Walking with Spring

Rating:
Summary: Walking With Spring
Review: Earl Shaffer was a laconic, introverted naturalist, and through his journey developed a deeper appreciation for the wilderness and deeper distrust for the modern world. This chronicle of the first thru-hike of the AT is highly factual, and quite literal. Shaffer did an excellent job of describing the varied terrain and geographic route of the trail. He was intensely serious, and at times the book seems a bit dry and too much of a literal account of the journey. Overall, however, the book is certainly one of a kind and a necessary read for anyone interested in the AT.

Rating:
Summary: Walking With Spring
Review: Earl Shaffer was a laconic, introverted naturalist, and through his journey developed a deeper appreciation for the wilderness and deeper distrust for the modern world. This chronicle of the first thru-hike of the AT is highly factual, and quite literal. Shaffer did an excellent job of describing the varied terrain and geographic route of the trail. He was intensely serious, and at times the book seems a bit dry and too much of a literal account of the journey. Overall, however, the book is certainly one of a kind and a necessary read for anyone interested in the AT.

Rating:
Summary: Enduring Classic - This First is Best
Review: Earl Shaffer was the first person to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in one continuous journey in 1948 after getting out of the military following WWII. As he wonderfully describes walking with the Appalachian spring across the mountains, there is much history, adventure and nature to be experienced. We can glimpse backward in time before this famous trail was well-known, when it was thought that no one could hike the entire length in one season. But we also find universal descriptions of what it is like to live outdoors and journey on the trail over the course of a "thru-hike," made today by hundreds each year. This was the first book about hiking the AT, and, after reading many AT books myself, I think it is the best.

Rating:
Summary: Marching to the beat of a different drummer
Review: Earl Shaffer's recounting of the first AT thruhike is a glimpse into history. Perhaps a hundred books have been written about the Appalachian Trail since Earl wrote his. None is more sincere or matter of factly descriptive than Walking With Spring. Earl's life was enigmatic. This book contains hints and clues about this unusual man, the loner, the poet, the man rooted in nature. More than anything, it traces his pioneering journey into the history books as it leads the reader on what in 1948 was an unprecedented quest. At $8.95, it's probably one of today's best literary bargains.

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing and inspiring
Review: This is an essential book for anyone who has thru hiked the AT, or is a vicarious thru hiker. Earl Shaffer is the first confirmed person to complete the trail in one season, though a group of boy scouts later claimed they made the entire journey sometime in the mid-30's. Shaffer writes very well, in a phlegmatic, relaxed and spare style. He was an environmentalist and naturalist in an era when few were of the same mindset. As a former WWII GI, he was restless with civilian life and just decided to walk from Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin. What a pioneer he was, even though he didn't know it!

Schaffer describes many fascinating things about the trail and the physical and mental effects resulting from hiking 2,100 miles. Though the journey took place in 1948, there is nothing dated about the book, except the fact that many shelters have been updated or added, and more towns dot the trail these days. This is a great book for anyone addicted to literature on the beloved Appalachian Trail.

Rating:
Summary: The first and the best...
Review: What can you say about the first trail journal on the first solo thru-hike (not counting Myron Avery)? Earl Shaffer is a legend and rightly fully so.

It is interesting to read... especially when you see what troubles he had... and especially the fact that the trail was not as well marked as it is today.

I will be planning my own thru-hike soon - and hope to write (but probably not publish) a journal as half as good as Earl's.

My only complaint - and a minor one at that - is that the book ends with Kathadin. I would have liked to read about his adjustment back to "civilization" after the hike.

Rating:
Summary: The first and the best...
Review: What can you say about the first trail journal on the first solo thru-hike (not counting Myron Avery)? Earl Shaffer is a legend and rightly fully so.

It is interesting to read... especially when you see what troubles he had... and especially the fact that the trail was not as well marked as it is today.

I will be planning my own thru-hike soon - and hope to write (but probably not publish) a journal as half as good as Earl's.

My only complaint - and a minor one at that - is that the book ends with Kathadin. I would have liked to read about his adjustment back to "civilization" after the hike.