Forsaken Control

Earl Shaffer was a man of few words, and this memoir of his first Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 1948 is no different. This is not a book someone picks up to learn about thru-hiking; there are practically no descriptions of the actual Trail itself, and the amount of road walking Shaffer had to do may have been the genesis of the misperception that the Appalachian Trail is a casual walk through the bucolic countryside of Appalachia... Read Full Review

After reading many of the more contemporary accounts of thruhiking the AT, I finally got a hold of this great book. In my opinion, I recommend it the highest of any of them. Unlike most of the other books, he complains the least about the hike, despite countless detours and the usual hardships (yet he still averaged 17 miles a day!). A real strength to this book is that despite the fact he had suffered such psychological... Read Full Review

Earl Shaffer's recounting of the first AT thruhike is a glimpse into history. Perhaps a hundred books have been written about the Appalachian Trail since Earl wrote his. None is more sincere or matter of factly descriptive than Walking With Spring. Earl's life was enigmatic. This book contains hints and clues about this unusual man, the loner, the poet, the man rooted in nature. More than anything, it traces his pioneering... Read Full Review

Earl Shaffer was a laconic, introverted naturalist, and through his journey developed a deeper appreciation for the wilderness and deeper distrust for the modern world. This chronicle of the first thru-hike of the AT is highly factual, and quite literal. Shaffer did an excellent job of describing the varied terrain and geographic route of the trail. He was intensely serious, and at times the book seems a bit dry and too... Read Full Review

Earl Shaffer was the first person to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in one continuous journey in 1948 after getting out of the military following WWII. As he wonderfully describes walking with the Appalachian spring across the mountains, there is much history, adventure and nature to be experienced. We can glimpse backward in time before this famous trail was well-known, when it was thought that no one... Read Full Review