It’s not often we see a Good Badger
execute somersaults. But one, who chose to share his antics on the Appalachian Trail, did.
In the recently published,
Appalachian Trials: a psychological & emotional guide to successfully hike the Appalachian Trail, Zach Davis, the owner of the trail name,
Good Badger,
rolls from funny and glib to serious and profound, proving to be a complex
person, as many are who attempt the AT and make it. Hikers and their families
are lucky he chose to write such a book, an honest and astute take on the Appalachia
Trail, and a must read for those who are currently, or will in the future, find
themselves walking the 2,000 odd miles form Georgia to Maine.
Zach’s not talking off the cuff but
from cataloging both the inner and outer experience. His personal stories
back up his psychological insights and mental hygiene. As Zach slogged the
miles in the rain, climbed the rocky outposts, endured the Green Tunnel he took
note of the AT’s effects on hikers both physically and mentally. He endured his
own set of unusual trials while hiking, from being rejected for an important
job he hoped to start after his hike, to contracting a debilitating illness
while on the trail, which was not diagnosed until he was off the trail.
Published on the heels of a number
of memoirs and some incredible guide books, this is may very well become one of
the most important books in the hikers prep box, simple because it addresses
what Zach believes, to be the main reason hikers make it all the way. Mental attitude. Appalachian Trials may prove even more important than choice of
equipment or how many maps a hiker carries, because it prepares the long
distance backpacker for what the mind goes through while pushing the body to
such limits and how important the right frame of mind can be when confronting
the obstacles of the self, including the interaction with society before and
after the journey and most importantly each individual’s purpose and
motivations for such a challenge.
Zach’s approach,
reminds me of how crucial Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell viewed the role of
quests, initiations and challenges in the invocation and development of the
“hero” or the authentic individual, as Jung called it.
On those mountains, 100s of them,
one must come to know himself inside and out without the trappings of society
to protect them, and therefore must learn to rely on their own inner resources
and strengths. Sure there’s times each
hiker curses the trail, but more times than most, it’s the opportunity to
discover an inner ally. Out on the trail everyone is reduced to their absolute center –
there’s no way to be fake to impress or best someone. Personas and habits we
adopt to comply with society’s expectations slip away with the miles until
every hiker comes to know their true self better than ever imagined.
So far this review may make Appalachian Trials sound like a
complicated book. Quite the opposite. Throughout
his book, Zach employs user friendly analogies anyone can relate to and offers
solutions, methods, and techniques to better prepare both the hiker and the
worried family back home as to what may, can and should happen while going
through such an extreme experience for four to six months.
It’s practical, readable and most
of all insightful, without being preachy or pretentious. Zach’s humor, off beat, quirky and often self-deprecating
proves this is a guy who can take himself seriously when he has to, but more
often than not, will just as soon laugh at his foibles. He’s taught himself to
be intuitively aware when of when it’s time to find a way around a mental
mountain with the potential to come crashing down and therefore avoids or
survives each setback.
But Zach doesn’t stop there, he
goes on to warn and suggest measures to deal with the post-trail let down, the
adjustment back into society and how to use the new awareness gained from this
pivotal life journey to found a meaningful and enriched lifestyle.
My son Jeff or Loner, as he’s known
on the trail, started his thru-hike on April 7, 2012 on the approach trial at Amicalola Falls. As a family member of an AT
thru-hiker, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book. Once Jeff left, I
found Zach’s
Good Badger blog and read every word, hungry for more.
Appalachian Trials delivered even more
than I’d hoped.
Throughout
Appalachian Trials, Zach makes user friendly analogies anyone can
relate to and offers solutions, methods, techniques to better prepare both the
hiker and the worried family back home as to what may, can and should happen
while going through such an extreme experience for four to six months. It helps us understand why our family member or friends is taking on such a feat and what they go through en route, in addition to offering us ways we can offer them some advice without becoming obsessively worried.
While reading Appalachian Trials, I
felt like I was sitting in a room with Zach, a large window to our sides,
offering a panoramic view of the woods on a beautiful day, that’s how the conversational
style of this book engages the reader. I
felt like I came to know Zach, as well a man, who while often exhibiting his
off-kilter sense of humor, also, at the same time offered a thoughtful,
insightful view not just of the AT but also of our society’s culture and how
easy it is to forget one’s true self trying to measure up to outer
standards. On the AT, it’s just the
hiker and nature, bottom line. More than
just a hiker’s backpack is pared down to the core necessities.
I think this book is also a valuable
resource and comfort to family and friends of long distance hikers since it
offers concrete steps to take at all stages of such a life-altering journey. Of
which there are more than the hiker expects: from the prep through the early
trail anxieties to the endorphin highs spurned on by exercise and small successes,
through the periods of boredom and possible depression during Virginia’s 550
mile Green Tunnel, where as Zach explains, the honeymoon stage is over. Zach offers ways the thru-hiker can deal - all the way to the exhausting, emotional and
exhilarating summit of Mt. Katadhin.
The writing in
Appalachian Trials appears to be an effortless task on Zach’s part,
so easily do we read it and understand his observations and advice. But, as an
editor, I know differently. Pay attention to a normal conversation and you’ll
hear how to rambles, is tangential, wanders off course, sometimes to never veer
back, stops and starts, and sometimes ends abruptly without flow. Zach put more
time and effort in completing this book than is evident on the surface, like
taking a bad day on the trail with its missteps and lost footing, and using the
time in the shelter of an evening to recall it with all its wonders and
remarkable lessons intact.
That’s the landscape of this book,
the path Zach leads you on, not only on the Appalachian
Trail but also in life.
