Dreaming the Appalachian Trail

About the Book

The idea for this book came to me on my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1994. Every state that I walked through presented me with a different story. Some were pleasant and easy, while others were pleasant, somehow, in spite of being extremely difficult. With each passing state boundary a different realization would occur. This thing, this trail, works its stuff on everyone who walks along it, like a character in life or story. We don´t affect it, it changes us. It´s a much larger whole than any of its components or any of us who walk it.

So, each chapter represents a reality that is unique to the hike as told by Ivy Burbank Mann. From the time he starts to the end, six months later, he encounters strange characters, survives three seasons of rain, heat and humidity, and endures violent storms. The trail itself becomes a character in this novel set in the most spectacular scenery in the east.

About the Author

Author’s Cover Bio: Brad Wayne Viles is a lifetime hiker and free-lance newspaper columnist from Maine. His work appears regularly in the Bangor Daily News. He has thirty years hiking and backpacking experience. He thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1994, from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Andover, Maine. The trail continues for another 257 miles to Katahdin from Andover, but Viles completed his hike there. “I had hiked all of Maine’s miles before 1994, twice. Reaching Andover was the end of my goal to hike it all, even though it wasn’t in one season,” he says.