"A Walk in the Woods"

In the book “A Walk in the Woods,” by Bill Bryson, the author himself talks about his experiences while walking the Appellation trail. It is a wonderful read, filled with brilliant insight about society and nature. But my favorite part of the book was the stories that he came off of the trail with. In my opinion you can only read about someone describing how something looks and feels for so long before wanting to fall asleep. It is completely necessary to have good stories to keep every reader interested. And that is exactly what he did. I’m not a descriptive person when it comes to writing or speaking about something; which is why I would much rather take a picture. I don’t like to hear about people describing something’s beauty, I’d rather see it. A good story on the other hand I could read or listen to for hours on end. And his stories made you want to keep reading. It almost made me want to experience hiking the appellation trail for myself (almost).

              

 The things you would get to see and experience while doing something like hiking the appellation would be amazing. I would be most excited about the pictures I would get to take and the stories I would get to tell afterwards though. The using the woods as your toilet and the possibility of a being within 10 feet of a bear that isn’t in a cage also deterred me from the idea that hiking the AT would be a fun experience. That and the fact that my back hurts after walking the 15 minutes home from class while carrying my backpack full of books. If there were toilets, safer shelters and I didn’t have to carry a heavy pack I would probably walk part of the AT (probably).

           

 After experiencing the AT through the eyes of Bryson our professor decided that we should also go for a walk in the woods. We however drove 15 minutes to a nature center where we could leave our back packs in the car, and there were plenty of buildings with plumbing within a ten minute distance no matter how far you walked. This was much more my kind of “a walk through the woods.” Not to mention that we were only there for a little over an hour and had donuts and cider waiting for us after our short stroll.

           

 I will admit that getting away from the classroom was a great experience. Going to the Nature Center was not something I would have done on my own. Taking a break from technology for even an hour (well except my camera of course), is something I should do more often. There is a calmness about the trees that is really indescribable. The trees completely engulf part of these paths and only let the slightest bit of sun poke through. This allows you to escape from the hustle and bustle of a typical college students busy life and just enjoy being alive for a few minutes. It is something that each and every one of us should do more often. Whether it’s in the woods or by a lake or just in your own back yard, take a minute to disappear from the world around you.