Post 2B

Dear Bill,
I am fascinated by your writing style. Your mostly cynical explanations and opinions of other people and groups adds to the atmosphere in the memoir. Your sarcasm helps me understand how you feel against certain administrations such as the United States Park service. You express this by saying, "Today the National Park Service employs a more casual approach to endangered wildlife: neglect. It spends almost nothing- less than three percent of its budget- on any research type, [...]" (pp. 92-93) This mood towards the administration also exists in your apparent mood on the trail. Being a hiker, I can understand why someone would be in a "pissy" mood while hiking through inches of mud and slippery rock. Although some would say this mood is pessimistic, I find it optimistic myself. Your expression of the trail while being a relatively untrained and middle aged hiker makes me feel that anyone can do it if they train enough. I think someone who feels too weak to even attempt at such a feat like hiking the AT should read your book to gain some optimism themself.
A Fellow Hiker,
Ken H.