A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, 469 pages

In this humorous and informative book, Bryson recounts his attempt at hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. In the late 1990s, Bryson and his friend flew to Georgia and started hiking north, dealing with heavy packs, sore muscles, a snowstorm, some mysterious creatures in the night, and severe noodle fatigue. While they only ended up hiking just under 40 percent of the massive trail, they did so in bits and pieces, hitting the south, the north, and several points in between. Interspersed with this trail journal is a history of the trail, its ecology, and surrounding communities. It's a fun, informative story; a somewhat lighter tale than that other book about long-distance hiking in the U.S. (Cheryl Strayed's Wild).