A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

by Bill Bryson

Woods are not like other spaces. To begin with they are cubic. Their trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides. Woods choke off views, and leave you muddled and without bearings. They make you feel small and confused and vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs. Stand in a desert or prairie and you know you are in a big space. Stand in a wood and you only sense it. They are a vast, featureless nowhere. And they are alive. So woods are spooky.

At Baxter State Park in Maine, the Journal reported, one hiker called up a National Guard Unit and asked them to send a helicopter to airlift him off Mount Katahdin because he was tired. On Mount Washington, meanwhile, ‘two very demanding women’, according to an official there, called the mountain patrol HQ and said they couldn’t manage the last mile and a half to the summit even though there were still four hours of daylight left. They asked for a rescue team to come and carry them back to their car. The request was refused. A few minutes later, they called again and demanded in that case that a rescue team bring them some torches. That request was refused also. A few days later, another hiker called and requested a helicopter because he was a day behind schedule and was afraid he would miss an important business meeting. The article also described several people who had got lost with satellite navigation devices. They were able to report their positions as 36.2° north by 17.48° west or whatever, but unfortunately didn’t have the faintest idea what that meant as they hadn’t brought maps or compasses or, evidently, brains.

I have walking clients who come to the UK and behave like this. Despite our warnings and advice.