This one always sparks debate.

I had read some of Bryson's other work before this book, so I had an idea of what to expect. And I read it immediately after I finished my thru-hike in 1999, actually as I was on the train then greyhound bus on the way home. So I had a bit different perspective on the book.

I found I laughed at it quite a bit, though I was put off by Bryson's "quitting" and I took a superior tone to his superior tone. I classed it as entertaining misinformation.

A decade later, I realize it for what it is. Perhaps the best account of what the massive majority (80+%) of attempted thru-hikes actually look like. MOST people quit for one reason or another in what is often a comedy of errors. MOST people who hike it in sections or thru-hike it often "slackpack" big sections, carrying just a daypack, like Bryson did in Pennsylvania and New England. MOST thru-hikers are annoyed by gear heads who pontificate why their set of gear is the Holy Grail, while your's is crap.

I applaud the man for realizing he was having a lousy time in constant rain and doing what made him happier. And while I initially regarded him as a lazy mug, I've since pondered the fact that he hiked about a third of the nearly 2200 mile trail, far more than most Americans will ever consider, and likely more than the great majority of members of this board have completed.

Just food for thought on a book that brought more of a spotlight on the Appalachian Trail than any other book published...