Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (Free Amazon Kindle)
The outdoor narrative, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Walker, will be available for free upload on Amazon Kindle this weekend (September 22 and 23). This is a story of Bill Walker’s thru-hike attempt of the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail (AT). Walker had never even spent the night outdoors before. However, he had developed an obsession with hiking the entire Appalachian Trail in one hiking season, after reading the bestseller, A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson.
Walker set off north in early April of 2005 full of hopes, and even more full of fears. An elemental fear of bears, snakes, and hypothermia loomed large. Fortunately, he quickly realized he had plunged himself into a whole new world of colorful characters with trail names lie Nurse Ratchet, Sal Paradise, and Wrongway. Walker, himself, is just shy of 7-feet tall and quickly picked up the trail name, Skywalker, which sticks with him to this day.
Along the way, Way experienced an epiphany about the outdoor life which has afflicted most any mortal passing through such pristine parts. In fact, the Appalachian Trail covers 14 states (Georgia to Maine) through the world’s greatest remaining hardwood forest. Over 3,000,000 people trek some part of it each year.
Walker lost 33 pounds along the way, and experienced countless deprivations and setbacks. But at the end of the day his determination overcame all his doubts and debilities. Upon completion he wrote this irreverent, but candid, narrative, which has sold well from its publication in 2008. “Most Appalachian Trail books are written by experts, for other experts, in a sort of narrow hikerese,” Walker says. “I wanted to write something that was as popular with non-hikers, as it is with hikers. Because I’m still anything but an expert.”
Bill Walker is the author of Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (2008). He is also the author of Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (2010), as well as The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago (2012). Currently he is working on a whimsical book on the subject of height.
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