A Walk in the Woods: Chapters 5-7

Bill and Katz hitchhiked into town to get clean and to get rid of Mary Ellen, who was still being very annoying. When they were eating at the Georgia Mountain Restaurant, Katz made Bill feel guilty about ditching Mary, so they went back to the trail. However, when another hiker told them what she had said about them, they stopped feeling sorry for her and kept going.

Later, they ran into a blizzard, and they met up with two hikers named Jim and Heath. Before Bill and Katz were frozen solid, Jim and Heath gave them a ride in a truck to a campground to wait for the snow to stop. They ended up sleeping in a bunkhouse full of other smelly and wet hikers.

Bill goes into a lot of detail about how inefficient the National Park Service is with money. He obviously doesn't have a very high opinion of the NPS. "The National Park Service actually has something of a tradition of making things extinct" (131; ch. 7).

Later, it starts raining, and it doesn't stop for days. During the night, they were tormented by mice and rats.


Loaded words:


1. infinite: "... when we did get views it was of infinite hills covered in more trees" (83; ch. 5). It shows that the trail at the moment was somewhat maddening, and he didn't have anything to look forward to.

2. brainless: "And then of course there was the constant, prattling, awesomely brainless presence of Mary Ellen" (83; ch. 5). Bill was getting very annoyed with the company of Mary Ellen.

3. greasy: "... on a normal day I would not be laboring up a steep hill with a greasy, leaden Hardee's breakfast threatening at every moment to come up for air" (96; ch. 5). Although the meal tasted good at the time, everything seemed bad at the moment, including the breakfast.

4. wimps: "'She said you guys were a couple of overweight wimps...'" (98; ch. 5). Even though they had been worried about Mary Ellen (she had been hiking with them for awhile), she had a negative opinion of them.

5. tranquil: "... you exist in a tranquil tedium, serenely beyond the reach of exasperation..." (100; ch. 6). Things were starting to go well, and the word "tranquil" shows that he is at peace.

6. horrified: "... twice Katz made horrified, heartfelt, comic-book noises ('AIEEEEE!' and 'EEEARGH!') as his footing went..." (103; ch. 6). It shows how scary almost falling off a cliff was for Katz.

7. whooped: "... Katz spotted a white blaze twenty yards into the woods, and we whooped with joy" (107; ch. 6). Bill and Katz were very, very happy to finally be back on the trail.

8. refuge: "Still, if nothing else, it offered at least a sense of refuge" (107; ch. 6). It shows a great sense of protection, despite the fact that the shelter was filled with snow.

9. heaven: "Jim and Heath had some chocolate cake, which they shared with us (a treat beyond heaven)..." (109; ch. 6). It obviously wasn't actually better than heaven, but at the moment, Bill couldn't imagine anything better.

10. stunning: "But everywhere it was stunning. Every tree wore a thick cloak of white..." (109; ch. 6). The word "stunning" shows how nice the surroundings looked.

11. slog: "... but mostly to [Katz] hiking was a tiring, dirty, pointless slog between distantly spaced comfort zones" (123; ch. 7). Katz if finding hiking very dull and difficult.