Keep Calm and Read On: AT Chills and Thrills
By Wayne Limberg
Every AT section and thru-hiker has stories to tell, some good, some not. Too often they are rehashes of journals. Many are self-published, which in and of itself is no sign of their quality. As was the custom in mid-19th century America, Thoreau self-published "Walden." The trick is to find a novel way to tell your story that will tempt readers and publishers. In "The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail," section hiker Steve Carpenter has for the most part accomplished both.
Carpenter lives in Harrisonburg, Va., and over the last 15 years has hiked most of the northern half of the AT, including Virginia and Maryland, with his friend Vince Ackerman. "The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail" is his second book. His publisher, Falcon Guides, is best known for slim guides on national parks and outdoor skills. "The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail" is part of its line of broader themed books.
In the introduction to "The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail" Carpenter states that he wanted the book to explain the AT’s appeal and to be something of a cautionary tale for anyone considering hiking it. To avoid writing "just another AT book," he reviewed much of the existing literature to find a new slant, which accounts for the book's emphasis on the dangers of the trail.
"The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail" opens with a short overview and history of the AT that will be familiar to many readers. Carpenter wisely relies on D'Aneri's "Biography of the AT" for much of this. Throughout the book, he carefully footnotes and lists his sources which, along with a short bibliography, provides a useful reading list of those in search of more information. Unfortunately, he completed "The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail" before the publication of
Mills Kelly's “A Hikers History of the Appalachian Trail.”
After the customary history lesson, Carpenter turns to a six-chapter discussion of the AT's draw and rewards. Topics include wildlife, points of interest, encounters and adventures, shelters and hostels, and trail culture. Once again, much of this is familiar ground to those who know the trail but useful to those new to the trail. The chapter on points of interest reads like many AT travelogues, while the one on encounters strings together excerpts from Carpenter's trail journals. The one on animals provides some useful dos and don'ts about bears and moose and the one on shelters is a good introduction to shelter etiquette. The chapter on trail culture explains, among other things, trail names and trail magic. A glossary at the end of the book does the same for common hiker slang and terms.
And then there is the chapter titled “Sex and Other Trail Anomalies” where Carpenter tells of coming across some fellow hikers in the throes of passion. He also explains hike-naked day and then turns to ponies in Virginia's Grayson Highlands and the latest in AT record setting. Carpenter has a MA in religion from Eastern Mennonite University, but he only notes what might be called the AT’s spiritual attraction in passing, a topic handled in some detail in other recent works like Mills Kelly’s and Tim Kaine's "Hike, Ride, Paddle."
"Allure and Peril of the AT" comes into its own when Carpenter turns to the perils of the AT. In the first of the three chapters comprising the second half of the book, Carpenter looks at the specific physical and mental challenges facing thru-hikers from Earl Shaffer and Grandma Gatewood to present times. A second chapter deals with disasters, including plane crashes, drownings, fire, lightning, and illnesses. The third examines murders and accidents on the AT.
In general, these chapters deliver on Carpenter’s promise to present the darker side of the AT. At times, however, they border on titillation or sensationalism. Nor do they always accurately reflect the perils of the AT itself. Carpenter includes the 1996 murder of the two women in SNP, for example, when they were neither hiking nor camping on the trail but an abandoned side trail and camping spot. In fact, they would have been safer on the trail. Similarly, none of the plane crashes he catalogs hit the trail or hikers. The long passage on Grandma Gatewood’s time on the trail seems more a tale of the trail’s allure than its dangers as she was seeking refuge from an abusive marriage. Carpenter also couldn’t resist the temptation to use long journal passages to describe medical problems he had on the AT but gave scant attention to more common health threats like Lyme and other tick-borne diseases or Noro virus.
Bottomline: "The Allure and Peril of the Appalachian Trail" is an entertaining, cleverly packaged introduction to the AT for those who are considering hiking it or just wonder what it’s all about. And stay tuned. Carpenter still has miles to go before he has completed the journey.
Do you have a read to share? If so, send it along to
wplimberg@aol.com. On that note, thanks to those who recommended adding Stephen A. Lawrence’s “Skruggs: The Squirrel Who Helped Save America” to last month’s list of kid books. Skruggs befriends Ben Franklin and rescues the Declaration of Independence in the tradition of Robert Lawson’s classic “Ben and Me.” A pdf version of “Skruggs” is available on the America’s National Parks website. Keep reading. See you on the trail.