A Walk in the Woods

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1998

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11-12

Chapters 13-14

Chapters 15-16

Chapters 17-18

Chapters 19-21

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary

Bryson provides additional history about the AT, explaining that it was the vision of Benton MacKaye, an employee of the US Labor Department, who unveiled his plan for a long-distance hiking trail in 1921. MacKaye envisioned it as a “retreat from profit” (39) that would interconnect mountaintop work camps and self-owning communities. Bryson notes that while MacKaye typically gets credit for the trail, its actual creation resulted from the efforts of Washington lawyer and avid hiker Myron Avery, who took over construction of the project in 1930. Avery extended the planned 1,200-mile trail to well over 2,000 miles and, using only volunteer labor, formally completed the trail in 1937. Much of MacKaye’s initial vision of the AT was realized because it was “the largest volunteer-run undertaking on the planet” and “remains gloriously free of commercialism” (42).

In Atlanta, Bryson and Katz learn that a man named Wes Wisson provides a shuttle service to deliver hikers to Springer Mountain in North Georgia, the launching point of the AT’s southern end. They pay Wisson $60 to take them to Amicalola Falls State Park and stay the night at Amicalola Falls Lodge before setting out the following day. According to Bryson, roughly 2,000 hikers leave from that location every year, most intending to hike the full trail, but “no more than 10 percent actually make it” and “as many as 20 percent drop out in the first week” (43-44). In the morning, Bryson and Katz wake to a record-cold day of 11 degrees but decide to start their journey regardless.

From the outset, Bryson realizes that he’s terribly out of shape, his pack is too heavy, and he’s ill prepared—and Katz immediately falls behind: “The hardest part was coming to terms with the constant dispiriting discovery that there is always more hill” (50). After a full day of hiking Springer Mountain, Bryson reaches the summit, where he rests and waits nearly an hour for Katz before beginning to backtrack to look for him. Bryson eventually finds Katz, who looks disheveled and has apparently thrown many items from his pack over a cliff in a fit of rage.

Chapter 4 Summary

Bryson analyzes the psychological effects of being in a forest and then discusses conservation and the role of the US Forest Service. He explains that the Chattahoochee of Northern Georgia is part of “four million acres—6,000 square miles—of federally owned forest stretching up to the Great Smoky Mountains and beyond and spreading sideways across four states” (64). Overall, the federal government owns roughly 240 million acres of American forests, of which the Forest Service owns 191 million acres. However, much of this land is designated as multiple use, which means that areas can be opened up to logging, mining, recreational, and developmental interests. Bryson adds that “mostly what the Forest Service does is build roads”—primarily to “allow private timber companies to get to previously inaccessible stands of trees” (66-67).

At this point in their journey, Bryson and Katz have fallen into a routine of waking at first light, having coffee and a handful of raisins for breakfast, and hiking at different paces until late afternoon. Bryson points out that other hikers are on the trail just as early and that they cross paths almost every day. On the evening of their fourth night, Bryson and Katz meet a solo hiker from Florida named Mary Ellen, who attaches herself to them and quickly becomes annoying because she constantly criticizes their equipment, their knowledge of the outdoors, and even their appearance. The next morning, the three hike together until they reach Neels Gap, which features a small store named the Walasi-Yi Inn. There, Bryson and Katz eat a decent meal for the first time and use the shower and laundry services. When they’re set to leave, they realize that Mary Ellen is already gone—but alas, she finds them later on the trail as they’re setting up camp for the night.

Chapters 3-4 Analysis

The beginning of Chapter 3 touches on one of the book’s primary themes, The History of the Appalachian Trail. Bryson explains that it was the brainchild of a man named Benton MacKaye, who in the early-20th century envisioned it as a way to connect mountaintop communities and work camps. He also explains how lawyer and avid hiker Myron Avery became the driving force behind its construction, which was formally completed in 1937. Bryson reveals that its construction relied on volunteers (just as the trail’s current maintenance does). In addition, the chapter provides an explanation about the logistical planning required to properly hike the AT, primarily how hikers typically get to the trail. Signifying how monumentally difficult it is to complete an end-to-end AT trek, Bryson provides the sobering statistics that less than 10% of the roughly 2,000 hikers who start in Georgia each year actually get to Maine that and as many as 20% quit within the first week.

Just as in the first two chapters, Bryson drifts back and forth between a narrative detailing his hiking adventure and background information concerning various aspects of hiking, camping, wildlife, plants, conservation, and American history. In Chapter 4, he describes the creepy ambiance of the forest, its sheer vastness, and the role of the US Forest Service in both conservation and destruction of American forests. Additionally, the chapter depicts how hikers on the trail form something of a community:

You become part of an informal clump, a loose and sympathetic affiliation of people from different age groups and walks of life but all experiencing the same weather, same discomforts, same landscapes, same eccentric impulse to hike to Maine (71).

This notion of community becomes clearest when Bryson and Katz meet Mary Ellen, a solo hiker who begins to tag along with them and annoy them for a couple of days. Her presence, however unwelcome, illustrates the importance of companionship and community in the wilderness—and how this can bring together people from different walks of life.

Wilderness and Civilization, the book’s overarching theme, emerges strongly in Chapter 4. After nearly a week of hiking, Bryson and Katz get their first taste of civilization when they reach the Walasi-Yi Inn at Neels Gap near the North Carolina state line. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, the Walasi-Yi “is now a combination hiking outfitters, grocery, bookshop, and youth hostel” (77). Bryson describes their excitement upon reaching this destination:

Now it may seem to stretch credibility to suggest that things like a paved highway, the whoosh of passing cars, and a proper building could seem exciting and unfamiliar after a scant five days in the woods, but in fact it was so (78).

This is a typical reaction for beginners after five days in the wilderness, but a gradual transformation normally occurs the longer one spends away from the trappings of civilization. Later in the book, after becoming more comfortable with the peace and solitude of life on the trail, Bryson experiences the opposite sensation—a near revulsion at the sights and sounds of urban life.