Customer Reviews

Trail Ways, Path Wise: An Appalachian Trail Through-Hike

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By the time I finished John Krakauer's book on the ill-fated Mt.Everest expedition, I had been cured of any desire to ever climb a mountain that required supplementary oxygen or, for that matter, any clothing heavier than my Land's End Squall Jacket. A friend who read Into the Air about the same time I did summed up my feeling on that sort of adventure when he said "The idea of climbing Everest used to be one of those things I'd periodically think about doing if I ever got the chance. Now I can think of about 80 or 90 things, including flipping an Indy car at 200 MPH, that I might rather choose to do." Krakauer's book was certainly a good read, but by the third chapter, one looks up from the page, takes in the warm comfort of one's study or living room, and thinks: "These people are insane."

Happily, John Illig has written an engaging narrative about hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, an adventure that, given a 4 or 5 month sabbatical, might strike most of us as a demanding yet accessible accomplishment. Indeed, Illig's conversational writing style suggests to the reader "Hey-- I did this and I'm just like any other vegan college athletics coach. Why don't you saddle up and try it yourself?" It's this inclusive attitude that makes one wonder, nestled on the couch before the fire, if one's boss might actually consider granting an unpaid leave for the summer. Of course, the absence of any a character's freezing to death or plummeting screaming into any icy chasm makes hiking the AT all the more appealing.

Illig's little homilies on topics like long-distance relationships, vegetarianism, being a coach, and talking on the phone with one's parents occur organically, as thoughts and revelations do during periods of solitude. His obsession with piece of abdominal execise equipment, which he holds on to way beyond his realization that he'll never use it, reveals an amused self-deprecation less contrived than what one usually encounters in travel books. Most importantly, Illig shows us what it's like to do something alone. Sure, his parents have packages waiting for him at post offices along the way and for long stretches he hikes in the company of others. But in Trail Ways, Path Wise, Illig suggests we might all be well advised to spend some time-- any time-- out in the world by ourselves.

Neither a technical how to, nor a deep, introspective philosophical exercise, as are most books of this genre, Trail Ways Path Wise is a refreshing, "Hey, come along and try this with me" story. If you want to know what it's REALLY like to through-hike the A.T., this is THE book you must read. It's too bad the trail isn't another thousand miles longer so that our walk, and the book, might be longer too. Thanks for letting me walk along with you John.

Follow our holier-than-thou hiker hero through the trail as he looks down his nose at Christians, carnivores, tourists, hunters, Southerners, European settlers (typical PC liberal dogma) and, interestingly, fellow thru-hikers. But particularly disdainful to this ego-maniac are the lazy "weekend warriors." Hint - that's you and me - the 4 MILLION plus users that ruin it for the hundreds of thru-studs. Day hikers are good for two things: 1. bumming food and rides from and 2. asking stupid questions. And of course, our hero has to be the fastest thing on the trail! We're constantly bombarded with how strong he feels as he pours on the mileage and blows past fellow hikers (incredibly, only one other character reaches Katahdin before him, and that is of course because he is laid up in the hospital for a week.) The arbitrary lines he draws that prove that he does the trail correctly, while others do it wrong are incredible. It's OK for him to cut a corner in a town, but not for a fellow hiker to take a "blue blaze" shortcut around a peak, even if the view is better! Heck, Mr. Illig, you're all walking from Georgia to Maine -- get over it! I did have some favorite parts, though. The book opens with a self effacing hiker who hikes in sneakers and carries ridiculous provisions (canned tomatoes, snowshoes,an abdominizer, etc.) He humbly pokes fun at himself, and if he could have carried this character through the adventure, the book would have been a fine read. Unfortunately, the Mr. Hyde ego-man emerges too soon. One curious section is on pg. 155, where the author mentions his future in-laws, and makes them sound like complete morons. The reader (who's fed up by now) can only smile at the real life fun around the next family Thanksgiving tofu-turkey. But my favorite part is on pg 129, where he leaves a small Pennsylvania town and "Some kids in a car drove by and yelled 'Asshole!' " My only thought was "how did they know?"

I don't usually read wilderness adventure books, but once this one was given to me I couldn't put it down. It's the story of a young man who sets out to walk the Appalachian Trail alone--every inch of it--in sneakers, without much preparation or knowledge of what he was up against. We follow him from the moment he lurches into the Georgia woods at the start of the Trail, carrying an ill-fitting 75-pound pack stuffed with cans of tomatoes, green garden poles strapped to the top with water bottles and spare sneakers and the like dangling down, to the moment four months later when he steps confidently into the Maine woods--the Hundred-Mile Wilderness and the last and most difficult stretch before the top of Mount Katahdin and the end. He's carrying a 20-pound pack with a mere three days' supply of food, and he knows he's done it. The story in between of the 2,000-odd-mile walk varies from the funny to the tragic, but you are always rooting for "Sneakers" to make it--often it seems he won't. He's a real writer. The narrative has an easy flow with lots of suspense and your attention is always engaged. It isn't in any way a how-to-book--much more exciting than that, but it's a completely realistic account of the Trail and the people who inhabit it. I can't imagine anyone who's walked the trail, or plans to, or knows someone who has, or just dreams about it, not loving this book and profiting from it.

This book made both my wife and myself laugh out loud. Illig and his book are very down to earth. The profusion of typos is distracting, but if you can ignore that, this is a sometimes hilarious, definite pageturner of a trail book that will entertain and make you want to get out and hike. But did Illig marry his girlfriend? This book could use an Afterword. Highly recommended.