Off topic, but “A Walk in the Woods” was an absolutely terrible book. As someone who hiked the Appalachian Trail myself in 1984, I was insulted that this idiot Bryson would write a book about hiking the trail when he actually didn’t hike much of it at all. He bailed early and drove the rest of the way, staying in motels as he went.
A much better book for hardcore hikers is David Miller’s “AWOL on the Appalachian Trail”. Not as much fluff and ironic humor, but a taste of the real experience of hiking the AT instead.
Did you hike the AT end to end?