anyway to cross.

It was early March, and we were still wearing our winter coats, so it was much too cold to wade across the frigid mountain river (especially considering we didn't have any warm place to dry off in afterwards). So we walked up and down the river for a while looking for another place to cross. We argued and some people talked about going back. And in the end we ended up spending close to two hours making our own bridge: going into the forest and finding fallen trees and branches which we would then lug into the river and attempt to make foot paths between some of the bigger boulders. The four of us guys were trying to show off as much as possible for the girls in our group by making leaps of daring back and forth along the rocks (or maybe I'm just speaking for myself).

Finally when the bridge was completed, we helped the girls across. (Our bridges, such as they were, were a bit flimsily and wobbly and hard to walk across unassisted).

And then, one girl slipped off the bridge, falling in the cold water and even worse getting her back pack and all her gear soaking wet. We all rushed to help her.

That night, we got caught in a heavy snowfall. And the next day the adventure continued on...

You'll excuse me if I spend most of this review talking about my own experiences rather than the book. But reading this,( or listening to it rather), did bring back a lot of fond memories.

Anyway, now that a friend gave me a copy of this book on audio, and having recently finished and enjoyed two other Bill Bryson books (The Lost Continent and The Life and Times of Thunderbolt Kid ) it was the perfect time to continue onto this book.

And what can I say? Bill Bryson is a funny guy! I enjoyed this book thoroughly.

In addition to Bryson's dry wit, his hiking companion (under the alias of Stephen Katz) is a writer's dream.
In "The Life and Times of Thunderbolt Kid" Bryson recalls his childhood with Stephen Katz. And, although I've not read them, apparently Katz makes appearances in several of Bryson's other books. He's fat, grumpy, lazy, surly, vindictive and more or less the perfect comic character to write about on a long grueling hiking trip. When asked how he feels about bears, Katz responds, "Hey, they haven't gotten me yet!" When forced to share a lodge with a group of preppy spring break kids, Katz remarks, "One of these guys just called me Sport. I'm getting the fuck out of here!"

(In "The Thunderbolt Kid" Byrson mentions in passing that the real Stephen Katz called this book largely a work of fiction. Bryson never went on to elaborate the truth behind the charge, but it did have me wondering the whole time as I listened to this book. Either way, given how Katz comes off in this book, it's not surprising that the real Katz would have some objections).

Despite the fact that Katz is almost the perfect character, the thought did occur to me a few times: "I bet our gang would have had Katz and Bryson beat." If we had been taken notes on the trail, if we had written up the experience when it was still fresh, and if one of us had the wit and writing skill of Bryson, we could have made a much funnier book. Maybe that's arrogant to say, but when I remember all the funny things that happened to us, all the laughs we had, and all the insane arguments over pointless things, I bet our story would have been better. Bryson may have had Stephen Katz, but I had a whole host of characters on my trip.

....But the thing is, none of us did have the writing skills or subtle wit of Bryson. And that's the thing about writing: the actual story doesn't count half as much as the skill in telling it. If you go follow my links above to my journal entry about our trip, you'll note it's not exactly Shakespeare. Whereas Bryson can take something as mundane as a road trip across the Midwest, and make it into an hilarious book in "The Lost Continent."

Oh well. I guess writers like Bryson gives the rest of us something to shoot for.

In addition to adventures along the trail, Bryson also tells a lot of the history of the Appalachian trail (how it came into existence, and the problems it has faced over the years) and some of the geology and botany of the trail. I know this sounds boring, but it's actually a lot more interesting than you would think once Bryson starts getting into it.

Bryson also continues many of his observations about American life, including the lengths to which ordinary non-hiking Americans will go to avoid walking. Continuing on themes in some of his previous books, Bryson observes how difficult it is to walk across an American city even if you wanted to. Once off the trail, Bryson recounts a near death experience trying to walk to a local K-mart, and being honked at by the passing drivers for "having the temerity to try and cross town without the benefit of metal."

As I said in my review of "The Lost Continent", I couldn't agree more on this point. With the coming energy crisis, American cities are going to have to be redesigned to be more cycling and pedestrian friendly.

According to Wikipedia, a film adaptation of this book is in the works. I'd be interested to see that when it comes out.

Link of the Day
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and The Republican Good News Fairy

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson: Book Review (Scripted)