I completely agree with Kaila’s comment about Bryson’s experience upon the trail allowing him to better enjoy the little things. Until he has to do without, Bryson does not fully appreciate such things as being clean, or eating what and where he likes. Though he has been hiking before in Europe, as Bryson points out himself at the end of chapter sixteen, Europe’s plentiful small towns and villages allowed the author to experience all the comforts of home. It is only now, upon the Appalachian Trail where everything natural is so carefully separated from the urban that Bryson truly learns to do without.
I agree with Janine’s statement that Bryson has learned a lot about companionship while hiking with Katz, possibly even more then when the two hiked together previously in England, but I disagree with her assumption that, without Katz, Bryson is unable to appreciate natural beauty. Throughout chapter sixteen and seventeen, in which Bryson is hiking alone there are several instances of him still commenting on the beautiful scenes and views available to him upon the trail. However, it is true that Bryson does mention these views less, and in fewer details. But, instead of Katz being impetus, which allowed Bryson to appreciate these views, I think it was because of Katz that Bryson was forced to appreciate the views earlier in the trail for longer period of times. While waiting for his generally slower companion, Bryson often had nothing to comment upon but the landscape, and so that is much of what he commented on.
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