The Complete Walker IV
The Complete Walker IV by Colin Fletcher, published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group on April 30, 2002, is a revised edition that offers an updated perspective on hiking and outdoor skills. This comprehensive guide, spanning 864 pages, features contributions from coauthor Chip Rawlins, an avid outdoorsman and poet. The book addresses significant advancements in hiking and camping equipment over the past eighteen years, providing readers with a thorough overview of modern gear and practices.
In this edition, Fletcher and Rawlins present an extensive evaluation of hiking preparedness, discussing essential items such as clothing, food, and equipment. They offer detailed critiques and recommendations for various brands, ensuring that readers are well-informed about their options. The authors also delve into the philosophical aspects of hiking, emphasizing the importance of experiencing the outdoors and fostering a responsible approach to nature. With its focus on both practical advice and the deeper meaning of walking, The Complete Walker IV serves as a valuable resource for those interested in hiking and outdoor recreation.
Official synopsis Publisher
For the first time since 1984, we have a new edition of the classic book that Field & Stream called “the Hiker’s Bible.” For this version, the celebrated writer and hiker Colin Fletcher has taken on a coauthor, Chip Rawlins, himself an avid outdoorsman and a poet from Wyoming. Together, they have made this fourth edition of The Complete Walker the most informative, entertaining, and thorough version yet.
The eighteen years since the publication of The Complete Walker III have seen revolutionary changes in hiking and camping equipment: developments in waterproofing technology, smaller and more durable stoves, lighter boots, more manageable tents, and a wider array of food options. The equipment recommendations are therefore not merely revised and tweaked, but completely revamped. During these two decades we have also seen a deepening of environmental consciousness. Not only has backpacking become more popular, but a whole ethic of responsible outdoorsmanship has emerged. In this book the authors confidently lead us through these technological, ethical, and spiritual changes.
Fletcher and Rawlins’s thorough appraisal and recommendation of equipment begins with a “Ground Plan,” a discussion of general hiking preparedness. How much to bring? What are the ideal clothes, food, boots, and tents for your trip? They evaluate each of these variables in detail—including open, honest critiques and endorsements of brand-name equipment. Their equipment searches are exhaustive; they talk in detail about everything from socks to freeze-dried trail curries.
They end as they began, with a philosophical and literary disquisition on the reasons to walk, capped off with a delightful collection of quotes about walking and the outdoor life. After a thoughtful and painstaking analysis of hiking gear from hats to boots, from longjohns to tent flaps, they remind us that ultimately hiking is about the experience of being outdoors and seeing the green world anew.
Like its predecessors, The Complete Walker IV is an essential purchase for anyone captivated by the outdoor life.
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