Re: [at-l] Let's write our own book!

[bullard@northnet.org]

Per the quote, they walked 1.4 miles every 20 minutes. 1.4 miles times 3 = 4.2 miles/hour. If they walked 8 hours/day that's 33.6 miles per day. Pretty darn good if you ask me (of course you didn't, you're too busy being irate). I'm sure that they didn't do that pace all the time but if I had a stretch of walking at that rate (even a few hours worth) that same observation might cross my mind. Once when running a marathon it occurred to me that even though I was waaayyyy back, the vast majority of people couldn't even run a quarter mile without gasping for air. I felt pretty good about the fact that I could run 26+ miles however slowly. Bill Bryson was expressing a similar feeling. What's wrong with that?

I agree with Orangebug. All this invective toward Bill Bryson is SILLY. Worse than that it's hypocritical. He went out to the AT and did what we supposedly espouse. He hiked his own hike. Not my hike. Not your hike. HIS HIKE! Because he's a writer he wrote about it. A lot of people like the book. You don't. So what! Go read something that you do like, go hike your own hike and stop ranting about his book/hike.

Saunterer

At 04:16 PM 9/30/99 EDT, CWells4638@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 9/30/99 1:39:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, thornel@ibm.net 
>writes:
>
><< Read his book. You are making yourself look silly. That is not what he 
>says 
> at all, and certainly not the pace he hiked.
>  >>
>
>So have I read his book, and if you'd care to reread my original post, I 
>never mentioned or even inferred that he hiked at that pace.  But to quote 
>from page 128 of A WALK IN THE WOODS (opening paragraph of chapter 11) 
>
>"Now here's a thought to consider.  Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian 
>Trail, Katz and I walked further than the average American walks in a week.  
>. . . On average, the total walking of an American these days . . . adds up 
>to 1.4 miles per week, barely 350 yards a day."
>
>A man has the right to be mistaken in his opinions.  He does not have the 
>right to be wrong in his facts.  
>
>Apology accepted
>
>Pete Wells
>* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List |  http://www.backcountry.net  *
>
> * From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List |  http://www.backcountry.net  *
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