A Walk in the Woods

I have wanted to read this one for a few years, and more so after finishing Wild earlier this year.  Talk about two very difference experiences, and two very different individuals relating their own personal experiences on their respective trails.

Wild takes place on the Pacific Crest Trail (west coast) and The Walk takes place on the Appalchian trail (east coast).  As far as folks go, I think I would prefer to kick back and have beers with Bill - and hear about his travel experiences and overall life philosophy than Cheryls'...

Bryson is known for his sense of humor, and I read one of his other books a few years ago (In a Sunburnt Country).  My impressions of Australia are definitely coloured by his words.  In the Walk, Bryson relates his attempt at covering a good portion of the AT with his friend Stephen, and at times solo.  Bryson includes a lot of historical information to supplement his impressions.  Bryson also has one helluva sense of humor, so you can appreciate a few laughs along the way. 

This is a good read.  I did appreciate the history, and the scant personal details that Bryson includes.  It made me appreciate being from the west more - from being from a pretty "wild" place that hasn't been domesticated and tamed for hundreds of years already. 

I have done a distance canoe circuit, and I would one day like to do the West Coast hiking trail along Vancouver Island.  Of course, each of these is just over 100km, where these trails are literally thousands of kilometers long and will take months to complete.  Very different scale.  I would also love to drive across Canada and come back through the United States - just to see.  Reading books like this makes me want to travel, and also appreciate that I am from the West, for so many different reasons. I am glad it is a little more wild, and a little less tame.  I am glad for our wild spaces, and different attitudes.