The New Appalachian Trail

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!

"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 nigh

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.