Appalachian Trail Thru-hiker Breaks Down The Movie A WALK IN THE WOODS

hey y'all Dixie here I recently reviewed the movie Wilde from the standpoint of somebody who has done a thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail it just kind of gave you all an idea of whether that movie was true to what a long distance hike specifically on the PCT would be like and since it all seems to like that idea and request it I do some more this time I'm gonna cover a walk in the woods which was also a book turned into a movie and it covers somebody's trip Bill Bryson along the Appalachian Trail so in this review I don't want to criticize the movie or Bill Bryson's journey specifically but I just want to talk about the things that you see if they are relatable to an actual long distance hike on the 18 this was actually my first through hike that I did in 2015 and funny enough this movie came out that same year in 2015 when I was on my through hike and I was actually in Hanover New Hampshire when I stopped and saw it in theatres and that's where Bill Bryson is from and I don't remember much of it so five years later let's go oh that's where it all starts you see your first son [Music] how cool is it that his house is within walking distance of AD you want to hike it yes 2,000 miles 2118 actually no you can't I liked how right out of the gate they are showing how the seed can be planted in somebody's mind and then within a few days there boom planning their thru-hike on a tee I know a lot of people plant it for years and years or at least think on it for years and years but there are some people who just see it or hear about it and the next thru-hiking season they're getting out there on the trail so the seed can grow quickly when it's planted or it can take a while to you know kind of sink in and for a person to finally make that leap but and I also love how they show what I feel like is an accurate representation of the reaction that people often get when they tell their loved ones hey I'm planning to go out and do this long hike because most of the time people are like you're crazy you know you're too out of shape or you're too old or for whatever reason just kind of have this resistance and and oftentimes the answer is I really can't explain to you why I'm doing this but I feel drawn to it and it's something that I have to do and I think for most people that I met on the 80 that was their answer as to why they were doing it there might have been a catalyst that made it happen when it did but but overall it's just like I was drawn to do this and and I had to do it it's just kind of insane hold on I just want to cut in because the age thing is kind of getting me right here because when I saw hike they T there was a lady out there who was 71 years old and the oldest woman to do it I believe was in her 80s so the age thing is kind of ridiculous a lot of people 50 and older are out there including pee in their 70s and yes some even in their 80s this also has a seventy ten year high density abrasion resistant fly with that same rip stop we've just look at these seams all at felled no bias taping on the whole town and the polls I feel like a lot of people's backpacking trips and through hikes often begin like this a little sachet into an REI and kind of like I don't know what I'm doing but I'm about to go walk in the woods for a while so can you help me out at least for me this was true I walked into an REI for probably the second time in my life in February of 2015 and at the end of March I was starting the 84 my first backpacking trip and my first through hike work worth not let a hundred percent rain cover weighs four point six ounces you know how much weight it was had to fully waterproof an eighty five liter pack well I'll tell you it's a lot nowadays we have Dyneema packs that if they are seam-sealed they're pretty much waterproof I always add the redundancy of a pack liner just a little thin plastic type bag you can buy them specifically for that or use like a trash compactor bag but these rain covers I used one on the 80 and I feel like they're pretty much worthless because the water kind of soaks through it anyway or gets around it your pack is gonna be soaked on the outside anyway so definitely don't use a rain cover as your only waterproofing for your pack if you have a pack that is not Dyneema but I wouldn't even bother with one of these I just use a pack liner and yeah don't don't even bother to me it's added weight and it doesn't really work that great however while I was on the 18 I saw a lot of folks who had the pack rain covers and again I think we all came to the conclusion that it's not worth the added weight gravy's Christ skunks raccoons squirrels merciless fire ants and ravening black fly poison ivy poison sumac poison oak poison salamanders even a scattering of moose you have to admire his wife's persistence and I understand why she's concerned I had a lot of folks tell me you're absolutely insane for going out to do the 80 by yourself in fact my dad told me that I had to take a gun and I wasn't going alone and I finally looked at him and I said well are you going with me no ok then I'm coming alone you know I'm a grown person I can make these decisions and by the time it got I don't know halfway through the trail he called me one day and said you know I was wrong you've met a lot of great people out there you've made friends along the way and all in all you're not actually alone and I feel much better about it now that I'm aware of how the trail actually is so if you're thinking about going out on the trail and people are telling you not to because you're going alone you're gonna make friends out there there are a lot of people out there on these high-traffic trails like the 80 and the PCT [Music] those things are pretty good for warding off melt ones you know everyone thinks we're gonna go out on that trail and quit after a week like most people do we're not most people right no no we're not yeah so good night good night I just want to say that before I left to go hike the trail my family made bets about how soon I was gonna quit and I didn't know about this until a while into the trail but they made bets it like one week two weeks whatever I'd be home and I think a lot of people feel that way about folks who say that they're gonna go out and hike now given only about 20 percent who start a thru-hike actually finished so I guess it's not completely unwarranted looks like Georgia to me there we go Georgia in April which is a common time to start a northbound or nobo thru-hike see another hikers getting ready to go that's so exciting the pancakes get better as you head north not because they're necessarily better but because your hiker hunter says they're better cold feet that's how zeros happened but usually you're already on your trek so zero days are when you take a day off during a thru-hike for rest and for doing chores in town and I've had some unintentional zeros just because I'm like oh it's it's just cold out there oh it's wet out there and it's so cozy in here and I kind of talked myself into but again usually you've already started your truck before you decide to take a zero oh that's actually what it looks like hang on how do I say if you're worried you don't mind okay hold on so I'm I love that they show the actual start of the trail here that's the arch at Amicalola Falls and the beginning of like the sign says the approach trail you go down seven to eight miles something like that and then you hit Springer Mountain which is the start of the Appalachian Trail the southern terminus some folks will decide not to do the approach trail because why I have bonus miles for myself I wanted to do it just in case they ever said that's now officially part of the trail you know I'm sure you'd still be grandfathered in and it would be considered a but I just wanted to do it anyway just have this build up just bring her mountain instead of going around to the parking lot that you can hike up to Springer Mountain from but some people do it both ways no shame in either way hiking or strolling turn to 11 miles good point for myself I started the 80 off doing about seven to eight miles a day that's all I could do I made it to Springer Mountain and shelter the first night and I just slowly built up so maybe Bill Bryson's in better shape although the scene kind of like a last minute thing but maybe he exercises regularly so don't feel pushed to you know go a certain distance your first day I'd highly recommend just kind of taking it easy and listening to your body and that's what Katz is saying here so that's that's what I recommend eleven seems a little steep for me but there are a lot of people who are in a lot better shape than I am just start now also I want to note here that their gear looks like typical gear that you would see from what I've seen so far just them hiking up through the arch on a thru-hike both of them have internal frame packs which is way more common these days and external frames although I did see a couple of external frames on the 80 you'll also notice that on the outside of their packs they have the closed cell foam pads a lot of people start off their first through hike with that and then realize even if they were already backpacking before that they just cannot sleep comfortably on a closed cell foam pad for six months at a time so they transition to the inflatable sleeping pads ask me how I know cuz that's what I did but anyway I just wanted to point out that that what you're seeing right now looks pretty typical of stuff that you see out on the 80 it's not the most ultralight gear but it's certainly good gear I also see that they have their trekking poles on the outside of their pack just to attach to their pack and when I first started my through hike that's how mine were because I honestly didn't know how to use my trekking poles yet so I started using just one as a cane and then finally got used to that and then because it just I felt uncoordinated having suddenly four legs instead of you know just two and so I recommend that if you're not sure about trekking poles I highly recommend having them but if you've never been backpacking and you jump off into a long-distance trek or even just your first backpacking trip it's really nice having them but if you got a kind of transition to it then using one and then adding in other work for me take your pack off people take a break quarter mile okay so actually looks here like his tell T pack does have an external frame but it looks on the other side like an internal frame so interesting all right you see here that they're camped alone I would say if you start in March and April and even the beginning of May that's such a hot time not temperature hot but like that's a popular time to start a northbound Trek on the 80 so it's a very slim chance that they would be camping alone they're just a lot of folks along the trail so now this is supposed to be back in the mid 90s and I believe 1996 when Bill Bryson set out on his truck of 80 so back then not as popular not as well-traveled so more than likely you'd have some more alone time or private time at the beginning of the trail back then but it's interesting they are using more modern gear than I feel like was typical in the mid 90s but regardless let's continue ah [Music] kneel down already oh I love it okay the shoes here are actually shoes of folks up in the trees now I've heard it said that the shoes and the boots in the tree are of people who have quit when they get to kneel gap I also think it's people who have decided that whatever for where they have isn't working out for them and then they get the new pair at meal gap blazes sign that you're on the eights watch little white rectangles 2x6 that's so pretty it makes me miss a tea so much like that Trail has my heart now in 2020 I would say most people on trail either have a puffy coat or fleece not flannels puffy coats are very lightweight the down in them compacts very well who doesn't take up a lot of space not a good idea to get them wet but you don't really don't want to have anything that's supposed to keep you warm being wet and also people tend to avoid cotton especially in the cooler months because it holds in moisture and can give you hypothermia but anyway not saying you won't see flannels on the 80 but more likely to see down puffy coats and fleece pullovers that's a three season tent Donna those are both three season tent how many miles did you guys do today oh here we go here we go 10 the bragging I already know I already know she's just gonna brag about what she's done probably in there okay so the fact that they're showing this is gold because there are people like this on trail that they just they they're so competitive that they have to have better gear than you they have to do more miles than you they have to have better food than you and they want to criticize everything you do now most people are not like this most people I came across anyway I'm in my experience we're not like this but there were some that were so super annoying that just their existence honestly was troublesome anyway you know what your problem is you do not have to be in shape before starting it through hack now does it make it more convenient to start already in shape yes but if you start off you go slow you go at your pace you're gonna lose the weight it it happens all the time I've met people who started the 80 with a goal to lose 100 pound there was a girl that I met on the 80 who started and I believe she weighed 250 pounds when she started and her goal was to lose 100 pounds when I met her in Pennsylvania she had already lost 50 you don't have to be in shape you do have to listen to your body to avoid injury but if you keep putting off it through height because oh I'm not in perfect shape yet that's that's an excuse now of course if you're on the extreme end of that then yes it's good to make sure you clear it with your doctor that your heart can handle it your body can handle it etc this is one of those times where we say bless her heart you guys no snow tonight right six to eight inches really more higher up that's what they're saying you're gonna be climbing right into it yeah yeah well I got to keep moving guys yeah be safe Thanks he said that there's a southbounder coming through and I will say that at this point in the trail they would not be seeing any southbounders because southbounders can't start at Mount Katahdin in Maine until usually right at the end of May but typically June 1st is when people would start going southbound from there so because I don't think that they are already two months into their hike and even then it wouldn't be possible to intersect somebody who's just beginning so it could be somebody who's section hiking that's just heading southbound but I believe I first started seeing South bounders when I was around new jersey or so holy smokes you see how the snow covers the blaze there in order to see where you're going camouflage okay never better I didn't see a lot of snow until I was in Maine so not saying that you can't especially in the Smoky Mountains I know some people will get snowed on and have had a significant amount dumped but snow isn't something that you necessarily have to deal with the whole time you're on trail especially if you're starting a northbound hike in April it's just not that common the trail isn't necessarily an unreasonable place for people to hide out if they don't want to be found in fact when I was on the 18 2015 they caught a man in Damascus Virginia who was on the FBI's most wanted list for embezzling a lot of money I believe he worked for either Pepsi or coca-cola but it could be remembering that wrong anyway he had been on the run for several years and was just kind of living along the 80 he would thru-hike it and then in the winter months he would work for cash at hostels but if you think about it you often have a trail name and go by an alias it's not uncommon to have people pay with cash and not use cards and honestly the little places in the trail towns probably prefer the cash and you grow a beard and kind of look different than you probably did in normal life if especially if you're a man or even a woman not wearing makeup and doing your hair and stuff so not a bad place to hide out so not suggesting that if you're on the run but but just saying so it's just kind of funny he mentioned that and it's actually thing catching up on news when you get to town it's always interesting being out of the real world for a week or so and then pop back in and seeing all the stuff that's happened well rim sir 40 a night you pay when you leave mother I said let go of the man's hand and that's actually a typical price for a little small town along a trail in some areas and though you can pay when you leave thing I think it's really neat that they showed that because there are some places like that when I was on the 18 in Virginia I wasn't gonna get to town until like 1:00 in the morning but I was determined I wanted a room that night and I knew it was gonna be a small town I was going into and so I called ahead when I had to service and I asked them what time their office closed and the woman said well I'll just leave the key for you out I'll hide it somewhere you can come stay in the room and then we can settle up in the morning but I think it's cool that they do that and that they they have the honor system with the hackers but they didn't know me from Adam and I could have come in there and just stayed for the night and left super early in the morning before anyone got there and basically stolen a freak night of course that's extremely frowned upon and I wouldn't do that but it just had been a while since I had been in an area where people just kind of trust people like that so that was refreshing for me along 80 aside from all the shenanigans here if you look at his clothing he's wearing right now it looks like rain gear and when you're in the laundromat in your reindeer you know you're through hacker this makes me miss it so much Oh Shenandoah it's where people typically see their first bears if you haven't seen one up until that point but that's in Virginia it's interesting because it's showing them camp a lot in their tents and I think this last scene is when I first have seen a shelter in this movie but there are shelters along the 80 I don't know exactly how many but on average I would say one every ten miles or so you could expect to see a shelter and sometimes more frequently and sometimes less frequently but I am noticing that they are camping a lot and people do camp at shelters also but shelters are typical gathering points for people to hang out at the end of the day or even at lunchtime just kind of congregate because shelters typically have flat places for tamping or people might prefer to stay in the shelter especially if it's raining and then also there is usually a water source at every shelter because it's a convenient place for people to camp and generally there are also privies for convenient depositing of you're used up food whole table typically see bears and Shenandoah not fun at the campsite at night though there aren't grizzly on the East Coast he's playing a harmonica he said their Grizzlies there like I said are not Grizzlies on the East Coast the only trail that you really have to worry about those as far as the Triple Crown trails is on the Continental Divide Trail and that's a ways into it if you're going northbound so anyway on the 80 don't have to worry about Grizzlies now black bears are definitely a thing I saw seven black bears total during my thru-hike as a teen and if I hadn't hiked so much around other people I probably would have seen more I saw one with other people and then the other six I saw alone so generally they hear people coming now there are problem bears that do get used to eating peoples food they associate hikers with food so right here you see they take their food and run but in bear country you're supposed to hang a bear bag and that's one of the reasons why because you want there's thinking humans are food source even if it's not eating them directly but that humans can provide food so they did do a good job of trying to you know stand their ground and look big by using their tents that's kind of funny I've never thought of that if you have a freestanding tent I guess that's a another purpose for it but anyway and then hollering and playing a harmonica I played a harmonica for a mountain lion one time and I I guess in my mind and maybe what he was thinking if I make a foreign noise that they're not used to then maybe these creatures won't identify me as food and that's what I was thinking with the mountain line but then again it could sound like a dying animal I guess and have the opposite effect and sound tasty but anyway standing up hollering looking big and then the Bears ran off but had they hung their bear bag these Bears would now not further associate humans with food and then they also probably would not be without the food that they just lost to the Bears now they show some rain I guarantee you within two months they've probably already gotten a lot more rain than what's been shown because I feel like it rained so often on the 80 especially compared to the PCT and CDG McAfee knob that's where you could sit on the end and take a picture and freak your parents out oh they see it on a pretty day too they're not actually using their trekking poles shrill maintenance I love seeing trail maintenance folks on trail like to thank them for their service wouldn't be a trail without them or wouldn't be an enjoyable trail without him well that's it for a walk in the woods all in all I know this movie is supposed to be a comedy but I feel like as far as what they did show of the 80 and attempted through hiking experience that it was pretty accurate as to what I saw and experienced on trail especially the scenery and some of the well-known points along the way like McAfee knob and the archway at the beginning of the pro trail at Amicalola Falls State Park I think that they could have included more about the 80 community because it it is so strong on that trail in my opinion more than other trails so they didn't I think include as much as they could have to really show the heart of the 80 there are actually a lot of wonderful people and I feel like regardless of you and your personality when you're out on the 80 you will find somebody to connect with even if you're out there to be alone you'll probably surprise yourself and crave that human interaction and end up with some Trammell leaves that you kind of travel up and down the trail with but what they did show was accurate and true I don't feel like anything was absurd except for the Bears the Black Bears that I saw on the 80 were not that huge I mean when one Bluff charged me it did kind of feel like it was that huge in my mind but there there aren't Grizzlies so aside from that I feel like especially the interaction with some of the people not all of the folks are that way though but you you do meet people that you don't mesh with on trail certainly just like in normal life but thanks so much for watching if you enjoyed this and would like to see me do another one then make a recommendation on a movie about backpacking or trekking maybe the way I could do that one next and don't forget to subscribe before you go and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 187,764

Rating: 4.9403529 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, Dixie, Camino

Id: jW-Gk1NUZ9I

Length: 31min 42sec (1902 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020