RNE Nonfiction: Retired men walking the Appalachian trail

A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson)

My first pick for the Reading New England Nonfiction book selection is"A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson.  I am a little hesitant to list it as a New England book, as quite a bit of the book takes place on the southern part of the Appalachian Trail.  However,a good deal of the book takes place in NH and along the Appalachian trail both in and out of New England. This book has some lovely things to say about New England, and the Appalachian Trail.  It also has a terrific dry sense of humor throughout.  If I knew how funny this book was I probably would have picked it up long before I did.  In fact, my sister pressed it upon me a couple years ago, but due to the phenomena of not reading books on my shelf it took me ages to get to it.  In this book, Bill Bryson discusses the history of the Appalachian trail and also describes some of the wacky people he meets on his walk.  For me, the funniest bits of the book were when he describes his experiences walking the trail with his larger, less experienced friend who at one point throws out a great deal of their food in order to lighten his pack resulting in some hilarious senarios.

Walking to VT (Christopher W. Wren)

Christopher is a retired war correspondent for the New York Times, and he decides to walk from Times Square to his house in Vermont.  Part of his trip takes place (by necessity) on roads, and part of it is on the Appalachian Trail.  An interesting aspect of the Appalachian Trail brought up in this book is the concept of trail names such as "Old Rabbit" and "Flash".  When you are on the trail you cease to be known by your job, or by your status, or even by your given name.  You are just who you are.  Although in large part I enjoyed this book, I found that the flow of the walk was broken by occasional flashbacks to the author's previous life as a war correspondent.  These memories, presented in a more fleshed-out manner would probably make a good story, but stuck into the story of the walk as they were, I just found them annoying.

Wandering Home (Bill McKibben)

Bill McKibben is an environmentalist, and thus brought to my attention not only the challenge and fun of walking the Appalachian trail, but also how important it is that there is an Appalachian (and Long) trail and enough trees to have a magnificent forest.  In this book he walks from Vermont to upstate New York, and discusses the similarity and differences between the two landscapes.  Along the way he walks with a variety of other people, most of them also concerned about the environment, such as a bee keeper, owner of a winery, and a man that lives in a cabin completely off of the grid.  I found this book to be both immensely pleasurable, and also informative.  After reading I wanted to go right out and plant some trees.  The setting of this book is also close to my heart as I went to college in upstate New York and have spent a great deal of time in Vermont.

Together these books paint a compelling picture of the Appalachian Trail.  Take just what you can carry, walk as long as you can, unplug. Sweat. Enjoy the kindness of strangers (trail magic) and enjoy the eccentricities of those you meet along the way.  Dream of cheeseburgers and chocolate cake.  Discuss pack weight and camp stoves.  Cherish the landscape.