A Walk in the Woods

The brief respite in Waynesboro is quite eventful for Bryson and Katz. After checking into a hotel, Bryson sets out to buy insect repellant and must navigate car traffic while on foot. Rather than crossing a busy intersection, he takes a shortcut through yards and gets stuck in the mud while crossing a creek. Meanwhile, Katz visits a laundromat and meets a woman named Beulah, with whom he plans a rendezvous later that night. Bryson thus dines alone and is enjoying his meal when Katz wanders in and tells him that Beulah’s husband confronted him at the planned rendezvous spot. Terrified that the jealous husband is looking for him, Katz hurries back to the motel, barricades his door, and doesn’t emerge again until the cab is waiting outside to take them back to the trail.

The cab drops them at Rockfish Gap, the southern gateway to Shenandoah National Park, where they’ll hike the 101-mile length of the park’s AT segment before taking a break to see family and tend to business. Bryson notes that Shenandoah National Park suffers from a funding shortage, overcrowding, and pollution but is beautiful and well-run and “almost at once it became [his] favorite part of the Appalachian Trail” (198). However, he also notes that “Shenandoah is said to have the highest density of black bears anywhere in the world—slightly over one per square mile” (200). During their first night there, Bryson awakens in his tent to the sound of a large animal nearby making snuffling noises. While Katz isn’t overly concerned, Bryson is terrified, and when he finally finds the courage to peek outside, he can only make out two sets of eyes, presumably belonging to bears, looking in his direction.

Following the harrowing night of probable bear visitation, they continue through Shenandoah National Park, and Bryson insists on sleeping in AT shelters. On their first shelter night, they’re joined by a Boy Scout troop that’s camping nearby, a cheerful solo hiker from upstate New York named John Connolly, and a pair of hikers named Jim and Chuck. Because of the sudden barrage of people, Bryson launches into a discussion on the misconceptions about how overcrowded the AT has become: “When people bleat on about the trail being too crowded, what they mean is that the shelters are too crowded” (215). He explains that one reason he’s so fond of Shenandoah is that it has public campgrounds, which allow hikers to enjoy occasional slices of civilization if they choose to. Bryson and Katz, along with Connolly, enjoy such a slice the next day, stopping for some greasy food.

The trio then hikes to the next shelter to sleep, from which Connolly will depart in a different direction the following day. Bryson points out that just over a month later, two young female hikers were murdered while following much the same routine of eating at one of the park’s restaurants and then hiking and camping at that shelter. Bryson and Katz hike for three more days and camp at shelters but encounter a driving rainstorm on their next-to-last day before taking their planned break. They press on through the rain to the next shelter, retiring early to let their clothes and packs dry, but are suddenly bombarded by a group of six noisy, rude hikers who take over the shelter for themselves, essentially forcing Bryson and Katz out into the rain if they want a peaceful night. As they hike away the following day, Katz divulges that he stole the bootlaces of the rudest woman in the group.