According to a survey ordered by the FFRandonnée (French Federation of Hiking), in 2021, 56% of French people had done at least one hike in the last twelve months. Again, maybe I read too much nature writing.īut in the last 25 years, at least in France, hiking has developed tremendously. Bryson gives information about the trail, the places they go through and describes the landscape but not with the reverence and gratefulness I expected from my 2022 perspective. It was written before climate change really became a hot topic and the awareness about nature wasn’t as important as it is now. Obviously, there’s the technology part: they do it without GPS or cell phones and the maps they have aren’t always as useful as they should be.īut it is also a book of its time. Maybe I read too many nature writing books.Ī Walk in the Woods was published in 1997 and felt quite dated sometimes. Typically American? I can’t imagine reading about someone walking the Camino de Santiago and stopping at McDonald’s at any opportunity. That’s so far away from a usual hiker’s way of life that I didn’t know what to think about this. I’m torn between awe (How gutsy!) and consternation (How imprudent!)Įach time they are out of the trail, they rush to fast food restaurants to gorge on soda, hamburgers, pies and other junk food. They aren’t trained for that but go for it anyway. Unless Bryson downplays his fitness for the sake of the narration. They engage into a project that consists in hiking a long and tough trail for which they are unfit. He wasn’t always kind to Katz and I found that a bit jarring. In my opinion, Bryson was a bit condescending at times and lacked of self-deprecating humor. It’s readable, informative but quite superficial. Chapters alternate between Bryson and Katz’s adventures and facts about the AT, the mountains and the places they go to or through.

They’ll hike 870 miles before abandoning their project and it represents around 40% of the entire trail. The book is a mix of chapters between their walking, their progression on the trail and how things go. Both are rather inexperienced hikers, no athletes –Katz is overweight and a recovering alcoholic- and not fully prepared for their travels. He starts his journey in Georgia with his old friend Stephen Katz. He’s near the Appalachian Trail (AT) and decides that he wants to hike this mythic trail. In 1996, Bill Bryson moves back from England to America and settles in New Hampshire with his family.

A walk in the woods bill