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pvtmorriscsa
05-11-2004, 15:21
Howdy all,
I just discovered a book in my library that I had not yet read. It was a part of a bunch of books a friend of mine no longer had any room for. Well I happened to glance at the title, and it lept out at me. The book is called "The Long Walk", by Slavomir Rawicz.
Let me tell you this fella did one hell of a thru hike. A polish cavalry officer Rawicz was captured by the russians in 1940, and sent to the ass end of Siberia in 1941 on a 25 year hard labor sentence. He escaped with a small group of prisoners and walked from Siberia through western china, across the Gobi desert, into tibet over the Himalyas and finally made his way to India.
That is one hell of a hike. Oh, and by today's standards they would be ultra-lite hikers.
Pretty good book, unless one is a Commie sympathizer/apologist. Check it out.

DebW
05-11-2004, 16:07
I read this one a few months ago. Good read, but the particulars are somewhat lacking as it is a 40+ year old memory when the book was written. Besided that they hiked without maps or real knowledge of the geography so seldom knew exactly where they were or where they were going. Still an incredible story.

steve hiker
05-11-2004, 19:51
It is one of the best books I have read. A similar book is "Endurance" about Ernest Shackelton's ill-fated trip to Antarctica in the early 1900s. Both are outstanding.

pvtmorriscsa
05-19-2004, 12:13
Howdy All,

I just finished the book. Wow, great story. What a testament to human endurance, and courage. Great Book, Great Story, Great Read.

sloetoe
05-19-2004, 12:22
Read this a couple of year's ago at Stitches' suggestion. Yep: Great read, incredible story -- you even become inured to the hardships yourself after awhile, like feeling fatigue in your knees and hunger in your gut when reading about throughhiking. Read it long enough, and you forget(/forgive?) the hardships and focus on food and rest.

Not good for dieting urbanites, howsomeever.

The Scribe
05-19-2004, 13:32
Thanks for the headsup. I will look for the book.

Another "The Long Walk" that has always been a favorite of mine is a short novel written by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King). It is fiction.

100 young men are chosen every year for the "Super Bowl" of events. They start walking and the last man standing wins "the prize". Everything he wants for the rest of his life I believe. The setting is from the Canadian/US border at Limestone, Maine down into NH. The finish line is when there is only one left.

The rules?

1. You can carry nothing
2. You will be given a concentrate belt for food on a preset schedule
3. You will be given a fresh water canteen any time you want it
4. You will maintain 4 mph
5. You will be given a warning if you fall below 4 mph
6. For every hour you go without a warning, you will lose one (if needed)
7. There is no fourth warning. You are shot on site (How else would SK do it?)

Kinda takes a shot at HYOH doesn't it? :-?

pcm

Blue Jay
05-19-2004, 13:44
The rules?

1. You can carry nothing
2. You will be given a concentrate belt for food on a preset schedule
3. You will be given a fresh water canteen any time you want it
4. You will maintain 4 mph
5. You will be given a warning if you fall below 4 mph
6. For every hour you go without a warning, you will lose one (if needed)
7. There is no fourth warning. You are shot on site (How else would SK do it?)

Kinda takes a shot at HYOH doesn't it? :-?

pcm

I also liked that story. Set it on the AT and it would make great "Reality TV". We could just randomly label them Terrorists, you no longer need any other justification. The ratings would be huge.

Rain Man
12-01-2010, 09:34
I posted this also in the thread titled:
"'The Long Walk' by Slavomir Rawicz = Hoax"

Looks as if the book has been made into a movie, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris. The title is "The Way Back" and its release date is December 29, 2010.

Newsweek article. (http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/26/movies-colin-farrell-in-the-way-back.html)

Rain:sunMan

.

Daydream Believer
12-01-2010, 13:09
Thanks for the headsup. I will look for the book.

Another "The Long Walk" that has always been a favorite of mine is a short novel written by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King). It is fiction.

100 young men are chosen every year for the "Super Bowl" of events. They start walking and the last man standing wins "the prize". Everything he wants for the rest of his life I believe. The setting is from the Canadian/US border at Limestone, Maine down into NH. The finish line is when there is only one left.

The rules?

1. You can carry nothing
2. You will be given a concentrate belt for food on a preset schedule
3. You will be given a fresh water canteen any time you want it
4. You will maintain 4 mph
5. You will be given a warning if you fall below 4 mph
6. For every hour you go without a warning, you will lose one (if needed)
7. There is no fourth warning. You are shot on site (How else would SK do it?)

Kinda takes a shot at HYOH doesn't it? :-?

pcm

I have that book and found it impossible to put down!

BrianLe
12-01-2010, 15:05
Since this sort of account is a bit different from a modern-day long distance hike, let me take it one (?) step further by mentioning my favorite long distance "hike or die" book: The Anabasis by Xenophon. Stranded in ancient Persia, thousands of greek mercenaries adventure of walking out, to the Black Sea around 400 B.C.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_(Xenophon) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_%28Xenophon%29)

Adventure, philosophy, and history wrapped in one package; it's said that Alexander the Great used the Anabasis as a road map in his later conquest of Persia.

And you can read this for free (it's rather thoroughly "out of copyright" ... :-)) via project Gutenburg, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1170

The prose feels a bit archaic (no surprise there), but a heck of an adventure story --- I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't made it into a movie ... nah, they would probably do a crap comic book version like "300".

Luddite
12-01-2010, 15:23
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023114/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jlgenq_Ca0

Is that the story you're talking about? Looks like its gunna be a great movie.

Snowleopard
12-08-2010, 00:17
The Long Walk is a fascinating book, but there's some doubt about whether it's true. Here's one article casting doubt. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6098218.stm I've read a more detailed article doubting it but can't find it now. Apparently there are some well documented cases of similar WWII escapes, from Russia to Iran.
The Long Walk will make an interesting movie.

Xenophon's Anabasis served as the basis of the film "The Warriors", which translates Greeks and Persian soldiers into NYC gangs.

I just found a used book by Shackleton on his expedition that got to within 100 miles of the South Pole before turn around because of scurvy (before Endurance). Endurance is the best!
--Walter

chiefduffy
12-08-2010, 14:00
There's another one, undeniably true, that took place in Australia, by aboriginal children: The Rabbit Proof Fence. Good read. Was also made into a movie.

Jack Tarlin
12-08-2010, 16:43
Some of the greatest travel/adventure stories I know are based partly on true facts with a good deal of embellishment. The works of Homer come to mind, for a start.

This is true of motion pictures as well......such films as Jeremiah Johnson, Last of the Mohicans, Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, Bridge on the River Kwai......all of these are fact-based stories with all sorts of other things added to make for a better story.

That many aspects of The Long Walk have been questioned or doubted is not in dispute. But it's still a great story and I'm curious as to how the movie turns out.