| Books
A
Journey North
Adrienne
Hall
"My life always shines with renewed clarity when the landscape unfolds
into a canyon at my feet and exposes those rocks of times long-forgotten
by everything except our primal souls."
It's called "A Journey North," the first-person account of Adrienne Hall's
thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. The trail is nearly 2,200 miles long,
from Georgia to Maine. It takes about six months to hike it. Hundreds try
every year - about 10 percent actually make it. Of those, only 10 percent
are women.
I picked up Hall's book because I liked her books about solo backpacking
and backpacking for women. Her how-to books are clear and concise, with
a sense of humor and practicality that are essential for the trail.
But "A Journey North" isn't a how-to guidebook on the AT. It's a warts-and-all
description of her experience. She's a trained biologist, so her anecdotes
about the environmental issues around the AT and the delicate balances
of the ecosystems are fascinating to anyone with an environmental mind.
Her experiences on the trail as a backpacker are fun to read and make you
glad you stick to three- and four-day hikes - or just reading about them.
But most fascinating are the philosophical tangents that came across her
mind as she spent six months walking across America. Everything from the
history of nature-oriented religions to the sight of an endangered red
wolf. Of feeling connected to the earth, falling into a place where nothing
moves faster than her own two-mile-an-hour pace. Of fresh air and open
space, and irritation at those who who break that fragile connection in
small ways (cell phones on the trail?) and large ones (constructing a television
tower on a mountaintop).
It's very readable, with a definite sense of what it felt like to be the
only woman on the trail. "Ambassador to the World of Men," is one chapter.
She asked her hiking partner, "How would you feel if you were surrounded
by women and you hadn't seen another man in months?" As a smile crept across
his face, she realized her example had backfired.
This book filledme with my own spring fever, to get out and get away from
the sounds of civilization. But even if you're not a backpacker, if you
have the slightest interest in the environment or wilderness issues, you'll
find it worth the read. |
