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[at-l] Re: AT Thru hiker
at-l'ers, I thought I might just dredge up Mr. Bryson one more time,
for groans......
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Subject: AT Thru hiker
Author: Sam.Underwood@mnco.com at ima
Date: 6/29/99 11:07 AM
Tom - - I think it is so great that you are a true thru hiker of the
AT. I am currently reading the bestseller by that "partial thru
hiker" Bill Bryson. It sounds like quite an adventure. Did you
hike it with a group? Is Bill's account fairly accurate? Are
there any books that you would recommend other than his account?
I can't imagine doing it in 49 days. You would be loony tunes unless
you had an excellent support crew, got to sleep in a bed every night.
etc. Just my $.02.
Sam Underwood
East Lansing, MI
Sam --
Thank you for your kind words. As I tried to convey in that recent DRS
postie, it's hard not to be humbled by the truly courageous souls
who've hiked it before and since 1979.....
Anywho, amongst the AT crowd, "Bryson" is a four letter word.
Actually, it now describes an unsavory act showing a lack of
character, as in "When the rain hit again, I Brysoned into the next
town" or "I've really Brysoned this past week, and I'm going to have
to really book to make up for it...."
Is his account accurate? I'm sure that if it's not for HIS hike
exactly, that it DOES describe a certain section of the throughhiking
spectrum each year. As Boston has it's Rosie Ruiz, The AT (now) has
Bill Bryson -- that may seem harsh, but simply by his account becoming
so popular, it gives the impression that you can be a (self-described)
slacker AND earn "AT 2000 Miler" status at the same time, by screwing
off going up the Eastern Seaboard for the summer. Though most hikers
are far too practical to be total/technical "Purists" in how they
proceed during a throughhike, few few few would hitch up a mountain,
get out of the car and yell victoriously "I did it!" Bryson's book
encourages exactly that by setting a poor example as being "the norm."
Are there better accounts? Oh CHRISTMAS yes. Almost any I've ever seen
-- in actuality, all have something to recommend over the others --
there really IS a spectrum of experience as broad as, say, that
observed at the finish line of any marathon. "There are no boring
stories here." Particular names that come to mind are Geo. Steffanos'
(1983) "Then the Hail Came" available right over the internet, David
Brill (1979), Jean Deeds (1995/6), and Earl Shaffer (1948!) and
collections from Larry Luxembourg, from Roland Muesser, and from Lynn
Setzer. And the video from Lynn Wheldon called "5,000,000 Steps" -- a
positively STUPID little video. Just plain DUMB! However, if it brings
tears to your eyes at the end, while you're mumbling "What a...It's
just...a stupid little video..." then you're potentially doomed to
have a throughhiker soul yourself.....All of these, BTW, are available
from the Appalachian Trail Conference -- even over the web -- if your
local bookstore or library doesn't have 'em.
Doing the AT in 49 days? I can BARELY imagine it........(thoughtful
pause) perhaps like I can barely imagine a 2:15 marathon. "Support!"
is the big word, as is "Tactics!" Right now I am actually FAINTLY
considering a throughhike next year in three months. 90 days,
unsupported. 27.5 miles/day for a six day week, for three months. I
won't rule it out, anyway.....but it's quite daunting just to think
about.....
But anyway.....
TMc.
Sloetoe'79
(Currently shaking in his booties
over Grandfather Mountain Merrython:
less than two weeks away...)
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