View Full Version : Skywalker: Close encounters on the Appalachian Trail
Skywalker: Close encounters on the Appalachian Trail is a must read for past thru hikers, aspiring thru hikers, or anybody interested in a good adventure story. I picked up a copy as a Christmas present from my mom, and could not put it down. Two days latter, I started changing my life around so that I can thru hike the AT this 2009 season.
If Skywalker at about 8ft, with no previous backpacking experience can hike the trail in 3 million steps, surely I can in about 5 million. Skywalk is a tremendously funny character, and gives you a taste of what’s out there and the adventures you are bound to encounter.
I am looking forward to making friends and creating my own stories this coming April. I only wish I was half as good of a writer as Skywalker, and I might even try to write a book myself. I think you can pick it up at both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, but be sure to check out his website as well: http://skywalkerat.com/
Cheers,
David
greendf, welcome to whiteblaze! I just checked out the link you left and it looks pretty good might have to get a copy.
Cool AT Breeze
01-05-2009, 21:00
I met him at Trail Daze this year. Hell of a nice guy.
QuietZombie
01-06-2009, 11:20
i also met him at trail days this past year and bought a copy from him. very quick read and never seemed to drag at all. i let one of my friends borrow my copy, so who knows where it is now.
joshua5878
01-06-2009, 11:50
Skywalker: Close encounters on the Appalachian Trail is a must read for past thru hikers, aspiring thru hikers, or anybody interested in a good adventure story. I picked up a copy as a Christmas present from my mom, and could not put it down. Two days latter, I started changing my life around so that I can thru hike the AT this 2009 season.
If Skywalker at about 8ft, with no previous backpacking experience can hike the trail in 3 million steps, surely I can in about 5 million. Skywalk is a tremendously funny character, and gives you a taste of what’s out there and the adventures you are bound to encounter.
I am looking forward to making friends and creating my own stories this coming April. I only wish I was half as good of a writer as Skywalker, and I might even try to write a book myself. I think you can pick it up at both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, but be sure to check out his website as well: http://skywalkerat.com/
Cheers,
David
I enjoyed his book! It was good to read about a guy who had little or no experience and made it all the way! I am thruhiking this year with my oldest brother. If you have read Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" he would be Katz's clone. I am looking forward to some laughs and probabably some frustration but all I have to do is think about a day @ work and it will bring me right back to how lucky I am to be getting this opportunity!!!
Great guy. We met him summer of 08 at the Mount Moosilauke trailhead in New Hampshire. He couldn't locate his water tablets so my wife gave him our extras and he gave us a copy of his book. Awesome reading. We both enjoyed it and finished it. We left it at Upper Goose Pond Shelter in MA <--- must stop here. Free pancake breakfast. Pick blueberries before you hit the place. Anyway Skywalker is awesome.
Frick Frack
01-07-2009, 12:39
Great book! We met him with his sister (who was hating the rain) at Stratton Pond, VT on 07/28. He was showing her what the trail was like. Skywalker is quite a talker & excellent company.
I met Skywalker in 2005 when I was the caretaker at Garfield Ridge Campsite in New Hampshire. He slept in the shelter. I picked up his book to when I recognized his name and read a positive review. I enjoy most books on the A.T. and I'd say Skywalker's is definitely a good read.
Skywalker
01-15-2009, 10:53
Frick Frack,
Thanks for the encomium on the book. It's a big help, honestly.
My sister salvaged her hike, if not completing what had been her "grand design" of hiking all of NH and Maine. She gathered enough stories (on the ledge on Wildcat in a thunderstorm) to win the storytelling contest at a Christmas party.
All the best with all your endeavors.
Skywalker '05
Skywalker
01-15-2009, 11:02
Katz and me? Ha. Comeon--Katz was much more charming than me! Call him one of the more compelling figures in American literature!
Actually, somebody did say of Bryson's book that it was as much about what not to do, as what to do. Well, the same could be said of mine. Bryson is, indeed, a very gifted writer, but the striking thing from the viewpoint of someone who has hiked the trail-both you and me-is how few people he actually met out there. He did a good job with the few he met, but it would have helped if he and Katz had socialized a bit more.
Probably the biggest strength of his book is that it appeals to hikers and non-hikers alike. My mother never has hiked, and never will, but she loved it.
Happy Trail,
Skywalker '05
joshua5878
01-15-2009, 11:38
I can honestly say that reading Bryson's book 5 years ago inspired me to what I am doing today. Packing. NOBO leaving Feb 22nd.
I also went back and read a lot of Bryson's other books. His latest "Adventures of the Thunderbolt Kid" is a blast!!! Most of his other books are deemed travel books. I would have to think he has made a tidy living for himself.
What do you think Sky??? What is your next adventure to write about! I read your book, you are a great writer!! Wish I had that talent...
I rread this thing three times already, and have enjoyed each read.
My other favorite hiking books are:
David Brill: As Far As the Eye Can See
Jan Litescheau: The Ordinary Adventurer
???: White Blaze Fever (read 5 times)
???: On the Beaten Path
Miller: Awol on the AT (read multiple times)
Deeds: There are Mountains to Climb
DVD's:
Lion King's
2000 Miles to Maine (love the Marlboro hikers)
Trek
5 Million Steps
27 Days (Long Trail)
Appalachian Impressions
Clearly, I am OCD.
Rockhound
01-15-2009, 16:58
Jorel, add "Through a Hikers Eyes" to your list. Authors name is Lawrence Alexander. Basically a narrative of his 2006 thru. I generally don't trust anyone with 2 first names but thought this was a pretty good read.
Finished reading Skywalker a couple days ago. It's a decent read by a writer who experienced what many thru-hikers (completers and not) have experienced. It was worth the time and money.
One thing I wish Mr. Walker had done prior to publication was do some fact-checking, or pay someone else to fact-check. There are not just a few instances within the book where he totally mis-names important places or people on the AT. He also got trail locations out of sequence more than once.
For example, he calls the Walasi-Yi Center at Neels Gap the Cherokee Outdoor Center. Now it's been about five years since I was there, so if it's been re-named recently my apologies. But it seems like a mistake.
Skywalker goes into great length about two encounters he had with Baltimore Jack during his hike. Depicting the second encounter, he repeatedly refers to Jack as "Evan." Again, if I'm missing something here, apologies. But it seems like a mistake that could have been fact-checked.
Perhaps these are just nits to be picked. Like Bryson's A Walk In The Woods, such nits make a book a little less authentic—at least to me. It's not enough of a reason to avoid reading Skywalker, tho. It's a story well told, if not factually complete.
MDhiker1967
02-08-2009, 19:31
I just started reading it this weekend.. picked it up from amazon ...
awesome book so far...
I rread this thing three times already, and have enjoyed each read.
My other favorite hiking books are:
David Brill: As Far As the Eye Can See
Jan Litescheau: The Ordinary Adventurer
???: White Blaze Fever (read 5 times)
???: On the Beaten Path
Miller: Awol on the AT (read multiple times)
Deeds: There are Mountains to Climb
DVD's:
Lion King's
2000 Miles to Maine (love the Marlboro hikers)
Trek
5 Million Steps
27 Days (Long Trail)
Appalachian Impressions
Clearly, I am OCD.
Check out Model-T's books too. "Walking on the Happy Side of Misery" and "The Ghostwhisperers" Both very good reads.
Frick Frack
02-09-2009, 13:15
Skyline, I assume Skywalkers name changing was to protect the person or place he was referring to? I noticed the descrepancies too but assumed they were for a reason. Maybe I'm wrong.... Anyway, it was a great book and one of the better books I have read on the AT. My mother-in-law read it and enjoyed it ( she is somewhat of a non-hiker). I would, and have, also recommend to anyone wanting to hike the AT but unsure of themselves.
"AWOL" got me started and Skywalkers book was very enjoyable! So were the other dozen Ive read (to varying degrees). I was wondering if there was a good one written about a SOBO hike starting in Maine?
Skyline, I assume Skywalkers name changing was to protect the person or place he was referring to? I noticed the descrepancies too but assumed they were for a reason. Maybe I'm wrong.... Anyway, it was a great book and one of the better books I have read on the AT. My mother-in-law read it and enjoyed it ( she is somewhat of a non-hiker). I would, and have, also recommend to anyone wanting to hike the AT but unsure of themselves.
That crossed my mind, too. Maybe Skywalker will let us know how and why the discrepencies creeped in.
I met Skywalker in '08 when he stayed with us during a section hike. He is really a very nice guy & one tall dude. I don't know how he slept comfortably in our bunk.
Here's a picture of him:
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=369093