Hacker Cinema
A Walk in the Woods
2015 · Film · 104 min
Directed by Ken Kwapis
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the U.S., where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends.
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4 comments on Hacker News
He's currently at Palmerton, PA/Lehigh Gap. The hike up out of town is steep and completely unshaded. You absolutely bake on a sunny day. Once you hit the top of the ridge, the trail looks out over the old zinc smelting plant for the next five or so miles. It's absolutely one of the most striking parts of the trail.
The ridge is basically bare of trees, AIUI because of the plume of pollution from the zinc plant. A Walk In The Woods (the book, not the execrable movie) goes into some detail.
12 years ago when I hiked through, the ridge was covered in low berry bushes, possibly as some sort of bioremediation effort. I did not partake of the berries.
If you're interested in the industrial sites as I am, you might find it interesting to know that the New Jersey Zinc in Palmerton, PA once had two sites: the now demolished West Plant, shown in pictures on the site, and the remaining East Plant.
The East Plant and the damage it has wrought are famously described in Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods[0]. It's still standing just north of the ridge the Appalachian Trail passes by on.
When I thru-hiked in 2010, vegetation was starting to take hold on the ridge and the slope leading town to the plant, but it was still pretty barren. The experience following that ridge is unique and unlike anything else on the entirety of the trail. Even if you walked that stretch without any knowledge of what had happened, it would be pretty clear that something had.
Bryson, I think rightly, takes a nuanced view of the site. It's easy to condemn the destruction and deforestation today, but most of us have benefited from the widespread use of zinc.
I wish I had popped into Palmerton to see the plant from the road instead of just from the ridge; I hiked through Lehigh Gap without hitting town, and I kind of regret it.
If you find yourself in the area and are inclined to take a hike to see the site from above, you should know that the hike up out of Lehigh Gap is both steep and completely unshaded. As long as you're in the area, it might also be of interest to know that Centralia isn't far away[1].
[0] And if you were turned off from ever picking it up by seeing the movie, I don't blame you. I assure you the book is better in every way.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
I'll be the lone dissenting voice with regard to the film. I liked it. It wasn't nearly as funny as the book; it was barely funny, at all, in fact. But, it still contained some of the gentle charm of the book. At the end of it, I said to my girlfriend, "I guess I just really like movies about hiking, even when they're kinda boring." (I also really liked Wild, and liked that book, too...in that case, I think the film held up better against the book, as the book just wasn't in the same league as A Walk In The Woods, so the film had less to live up to).
I thru-hiked in 2002 and at that point a lot of discussion was about the surge in hikers due to Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods". The movie comes out this fall so I expect even more hikers next year.
Bad behavior by a few was a problem in 2002 and the offenders were mostly ignorant of the effects for those who came after them that year or in subsequent years.
Taking on an endeavor like a thru-hike is a huge challenge and a small number of hikers definitely let it go to their head resulting in the false belief that they are VIP hikers exempt from rules, regulations, and common etiquette.
It wouldn't surprise me if or more stringent permitting system gets enacted although I think some town complaints could be addressed by requiring some sort of a membership/registration system, perhaps administered by ALDHA (Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association).