A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

skywalker

Book review: The Best Way – El Camino de Santiago

Allow me to preface this review by saying that I am a huge fan of Bill Walker’s storytelling and how he weaves a book about hiking together. I’ve also found Bill to be quite an engaging fellow as I’ve written about him on this blog before, both with book reviews and a story I did about him and hiking long distance.

I didn’t hate his latest book by any means. In fact, it was through him that I first discovered what the heck the El Camino de Santiago was. Without doing the story about him, I might not know much about this hike, outside of the 2010 film The Way, which starred Martin Sheen.

Still, when doing book reviews, I like to be as honest as possible.

There were moments during my reading of The Best Way: El Camino de Santiago where I grumbled about it and wondered if I would plod through. Too, there were times when the book breezed by and captured my attention and imagination like Walker’s past books. The fact that there were parts that made me feel fully opposite of others made this a maddening read.

The Good

One thing I like about Walker’s books are how well he describes things. He takes basic things and makes them sound wonderful. His descriptions of the people he meets on his jaunts make you feel like you are there standing next to him and seeing these people.

The way he writes about all the little towns and places he stays and eats is very strong. When I finished this book, I had a great feel of this trip and what a person must go through to do this hike. And, if you’ve read other Walker-written books, you’ll know that you will know all about the hike when the book is finished, which is more than I can say for some other hiking books I’ve read.

Walker’s style is easy to get into. It’s conversational and you can feel like he’s telling you a story. When dealing with things such as long-distance hikes, that’s important. The reason being? Most of us won’t do a long-distance hike, so to get the full feel of what one has to go through on these hikes.

Walker is colorful, truthful and doesn’t ever really hold back punches, which I fully appreciate.  It’s nice to get a story that tells the truth of the hike, whether it be good or bad.

The one big thing Walker has done here? He’s made me really want to think about doing this hike. I’ve often thought about wanting to do a long-distance hike, but I also realized that the Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail likely wouldn’t be in my future. The El Camino has a lot more meaning to it, in my eyes, and it’s something I’ll definitely be researching.

The Bad

I don’t speak Spanish.

That also means that I don’t read Spanish. For those who do, kudos. But I can’t and don’t.

There are parts of this book where Walker writes his conversations that he held in Spanish. I fully respect that he can speak, write and understand that language. And there are times when he translated what he said. But, there were also times he didn’t.

All it takes is in the beginning to note that many conversations were in Spanish. I don’t have to visually see it to be able to imagine it. In fact, it makes it harder for me to continue because it makes the reading choppy and not very enjoyable. One thing I’ve always believed is by making a reader stop and scratch their head when reading, you risk losing them.

I was almost lost.

In Walker’s previous two books, I flew through them in a few days. This one took a while. Mainly because when I hit these Spanish speaking parts or something else, I’d drift off and stay away for a day or so.

The other thing is the history lessons. Look, I love history. It was always a favorite in high school and college and I often took elective classes because of this. And I don’t mind reading about history.

But there were times where Walker went deeply into history and it took up a chapter at a time. I don’t want all of that. Personally, I’d want to see it in a shorter version. Books like this are ones I get for the stories about the trip. The people, the events, everything else. I appreciate some of the history, especially because of how long and how historical this hike is. But there were times where it seemed like it was being forced to me more than intertwined with the story of Walker’s hike.

Other may see it fully differently, and I respect that.

Overall thoughts

This was a good read for the most part.

As I noted earlier in the review, I like Walker’s style and his storytelling is some of the best I’ve read when it comes to long-distance hiking and I’ve read quite a few books about the subject.

Still, it wasn’t perfect.

Of the three Walker books I’ve read, this is probably my least favorite overall, yet it’s probably my second favorite in regard to subject. There are parts of this one that really made me think it was going to outdo his other books, but then parts where I wanted to close the book and move on.

If you are a fan of Walker’s writing, I would highly encourage you to grab a copy and read it. If you are a long-distance hiking fan or have interest in the El Camino, again, grab a copy.

I’m not sure this book will be something everyone would enjoy, but it’s still worth the read as Walker gives you a good look at the El Camino, it’s history and what it’s like to go through the hike.

Rating

This book was, for the most part, a solid read. It had some downs, but more ups. I know most major sites won’t give half-stars, but that’s their choice, not mine. For this review, I’ll give the book a solid 3.5 stars and highly encourage people to read it.

On the web

See more about Walker at his website.

If you are interested in purchasing The Best Way or any of Walker’s books, feel free to click on any of these links:

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Hiking away with a book (contest winner!)

With the hiking series of stories in the books, it’s time for the winner of the contest.

Though I had hoped to get many entries for this signed book of Skywalker’s trip on the Appalachian, only three people entered. Two tweeted the contest, too, so that’s five entries. Add two more who gave a Facebook page like (thanks, you two!) and we have a total of seven entries.

That’s disappointing.

Still, for those three people, the odds got that much better to win this book. First, if you haven’t read the book, it’s a fantastic story of — as Skywalker told me through Twitter — on what not to do on the Appalachian Trail. He makes fun of himself and tells about the trip in a humorous and colorful way.

I highly recommend the book to those of you who either didn’t win this contest or are just reading about it now.

Anyway, with so few entries, it didn’t take me to pop the four into Random.org’s randomizer to get a winner.

And the winner is…

Lauren!

Congrats, Lauren. Contact me with your address and I’ll get the book out to you sometime next week!

The winner via random.org.

The hiking series

I hope people enjoyed the hiking series. Though I would have liked to have had a few other hikers (I contacted several, but didn’t hear back from all of them), I am happy with how the series worked out.

There were some really cool stories and I liked getting back into that style of writing. I hope to do a few more things like this with the blog down the line. I have some ideas I’m working on, so we’ll see how it goes.

The links below are for all of the stories in the series. Go check ’em out if you haven’t already!

Series Schedule:

The future of contests at A ‘lil HooHaa

I’m not sure if I’ll be running contests much anymore. Though I like the idea, it hasn’t done what the hope is — drive some traffic to the blog so people read it. Even through social media “advertising,” I don’t get many extra hits. And many who enter the contest only enter and move on. Even though tweeting it (if one has a Twitter account) is a quick and easy way to get a second entry. Same with liking the page on Facebook.

I’ll reconsider as I go on, but it doesn’t seem like the contests do too well, so I’m going to save myself the shipping costs (most things I’ve given away, I already have or have been donated).  If I do another series or two of stories and somebody gives me something to give away, I’ll try again. But for now, I’m not going to have any standalone contests anymore. Which, to be honest, is too bad because I had some cool things (things I have gathered personally over the last year or two like t-shirts, geocoins etc.) that I was going to give away. I’ll re-visit it down the line, but for now it doesn’t seem like a feature I’ll keep doing.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

On the trail with Skywalker

Skywalker and fellow hiker going down Forrester's Pass on the PCT. (photo courtesy of Bill Walker)

Hiking long distances is hard enough.

Going through the ups and downs of a trail, fighting through weather, people and anything else that might step in your way.

There’s making sure you carry enough food to make up for all the calories you burn and hauling enough water to get you from water source to water source.

That’s for your average person.

Now, imagine what it’s like if you were nearly seven feet tall. Welcome to Bill Walker’s world.

Hiking with the trail name of Skywalker — which makes sense being that Walker hovers above most other hikers — Walker has done some major thru-hikes, including the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. That’s two-thirds of the Triple Crown in the United States, with the third part being the Continental Divide Trail.

Walker (left) on a cool morning in the Sierras on the PCT. (Photo courtesy Bill Walker)

However, for the 50-year-old Walker, who currently lives in North Carolina, the CDT and he are not a match. The problem, Walker said, is right now, there is a lot of it that is not actual trail. With the CDT still developing, some data books and guides telling you how to get to where you need to be and some of it can be finding other trails.

“As a hiker of modest ability, I like having an actual trail to follow,” he said. “It is my best friend on lonely days.”

An author of two books on his adventures on the AT and the PCT, Walker said he enjoys meeting people along the way.

“I revel in meeting a glorious cast of humanity along the way,” he said. “But on the CDT, a hiker meets very few people. A lot of times it is groups that go out together and stick together. My hat is off to those who attempt it; I may yet some day. I hear it’s gorgeous, but could it possibly be any more gorgeous than the PCT?”

In 2005, Walker took his first long-distance hike, traversing the Appalachian Trail. A few years later, he did the Pacific Crest Trail. In recent years, including this past summer, he’s hiked the El Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile jaunt in Spain. Both times have taken him 34 days to complete the hike.

But the biggest hikes he’s taken are the AT and the PCT. Each has its own merits, he said, and he wouldn’t choose which was better than the other.

“It would be like asking a parent who they like best between two kids,” he said. “You can never make a choice.”

A walker for much of his life, Walker said hiking almost comes natural. And when hiking, the hustle and bustle of the world isn’t as noticed.

“Life is much more simpler (on the trail),” he said.

For the earlier part of his adult life, Walker worked as a trader in Chicago. You know the type — the crazy, loud and boisterous fellows on Wall Street. That was Walker.

Through it all, Walker was a, well, walker.

“I had a long history as a street walker,” the 6-foot-11 Walker said. “I walked all over. Over those years, I walked miles and miles and miles. Days I didn’t do it, I was depressed.”

So, after life’s path took him to London and other places, Walker went to make things simpler in his life.

He read Bill Bryson’s book, A Walk in the Woods (or on Kindle), about the Appalachian Trail and that helped pique his interest in the trail.

“Walking, especially in the woods, is a good thing to do,” he said. “It’s a win-win. … My job was replaced by a computer. That was over with.”

For a bit, he taught English as a second language in Latin America.

Bryson’s book opened a whole new world. It showed him this community — this hiking lifestyle — where people walked long distances. With the Appalachian Trail, it was from Georgia to Maine.

A trail in the high desert on the PCT. (photo courtesy Bill Walker)

“It sounded cool to me,” Walker said. “What a great way to travel.”

As a middle-aged male (he turned 45 while he was on the trail), it seemed like an interesting and fulfilling thing to do.

“The thing about the Appalachian Trail is it allows an average person go do something that is somewhat extraordinary,” he said. “That, to me, is one of the great things about the trail.”

After training and taking a class on hiking the AT, Walker was soon pushing ahead with this trip. He was advised to pick his own name (and he notes that after seeing some of the names people got while on the trail, he’s glad he did), and said his name was quite logical.

“The height drew a lot of attention,” he said. “The reaction was predictable.”

How predictable?

Everyone thought because Walker was 6-11, this trail would be nothing. Long strides must equal a quicker hike, no?

If only it was that simple. Walker notes that many of the best hikers are shorter.

The main reason is that though he’s 6-11, that means he burns more calories when he hikes. That also means he needs to eat more to keep those calories up. The problem is, he couldn’t keep up. So he lost a lot of weight.

“You become stronger, but you require more food because you burn more calories,” he said. “The longer step requires 50 or 60 percent more calories.”

As the hike went on, it took its toll. In the first 10 states, he said he was in amazing shape and passed people often. Once he hit New England and the final four states, that changed.

The hike on the AT was worth it, however, in every aspect. And it’s a tremendous challenge, he said.

“It really focuses your mind and brings the best out of you,” he said.

Along the way, he met a colorful cast of characters. He shows them well in both of his books and he said this was some of the best parts of the hike.

“You’re not meeting couch potatoes out there,” he said. “You’re meeting colorful people with stories to tell. When you are out there thru-hiking, you feel like you know them. It’s authentic and real bonding.”

Traveling can be done faster by car, plane or train. But talk to someone who just hiked 20 miles in a day and it’s different, he said. There’s a sense of accomplishment. That feeling flows over through the hiking community.

Through all this, however, it makes you see the world a bit different and once the hike is over, sometimes it’s tough to go back to a 9-to-5 job.

“You have trouble conforming,” Walker said. “Some people choose not to go back to the corporate world. You really realize you can get along with a lot less. It makes me more secure.”

The three major hikes he has done are all different.

With the AT, there’s a lot of staying in shelters and more people to see. The PCT doesn’t have shelters, so there’s a lot more tenting and sometimes you don’t see people for a while. On the Camino de Santiago, people mainly sleep inside in places that resemble hostels. On that hike, people do 15 miles per day, carry less weight and are not really in any danger.

Walker first did the Camino de Santiago in 2010 and said he liked it so much, he went back this year.

“It’s the Appalachian Trail of Europe,” he said. “It is, in many ways, the perfect way to travel.”

That trail, he said, is a good one for hikers. It’s an older crowd for the most part and you follow a set trail. It’s not as difficult as the AT or the PCT. The terrain isn’t as difficult as the two American trails, but there are some climbs.

“It’s a great way to see Spain,” he said.

His books have gotten good reviews, for the most part, on places such as Amazon and Good Reads. The books have a humor approach and he makes fun of himself more than anyone else. It’s basically, as he says, a guide of what not to do on the AT or PCT.

Still, his descriptions of the people he met and of the situations some of them were in are well-done and tasteful. However, not everyone is in a positive light. After all, not everyone on the trail is going to be the perfect person.

“People have strong opinions about what is written about them,” Walker said. “Most portraits were positive. But humans are humans. Some people have strong reactions because they are reading about themselves. … I certainly can justify it. The person I made most fun of is me.

He said he’s had some people get upset and not want to talk to him anymore. But, he said, everything he’s written is true.

“It doesn’t mean they are a bad person,” he continued. “Humans will be humans. It’s not the Saints will be marching on.”

Advice for future hikers

So you want to hike the AT, the PCT or some other long-distance trail?

As someone who started as a novice, Walker said there are several things people should consider and work on before making a serious hike.

The first is that you really have to want to do it. You have to want to be out there.

“You should never try and convince someone to do it,” he said. “You are going to have contours and go into funks. If you don’t want to be out there, you’ll rationalize quitting.”

There’s a difference between that and a person who says they want to be out there but aren’t capable of it.

“That’s where I was in 2005,” he said. “That person has a lot to gain. Someone like me. New to the whole thing, but determined.”

Some things to keep in mind include:

  • Keeping pack weight down. “What do you need with you? Keep that weight down. Anything you can save weight on is advantageous.”
  • Get the right equipment — learn it and know it and how to use it. “The AT is easier to prepare for than the PCT. Equipment becomes important in bad weather.
  • Get in shape. “I was in the best shape of my life,” Walker said. “I trained in the gym all winter. I needed to get my weight up. The level of enjoyment is somewhat linear to your physical shape.”

Walker said he doesn’t anticipate stopping his hiking. It’s become part of who he is. Keep an eye out for him on the trails — if he’s on the same trail as you he likely won’t be hard to find.

More about Bill Walker:

Series Schedule:

***

Reminder! Contest going on! I am holding a contest this week for an autographed copy of Bill Walker’s book “Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail”. It runs from October16- to 12:01 a.m. Oct. 28. You can see all the details on the contest page. Enter for your chance to win!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Thru-hiking through the eyes of others

The Appalachian Trail is a long and winding road.

For those of you who don’t know what the Appalachian Trail is, allow me to give you a quick background.

The trail — officially known as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail — is a marked hiking trail that runs from Georgia to Maine. The starting and ending points depend on where you start (northbound or southbound), but the points are Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.

The trail is about 2,180 miles long (give or take a few with any trail changes) and it covers 14 states (Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine).

According to Wikipedia, the trail is maintained by some 30 trail clubs and other partnerships. It’s managed by the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a non-profit organization.

Much of the trail is through the great wilderness of the East Coast, going up and over mountains and through amazing scenery. The trail also goes through towns, follows a few roads and crosses a few rivers.

Though it’s likely the most famous of the long-distance hiking trails in the United States, it is also part of the “Triple Crown” with the Pacific Crest Trail (West Coast) and the Continental Divide Trail (goes from Mexico to Canada through more Midwestern-area states).

Thru-hiking, to many, is a lifestyle. It’s not easy, either. Don’t think of thru-hiking as a walk in the woods. It’s much more than that. Not everyone can hike 2,180 miles. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy estimates that just 1 in every 4 who attempt the AT thru-hike will complete it.

It takes a lot of planning, endurance, patience and time to tackle one of these trails. Someone hiking the AT could take upward of six months to do it.

The speed record for the AT, which was set this year by Jennifer Pharr Davis (trail name: Odyssa) is 46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes. She beat the previous record of 47 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes, which was set by Andrew Thompson in 2005.

Now, take into account, too, that Pharr Davis was doing a lot of power days in excess of 30, 40 and 50 miles per day. One day, she did 60 miles.

Hiking!

But for us mere mortals, those types of days aren’t the easiest things to accomplish. No, the reality is that many people start out doing 10-mile days (or about) and work their way up. 20-mile days are good, strong days.

The journey is what it’s about to many.

So, in this series, I am going to bring you the tales of four people. Three who have completed the trail and one who had to pull off from the trail.

Each story is different.

Take Bill Walker, a nearly seven-foot tall hiker who has completed the AT, the PCT and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He’s gone from the crazy world of Wall Street to realizing what life is about and hiking is a major part of it for him.

Take Emily Harper, a 19-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., who hiked the trail solo this past summer. Think of being a young female, alone, on a trail like this. It’s a different perspective to see if from those eyes.

Then there’s Chris Nadeau, who hiked 815 miles of the trail before deciding he had to attend to things going on in his personal life. It’s a different view of the trail from someone who still has plans to thru-hike the AT, but for now is among the 75 percent who start the trail and don’t finish.

You’ll also meet Tyler Bedick, a chemist from Morgantown, WV, who completed the trail this year in 139 days.

Each of these people has a story with their hiking. From personal sacrifice to the difficulties and triumphs on the trail.

Their story will be told as part of this series.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll bring you these stories to the best of my ability. The dates below show the dates each will run.

I hope you enjoy the series and it’s my hope that this won’t be my last in-depth series of stories or journalistic-style posts (I have others in the works).

Enjoy and I welcome any feedback!

The schedule of the series is as follows (links will be provided for the days that have already passed):

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

A hiking contest

In conjunction with an upcoming series of blog posts I have on thru-hiking, I am having another contest.

And the prize in this is a doozy!

It’s an autographed copy of Bill Walker’s book on his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

It’s a great book.

If you enjoy reading a humorous and — at times — serious look at hiking the Appalachian Trail, this is for you. If you like good stories, this is for you. If you like adventures, this is for you.

This book made me laugh many times. And it really gave me a different view of the Appalachian Trail. It showed the human side and, well, it showed me what it’s like for someone who isn’t a “big time” hiker to give a go and finish the Appalachian Trail.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be running a series of stories about people who have hiked or attempted the trail. In all, there are four stories on the people, one other as a preview and then I’ll wrap it up at the end with the winner of this contest.

That means, this contest will run until 12:01 a.m. Friday, October 28. The winner will be announced Friday, Oct. 28 in a post on this blog.

So what do you have to do?

It’s simple. All the details are below, but the short of it is this — I want a hiking story! (There are several other ways to earn extra entries, but you must do the first one before the others will count!)

So think deep about it. Decide your story. Enter soon!

The series of stories starts tomorrow, too. So check back to see the start and follow the series of stories!

The contest: Hiking stories.

How to win: In the comments section, give me your best hiking story. It doesn’t have to be major hikes. It could be a quarter-mile hike to find a geocache. Or a 25-mile hike to an amazing view. Just try and make it something in nature. Though I’m sure getting nearly attacked by a house cat on your way to the store would be a funny story, it’s not hiking!

The story can be serious or funny. Short or long. Just give us some details!

Other ways to enter: You have to first do the main contest entry. After doing that, you can earn additional entries by doing the following (a person can do each one, but only once each. So you can earn a total of five entries into the contest.):

  • Like A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook (on the right side of the blog at the top of the page. If you have already liked the blog, let me know and I can give an entry that way, too).
  • Write a post on your blog about this contest (make sure you let me know so I can check it out!)
  • Tweet about this contest by copying and pasting the following (please copy this exactly… it will fit in a tweet):

@softball29 at A ‘lil HooHaa is having contest! Enter at https://hoohaa.com/?p=2491 !  #hiking #contest #skywalker #billwalker #appalachiantrail

What can you win? An autographed copy of Bill Walker’s book, “Close encounters on the Appalachian Trail”!

Who can enter: This contest is open to anyone. (Note, this is a larger package — so if an international person wins and there are any customs, you will be responsible for it. I don’t know if there will be or not. Shipping is on me).

How decided? Random draw.

Entry deadline is 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Friday, October 28. Results will be announced in a blog post here at noon on October 28.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!