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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

thru-hike

Book Review: Skywalker – Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail

June 22, 2011

Skywalker on the AT

First, imagine being 6 feet, 11 inches tall.

You live your life above most people and some tree lines. People ask you “How’s the weather up there?”

Maybe you can even get some classic one-liners, such as:

“You’re so tall that the giraffes got jealous!”

Or…

“You’re so tall that even in the summer time you still have snow on your head!”

That last one might actually be a little more relevant to the book I’m reviewing. See, Bill Walker is 6-11. But the difference is, he set out to hike the Appalachian Trail, a trail that runs more than 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. A novice hiker at the start, Walker, whose trail name is Skywalker based on his height and his last name, learns so much on this trail during his hike. He’s funny, witty and, at times, puts himself in situations that you can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him.

After all, it isn’t easy doing something like this in the first place. But being 6-11 and barely 220 pounds makes it even harder.

Skywalker — Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail is his story about his hike.

Bill’s quest takes him through all sorts of weather and tribulations — including trying to stay warm or even fit into tents and set up tarps. It shows the hard side of the trail, but it also shows the light side. His interactions and descriptions of the people he meets on the trail are excellent and well-done. He holds no punches, either, which I liked. More on that later.

This book is a perfect book about the trail. History, personal stories and description make this a fine read.

Now for my thoughts…

The good

This book was a page-turner. I finished it in three days as it’s the perfect size to kind of go through it at a decent pace and really keep up with everything. Walker never lost me. In some of the other AT books I’ve read, there are parts where I found myself skimming. Not with this book. I smiled for most of it and never lost my bearing of where I was with it.

One cool thing? Walker gives cliff hangers. Seriously. I never expected this. But he starts off with talking about a few of the people he met and makes mention that the reader will find out more later, but then goes off elsewhere. As I read, I found myself wondering what happened. Especially when he meets some of the others etc. In the end, he tells the reader the endings to those cliff hangers. A very good and interesting way to write part of this book.

Humor. This was the best part for me. The reality of a thru-hike is this — you are on the trail for upwards of six months, covering more than 2,200 miles. If you can’t laugh, then it’s going to be a long hike. Even when things go crappy, you have to find a way to smile. Walker did that and he portrayed that in his writing. He told funny and humorous stories. He told of the awful things that happened and found a way to make it funny.

Most of all, he made me, the reader, care. He described the people he met and really developed them as characters for the book. Being he was with many of the same people over and over, it was good to develop them. The funny part is that even though this was real life, I found myself reading part of it like fiction. There were certain people/characters I really liked. There were certain ones I really disliked. And there were others who I wondered about. But I felt like Skywalker took me on the trail with him and that is something that I haven’t gotten out of every AT book I’ve read. This book really is one of the better ones that I’ve read about the AT.

The bad

There’s always a little bad to books, but I am hard-pressed to find any with this.

If you are reading on the Kindle, as I was, there are some formatting issues. So that was a little odd, but I’m not sure that should take away from the quality of the book and it shouldn’t come down on the author.

My only true complaint is there were some of the stories that I would have liked to have seen expanded and a couple that I would have liked to have seen shortened. I think that comes with a book like this because there is so much that happens over the course of a 6-month hike like this. And I’m sure Walker had his reasons for making some shorter and some longer. Just personal interest would have liked certain ones to have been switched in regard to length.

Overall thoughts

An excellent read. This book is right up there with Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” as my favorite reads on the Appalachian Trail. Walker is a likeable person and his thoughts are insightful, honest and real. He brings you close to the AT and really gives hope to “armchair” hikers that a hike like this can be made by people of all shapes, sizes and lifestyle. This man was not a hiker. He’s a tall, skinny fellow who hiked more than 2,200 miles over all sorts of terrain. He had to “beef up” to get to 220 pounds and by the end, he was at least 40 pounds lighter. He battles equipment, nature, his fear of bears, people and everything else along this memorable trip. And in the end, he stands atop Mount Katahdin in Maine.

He overcame a lot. And though the outcome is quite obvious (how many people write about failed thru-hikes?), I still found myself rooting for him the whole book.

The book took me about three days to read. It flows well and reads fast. It’s very enjoyable. I look forward to reading Walker’s account of his hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Rating

This is a tough one to rate because I try not to give a lot of 5-star ratings out. For my blog, it’s a 4.5-star book. The other sites don’t allow for half-stars, however. The book isn’t perfect. Rarely are books perfect. But this one captivated me, kept my interest and really was well-done in all aspects. So on those sites, I’ll do as I normally do and round-up to give it a 5-star. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in hiking or the Appalachian Trail. It’s well worth your time.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Filed Under: Books, Hiking, My world Tagged With: appalachian trail, appalachian trail thru-hike, at, bill walker, book, book review, hiking, skywalker, skywalker close encounters on the appalachian trail, thru-hike

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Book review: AWOL on the Appalachian Trail

May 9, 2011

AWOL on the Appalachian Trail

After the last book I read, I had been looking for a book that really grabbed me and made me want to keep reading. Though I don’t ever intend on hiking the Appalachian Trail, I do like reading about it through trail journals and books. That led me to AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, a wonderful account of one man’s mid-life hike of the historic trail.

It’s the second book I read on hiking the trail and it gave a very good account of the hike and what you encounter during such a long thru-hike.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It was well done and you could tell that the writer kept good details in his journal during the hike. It also probably didn’t hurt that he wrote a newspaper article every week or two during his hike.

As for the book…

The good

Details! The best way I can describe this book is that it’s almost a play-by-play of his hike. The details are many and really capture the essence of a thru-hike like this. Remember, the Appalachian Trail is more than 2,000 miles long, so there are a lot of things to journal and encounter. Items such as animals, other wildlife, people, stopping in towns, injuries and everything else you can consider. Author David Miller really gives you the feel of what it’s like to be on the trail. From not shaving, to days without a shower — you can almost smell (ewww!) what it’s like to be a hiker. His tribulations with hiking shoes or dealing with hikers who seem to uppity to talk to other hikers, he gives you ever piece of what his trip was like.

That makes it hard to put the book down.

It took me about 10 days to finish the book. There were a few days in there that I didn’t read, but the book flowed well and it went quick. I looked forward to reading it each time I picked up my Kindle.

Another positive to the book was it wasn’t all cake and candy. By that I mean, everything wasn’t “Oh yay! The Appalachian Trail rules and this was so easy!”

Miller gets into the negatives of his hike. Such as being away from his wife and three kids for so many months. He takes us into the mind of a thru-hiker with the urge (though with Miller, it never seemed too big of an urge as he knew what he did to be able to hike and didn’t want to leave the trail). But it’s not an easy thing to do, mentally and physically. The amount of food he goes through and the constant, nagging injuries are things that he dealt with.

He also shows what hikers have to go through each day. From hiking anywhere from 10-30 miles in a day, to the terrain, to having to hitchhike into towns or trying to get food and water while on the trail, Miller’s account of the hike is something anyone considering this hike should read.

The bad

As much of a positive as the play-by play is, it can also be a negative, though not in a major way. There were times that I wondered how much fun he actually had. If I’m on a trail for 4-6 months and am meeting so many people and staying in different spots, I’m going to have to have some fun. At times, Miller starts to talk about the good times, but then abruptly moves on to hiking the next day. I think a few more details and some good humor in parts would have given the book a little extra oomph.

Outside of that, there’s not many negatives with this book. He offered a few opinions in the book that I think could have been left out and there were parts that I would have liked expanded with explanations, but overall there weren’t many bad things about the book.

Overall thoughts

Not many books could get me to be interested in hiking 2,000-plus miles. The reality is, this is a hike I’ll likely never try to attempt as being on the trail for six months just isn’t something I’m interested in doing. That being said, his account of the hike really could get someone interested in thinking about this hike. From the amount of bears he saw to the nature and people he encountered, it’s a writer’s dream to be on that trail.

But every batch of goods had bads, including weather, rough people to deal with or running out of key items (such as water). The physical and mental toll it takes on a person is something that everyone should consider.

Still, as Miller shows in the book, it’s something that people from all walks of life have done and it’s something many people could do, if they put their mind to it. His account isn’t sugar-coated and he gives a real feel of what it would be like to take this thru-hike.

Rating

I gave it 4 out of 5 stars and would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys hiking, outdoors or just a good read about a real-life adventure.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Filed Under: Books, Hiking, My world Tagged With: applachian trail, awol on the appalachian trail, book review, david miller, hike, hiking, thru-hike

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