‘What on earth would I do if four bears came into my camp? Why, I would die of course. Literally shit myself lifeless…’
I’ve done a bit of hiking (he says whilst looking modestly into the middle distance), I’ve scaled the Yorkshire Three Peaks and Scafell, I’ve looked out across the rolling hills and gorgeous lochs of Pitlochry from the top of Ben Vrackie, I once walked home five miles whilst incredibly drunk. I’m positively an outdoorsman. I joke, of course. Whilst I have done these things and thoroughly enjoyed them, I hate camping, I hate inclement weather and I hate being away from Wi-Fi for more than a few hours at a time. I’d never even heard of the Appalachian Trail before reading this book, but prolific and beloved author Bill Bryson makes it sound like the most beautiful and terrible place on earth…
A Walk in the Woods, originally published in 1998, charts Bryson’s attempts to walk the entirety of the Appalachian Trail with only his ill-suited and misanthropic friend Katz and a whole lot of noodles. Along the way they will encounter annoying hikers, welcoming locals and maybe a bear or two.
Bryson has moved away from travel writing in recent years, but it is clear to see why this is the genre in which he made his name. A Walk in the Woods is utterly hilarious, completely relatable, and yet awe-inspiring when it needs to be. As with all of his work, I came away from it feeling like I had really learnt something – about the origins of the trail, about preservation in American, and about Bryson himself. His cantankerous and cynical writing style rubs some people up the wrong way, but as a cantankerous and cynical old so-and-so myself, I also find a lot to enjoy with Bryson’s work – and A Walk in the Woods is one of his most enjoyable books.
For anyone interested in hiking, or for any fans of Bryson, A Walk in the Woods is a great starting point for one of the best non-fiction writers of his generation. I loved it.