Summary

Bill Bryson turned his trek along the Appalachian Trail (AT) into a travel memoir titled A Walk in the Woods. The book documents his experiences along the AT. It is humorous at times because Bryson had no actual experience in hiking and did not know anything about the potential difficulty in hiking the more difficult parts of the AT. Bryson shows the importance of endurance and following one's dream.

Bryson has never really hiked before and has no idea of what he needs but he goes to a sporting goods store in his hometown of Hanover, NH. and buys an abundance of gear--although he doesn't know what most of it is for. Bryson plans to actually hike the whole Appalachian Trail, which is 2,200 miles long. He begins at Springer Mountain, located in Georgia, and then end at Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Bryson’s old friend, Stephen Katz, accompanies him and is just as unprepared as Bryson. He shows up for the hike with a duffel bag full of Snickers!

They begin the trail on a cold day in March. Although they are in good spirits, they soon come to the realization that they are perhaps in over their heads. Even though the packs are heavy and they are out of shape, they still continue on. They meet many hikers including boy scouts, students, and one hiker named Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen has a outgoing personality and even stays with them for a couple of days.

A challenging snow front causes them to have to stay in a pretty bad motel, but they were lucky to be out of the weather. Fortunately, after a few days, they are able to reach the Smokey Mountains. This turns out to be a more difficult hike than what they hiked in Georgia. They eventually make it to Clingman’s Dome, which is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. To celebrate their accomplishment, the pair decide to skip the rest of the Smokey Mountains. Instead, they rent a car and drive to Roanoke, Virginia, which is a flatter trail.

After they begin their hike again on the easier trail, all goes well until Katz begins a relationship with a married woman and is forced to hide from her angry husband. After a few trials and errors, including really bad rest quarters, the pair end the first leg of their journey in Front Royal, Virginia. Katz is exhausted and decides to stop but the two make plans to meet up in the summer and hike the Hundred Mile Wilderness in Maine. Bryson continues hiking alone. He finds himself enjoying the hike more and more. He finally makes it to New England and heads first to Massachusetts’ Berkshire Mountains, and then to Vermont’s Stratton Mountain. Some refer to Stratton Mountain as the spiritual birthplace of the Appalachian Trail as it is where the trail’s creation was conceived. In addition to these two landmark mountains, Bryson also hikes Mt. Lafayette and Mt. Washington.

In August ,Bryson and Katz meet up again and begin their Maine hike like they agreed. Just like at the beginning of their journey, they find the hike particularly strenuous. Bryson has been doing some local hiking but Katz has not been hiking at all. After Katz wandered off the trail and got lost for almost two days, and tough roads and dangerous streams, the two are forced to come to terms with the fact that they are not ready for this part of the trail. They realize that they "weren't boys anymore." The ending is somewhat anti-climatic in that they give it up at this point. However, their experiences on the trail are treasured.

In conclusion, Bryson is able to use humor to show just how ill-prepared he and Katz are for their journey. Even so, they eventually are able to enjoy themselves, and take pride in their ability to endure and persevere. Though Bryson’s tale has a happy ending, the story brings up the important fact that, ultimately, hikers are dealing with the difficulties and unpredictability of nature. The book points out this can be a matter of life and death for hikers, especially inexperienced hikers like Bryson and Katz. The "take away" on this book is although Bryson and Katz didn't complete the entire AT, they did something completely out of their comfort zone, tested themselves, grew stronger, learned, and grew as individuals.