Book info

• Title A Walk in the Woods
• Author Bill Bryson
• Year 1998
• Genre Travel

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.

Thoughts

I haven’t read any Bill Bryson in a long time, and it was fun to dip my toes back in the water. This book follows the adventures of Bill and a friend as they walk some of the Appalachian Trail - a hiking trail in the US that stretches almost 2,200 miles through 14 states on the east side. Naturally the pair are woefully under-prepared and make plenty of mistakes along the way, but I enjoyed how the book is not just about walking but also about various topical things along the way: industry in various places, the point of hiking trails, how leisure time has changed. It’s a good read even if the results of the actual hiking are disappointing.

Rating: 3 / 5