On the Appalachian Trail, thru-hikers — those determined souls who think spending several months tackling the roughly 2,200-mile foot path in a nonstop effort — get most of the press.
But there are other ways to enjoy the trail. Some head out for weekend jaunts or day hikes, for instance.
And a few section-hike the Appalachian Trail, spending years hopscotching their way across the East Coast, filling in gaps on their way to eventually completing the whole route that stretches from Georgia to Maine.
That’s what Maine native Jim Haskell did. And in his recently released book, “Two Tents: Twenty-One Years of Discovery on the Appalachian Trail,” the author retraces some of those steps in a volume that will appeal to hikers and nonhikers alike.
Haskell began his quest in 1990, and he completed the trail in 2010, right on schedule. That’s his story, anyway.
“As I think back, I know how preposterous this whole thing is, but [I knew] I was going to complete it in 2010,” Haskell said in a recent interview. “That was [the plan as of] May of 1990.”
Haskell hatched the plan with his then-wife, but after beginning their joint hike, their partnership ended. Over the years Haskell found love again, remarried, adopted a son and kept on hiking.
One year, he was only able to hike 57 miles. That was his lowest total over the 21-year span. In his busiest hiking year, he trekked 183 miles on the trail. And along the way, he met a lot of people and learned a lot about the trail, the people who love it and himself.
Haskell said that over the years, he learned to look forward to the dark days of mid-winter, when he’d begin to brainstorm the adventures that would follow.
“Around the first of February, when you’re at that stage where you think winter’s never going to end, I would get out my maps,” he said. “It was kind of my therapy. That’s when I would really start planning the exact sections I was going to do that year.”
Haskell, who grew up in Levant but now lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts, says he didn’t set out to write a book about his adventures. One episode on the trail — meeting a father and his four young children and convincing them that the hike they’d planned on taking wasn’t their best decision — changed all of that.
“That was the ‘book moment,’” Haskell said. “I didn’t start it with the idea that I was going to write a book, and in truth, I didn’t keep good journals.”
Haskell said that after talking with his brother, veteran newsman Bob Haskell, a former Bangor Daily News editor, he decided to barge forward and see what developed.
“[Bob] said, ‘Just sit down and start writing notes from memory … don’t worry about how good it is. Just start writing,’” Jim Haskell said.
After Haskell learned that there was a book hiding in his 21-year journey, he and his brother brainstormed a way to tell the tale.
A key decision: Haskell decided to scrap a straight-forward, chronological approach he’d been battling to perfect, and instead invented fictional character Rex, who plays the role of hiking partner and confidant.
While he did base Rex on a man he met, none of the conversations the two share actually took place, Haskell said.
The author is up-front about Rex, explaining the situation in an author’s note at the beginning of the book.
And though the device is unconventional in what is, for the most part, a nonfiction book, the ploy works: The author is able to frame the real tales he shares with readers through trailside “conversations” with Rex. Ever scared by a bear? Sure, the author tells Rex. Then he steps into his nonfiction voice and tells the entire story.
“By adding [Rex], it allowed us to really make the story flow and work,” Haskell said. “And then it’s just this ongoing conversation between two people. That conversation can meander from topic to topic without feeling forced.”
Haskell said his book is available through Amazon, and at his website, twotents.net. Bookstores can order copies through Maine Authors Publishing.
