The New Appalachian Trail

Rating:
Summary: "Such is life on the Trail."
Review: "So it was that, on April 14, 1990, I found myself at the southern terminus of the Trail on Springer Mountain in north Georgia," Ed Garvey begins his third book on hiking the Appalachian Trail. (His first two are now out of print.) "I was about to set forth on my second attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail" (p. x). For forty years, Garvey was associated with the AT, working strenuosly to prompt state and federal agencies to acquire a right-of-way of sufficient width to protect the Trail in perpetuity for its entire length (p. 139). He completed his first thru-hike from Georgia to Maine in 1970 (p. ix). Twenty years later, at age 75, he returned to hike the 2,144-mile Trail again. As such, Garvey's inspiring book offers 2,144 reasons why life is worth living.

For anyone seriously interested in investing five million footsteps in the AT, this book is the book to read. Garvey's Trail journal (pp. 1 through 175) shows that "everyday on the Trail is an adventure" (p. 140) and a challenge. In these pages, we accompany Garvey on his journey from shelter-to-shelter, some of which exude "all the warmth and brightness of a dungeon" (p. 56), from injury to injury, through the steady rain of some days, and through the spectacular scenery of the Trail, including "thousands of acres of wildflowers--bluets, spring beauties, and trilliums" (pp. 8, 33) of others. In Virginia he encounters a "five-foot black snake lolling directly across the Trail" (p. 81), and later he nearly meets a cougar. "What a thrill!" (p. 102). Garvey's journal is filled with Trail camaraderie, and even instructions on "the proper way to make a mint julep" (p. 108). In addition to Garvey's detailed, daily journal entries, this section of his book also includes photographs from his thru-hike, as well as his daughter, Sharon's excellent illustrations.

This book may be read not only as the story of an Appalachian hiker at age 75, but also as a practical, "how-to" guide for backpacking the AT. Pages 176 through 267 offer Garvey's nuts-and-bolts advice for thru-hiking the AT, including finding and hiking the Trail (pp. 176-92), and his recommendations for food (pp. 193-216), equipment (pp. 217-36), clothing and footwear (pp. 237-57).

On a bittersweet note, this book can also be read as a daughter's labor of love for her father, who wrote to a friend on August 24, 1992 "my hiking days are over" (p. 295). Without disclosing his book's ending, Garvey did not finish his 1990 thru-hike. About leaving the Trail and going home, he writes, it is "a ritual experienced by perhaps 800 of the 1,000 who start each year with the high hopes of doing the entire Trail. And, yet, for none of them has the trip been a failure. For each, it will have been a rich experience, walking through tunnels of rhododendrons, seeing trillium, spring beauties, bluets, wild azalea, mountain laurel, acres of ferns, and many more. The camaraderie of sitting around a campfire at the trailside shelters at night, of waking to the sounds of birds singing . . . 'Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'!" (p. 61).

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Too much detail, not enough gandeur.
Review: Ed Garvey continues to detail his love for backpacking and the Appalachian Trail in this third travelogue. He covers day to day events with the precision of an accountant, yet continues to view nature with wonder. As always, Ed continues to be a strick conservationist and notes many wastes in the pages of this book.

For those unfamiliar with Ed Garvey, he has been a driving force in the preservation of the Appalachian Trail corridor. Although he passed away in 1999, his exuberance lives on in his stories contained in this volume.

Rating:
Summary: Execellent Travelogue of Ed's Last AT Adventure
Review: Ed Garvey continues to detail his love for backpacking and the Appalachian Trail in this third travelogue. He covers day to day events with the precision of an accountant, yet continues to view nature with wonder. As always, Ed continues to be a strick conservationist and notes many wastes in the pages of this book.

For those unfamiliar with Ed Garvey, he has been a driving force in the preservation of the Appalachian Trail corridor. Although he passed away in 1999, his exuberance lives on in his stories contained in this volume.

Rating:
Summary: Too much detail, not enough gandeur.
Review: Ed Garvey is to be commended. He obviously loves life, respects nature, and cares deeply about people. The enjoyment he takes in his friends is evident in the book. He is also inspirational, to be long distance hiking at 75 gives others a laudable goal.

The pen and ink drawings are wonderful, worth the purchase of the book by themselves.

The many positive accomplishments of Mr. Garvey notwithstanding, this book did not meet my expectations. I had been hoping for a book that would transport me to the Appalachian Trail. A book that would tell me of the riot of color from rhododendron blooming in the south, the gentle valleys, the types of trees, the wildlife, the rivers A book that would convey the exhilaration of walking through these tree laden valleys and hills. Mr. Garvey did not write such a book. Having read the book I can give a pretty good description of his meals, a fair description of the state of repair on the walking surfaces and outhouses, a description of the many people he met along the way. What the book failed to convey is a feeling for the Appalachian Trail. Bill Bryson wrote a much better book about the trail. I chuckled at Bill's brushes with nature, mourned the disease ravishing the forests of the east, marveled at the wonder of the tree filled forests he walked through. A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson is a superior book if you are trying to really get a feel for the beauty of the Appalachian Trail. But Bill cheats. He didn't walk the whole trail. Great big patches are left out. Parts he only goes on day trips. So I bought this book hoping to get an in-depth look at the Appalachian Trail from someone who had walked it twice. What you have with Mr. Garvey's book is a detailed log of his trip, when he got up, what he ate, who he ran into during the day, the condition of the walking surface, the condition of the privy, the condition of the shelter, when he slept. It is probably a great book for someone actually planning a through trip of the Appalachian Trail. For those hoping to experience the trail second hand, it is a disappointment. He goes for days without any notation on what he sees in the way of natural beauty. Karen Berger and Danial Smith have written excellent books on the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. This is what I hoped Mr. Garvey would do for the Appalachian Trail, told with the sensibility of a 75 year old hiker. I was disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Everything but the Trail!
Review: Having read the works of Bill Bryson and Jan Curran (which I would recommend) I was looking for an additional perspective on the AT experience and was disappointed by this book. This book is Edward B. Garvey's trail log for his hike on the AT. It is (over) filled with his day-to-day activities such as when he woke, who he met on the trail, what he ate, and when he went to bed. Unfortunately, there isn't much else. A few short descriptions such as "it was a nice view from the top" but the real disappointment of this book is that it fails to put the reader on the trail with him to experience what it is to hike the AT. If the writer would have done that, this book would have been worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: Not an inspirational book by any means
Review: Having read the works of Bill Bryson and Jan Curran (which I would recommend) I was looking for an additional perspective on the AT experience and was disappointed by this book. This book is Edward B. Garvey's trail log for his hike on the AT. It is (over) filled with his day-to-day activities such as when he woke, who he met on the trail, what he ate, and when he went to bed. Unfortunately, there isn't much else. A few short descriptions such as "it was a nice view from the top" but the real disappointment of this book is that it fails to put the reader on the trail with him to experience what it is to hike the AT. If the writer would have done that, this book would have been worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: Everything but the Trail!
Review: I am fully aware of the late Ed Garvey's contributions to the Appalachian Trail and to his Trail club. But frankly, the man had no business writing or even telling a story. This book was a boring, failed last-ditch effort to recapture the glory of earlier hikes.
Pet peaves:
* Garvey comes off as an elitist Appalachian Trail Conference insider, and is constantly yapping away on some insane minutia about ATC governance, the history of the Trail, and his own private involvement with it over the years. Some of his hiking friends are frequent companions on the Trail, and he never tires of dropping their names, or indeed of any other perfect stranger he meets, never to be mentioned again. The elistism or snobbishness is evident in some descriptions of other hikers, especially those that weren't falling all over themselves to be friendly or act as he would have. I think Garvey hiked not for solitude in the wilds, but for the feeling of belonging to a club.
* The mind-numbing details are infuriating by the end of the book. The author obsessively counts everything: blowdowns, steps to the privy, pieces of litter, number of times he gets up in the night to relieve himself, etc. The comments that Garvey makes about trail maintenance are also tiresome: he talks on and on about the acceptability (or not) of water bars, blazing, relocations, shelters, springs, switchbacking, dangerous rocks and roots in the path, overgrown vegetation, unsavory businesses and along the way, and on and on and on. It's enough to make you want to throttle the guy and throw his book in the fireplace!
* The most unbearable thing about this book is the short shrift Garvey gives to his surroundings and the emotional aspects of hiking. I would rather hear about the beauty of a sunset and its effects on him.
This book misses the whole point of hiking the Appalachian Trail. It definitely misses the point of writing about it.

Rating:
Summary: A One of a Kind Man!!
Review: To get the full appreciation out of this book, You realy need to read Ed Garveys other book (Appalachian Hiker) This is a man who Realy cared for the AT and all the people who are a part of it, no matter what there function! The book is written in a journal format, This is like reading his diary! you begin to feel like you know his limitations! and his Pet Peaves!..even know what Beer he Likes!. Even at age 75 This man still tried to walk the whole AT and help to make it better for the next hiker! and if you look at the AT today and compare it to what it must have looked like back in 1970 when Mr. Garvey wrote his first book, you can see where his Books and dedication has indeed made a BIG difference in the way people look at, and take care of the AT!
If you have never read Mr. Garveys other Books, and are under the age of 40, This book may be too Real Life for you! Its not full of ( I almost got hit by Lightening while chasing off a pack of wolves ) kind of adventure. But what it is full of is a glimps into a truly caring man who realy Loved the AT and The people who made the AT worth hiking!

Rating:
Summary: A One of a Kind Man!!
Review: To get the full appreciation out of this book, You realy need to read Ed Garveys other book (Appalachian Hiker) This is a man who Realy cared for the AT and all the people who are a part of it, no matter what there function! The book is written in a journal format, This is like reading his diary! you begin to feel like you know his limitations! and his Pet Peaves!..even know what Beer he Likes!. Even at age 75 This man still tried to walk the whole AT and help to make it better for the next hiker! and if you look at the AT today and compare it to what it must have looked like back in 1970 when Mr. Garvey wrote his first book, you can see where his Books and dedication has indeed made a BIG difference in the way people look at, and take care of the AT!
If you have never read Mr. Garveys other Books, and are under the age of 40, This book may be too Real Life for you! Its not full of ( I almost got hit by Lightening while chasing off a pack of wolves ) kind of adventure. But what it is full of is a glimps into a truly caring man who realy Loved the AT and The people who made the AT worth hiking!