thoughts.bjsintay.com

“I created a new soap opera tonight: ‘The Young and the Senseless.’ It is the daily saga of dashing young men and women who were sitting around in warm, clean, dry houses and eating good food, when they said, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail?’ Today’s episode features young, devilishly handsome George wringing muddy water from his socks in the hope that they will merely be damp when he wears them the following day. Tune in tomorrow for another episode of ‘The Young and the Senseless.’”

George Steffanos is a hero.  In 1983 he recorded one of the most colorful tales about hiking the Appalachian Trail I have ever read.  In his journal, Then the Hail Came, Steffanos describes his battle against all odds to not be a loser for once in his life.  His task?  To complete the AT as a thru-hiker.

I won’t spoil the plot of this book for you, but I recommend that everyone read this book if you are interested in the AT.  Steffanos has a psychotic wit about him that makes every turn interesting.  This book is available online at his website:

http://www.skwc.com/exile/Hail-nf.html

I’ve been searching for interesting reading material on the Appalachian Trail and ran across National Geographic’s Mountain Adventure published decades ago.  Ebay delivered this book to me for under $10.00, so I figured I would give it a shot.  The book is authored by Ron Fisher.  Fisher has a calm, soothing tone.  He rarely interjects humor and instead uses vivid imagery to pull the reader along.

Fisher covers much of the trail on foot, however, he does not thru-hike the trail.  This book is merely a documentation of what the trail is and means to the areas it passes through.  I felt like I gained an appreciation for much of the trail’s qualities versus the whole hiking experience itself.  Most other books on the AT focus on the hiking experience.

My lasting impression of this book can be summed up as pleasantly descriptive of the trail’s general feel in each state.  I would not call this book a definitive text on the subject, but its breadth may appeal to a wide audience interesting in learning about the trail for the first time without having to hear long, twisted tails about what one has to go through to thru-hike it.

Sean was nice enough to lend me an extra copy of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods since he knows I am an avid Appalachian Trail (AT) hiker.  Many people cite Bryson’s book as the reason they become interested in hiking the trail, yet many in the AT community reject it for a variety of reasons, the biggest being that Bryson doesn’t actually thru-hike the trail.  The definition of a thru-hike is to physically walk past every white blaze (trail marker) of the AT in one season.  Bryson falls short of this and pretty much gives up his thru-hike at Clingman’s Dome in NC.  He ends up hiking many sections of the trail, much by day-hike from his car.

The greatest part about this book is often lost on many hikers.  Simply put, it’s a fun read about the Appalachian Trail.  Bryson’s sense of humor keeps the book interesting, even if he is a bit derogatory toward local residents of various places near the trail.  He’s extremely critical of the US Forest Service and also the Army Corps of Engineers, pretty much calling them idiots.  While some of his points are valid, he does push the envelope a bit.  Maybe it’s just to get people’s attention.   His book is well researched and includes many facts about the history of the trail and its various controversies over the years.

If you’re able to roll with a few harsh comments, an unusually slow/unsuccessful hiker, and the fact that Bryson doesn’t actually hike all of the miles then I recommend this book.  If not, head on over to http://www.skwc.com/exile/Hail-nf.html to read Then the Hail Came by George Staffanos.  I highly recommend this trail book/journal filled with extreme detail and tons of humor.