A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Coincidently, I decided to try reading A Walk In the Woods one more time less than a week before the school trip to Amicalola Falls which happens to be the Southern end of the Appalachian Trail. I love Bill Bryson books, but, for some reason, I had to try three times (at least) before I could get past the first 50 pages. I guess life just kept happening. Or maybe I wasn't quite old enough to identify yet with Bryson's take on the Appalachian Trail. I have a young coworker who went nearly apoplectic expressing her outrage that Bryson had the temerity to write on the AT when he didn't even successfully finish it. *The nerve!* 

Who knows or can say why it took so many attempts. I finished this time. I did like it very much, although I didn't come to the same conclusions he did about the trail. However, I like reading Bryson for the voice primarily. He was hilariously self-deprecating about his lack of preparedness. I remain convinced that he and his friend Katz were very lucky to survive the fragments that they did hike through.

My mom hiked the trail about 5 years ago. My mother, in general, is a pretty interesting and impressive person. She really didn't need to hike 2,200 miles of wilderness to prove that, yet that's what she did.  I dropped her off at the lodge at Amicalola in March and off she went. I remember thinking at the time wow, that sounds pretty cool. And it does sound cool; there's no way I'd be able to do it. I'm a pretty tough cookie, but all practical issues about making money and family concerns aside, I simply worry too much. By the time I got to Katahdin in Maine, I'd be a complete wreck. I know I would.

Interestingly, A Walk In the  Woods underscored that for me. Bryson makes it pretty clear what an immense undertaking through hiking the AT really is. The scope of it is so massive that it's really hard to keep a hold of mentally. Interspersed with his memoir-ish bits of trail narration are short bits of history and natural science all written for the layperson and full of snarky wit. In the end, I think I found the bits of history and science more enticing than the trail narration. All in all, a good read.