Comments on: Colin Fletcher, RIP

Colin Fletcher, RIP

mosk — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 09:34:07 -0800

Colin Fletcher, hiker and author of The Thousand Mile Summer, The Man Who Walked Through Time, and The Complete Walker series, has died at age 85. LA Times obit.

By: mosk

mosk — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 09:37:26 -0800

Caddis did mention this within in the Obit Magazine thread a few days ago, but reading the obit for the first time in this morning's paper I felt this deserved its own FPP. He was a personal hero and inspiration to me. RIP, Colin.

By: A189Nut

A189Nut — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 09:58:04 -0800

I just discovered him two weeks ago. RIP

By: gazole

gazole — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:03:25 -0800

By: spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:28:28 -0800

Oh man. This is sad. I've read The Complete Walker, I don't know, maybe forty times. His wit and advice stick with me every time I lift my pack to my back. He really changed the way I think about camping (tents: mostly unnecessary). From the third edition: I'm told you can break eggs into squeeze tubes, or even doubled Ziploc bags, and halfway trust the yolks to be intact for morning fried eggs. Alternatively, buy yourself a hard plastic egg box, biovular through duodecimovular (1/2 ounce, $1.30, through 4 1/2 ounces, $2). Duodecimovular :) That's what his books are like. Even if you hate camping you'll find value in his approach to finding the most practical application of your resources in your environment. On the last page there's even a note on the type: The text of this book was set in a digitized version of Garamond No. 3, a modern rendering of the type first cut in the sixteenth century by Claude Garamond (1510-1561). He was a pupil of Geoffroy Troy and is believed to have based his letters on...

By: Inkslinger

Inkslinger — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:57:14 -0800

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:04:00 -0800

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:10:59 -0800

The Complete Walker is the best bang for the buck when it comes to hiking education, and inspirational to boot (yuk yuk.) He will be missed. *Pours out a 40 of Nikwax*

By: mosk

mosk — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:11:40 -0800

I completely agree, spikelee et. al. I discovered The Thousand Mile Summer when I was 17, and I've read it every couple of years since (I'm now 44). It holds up very well, and the writing is just as evocative today as it was in 1959. He wrote with an intelligence and passion that was witty and forceful, and yet never descended into pedagoguery. And he was honest - he admitted his mistakes, and despite writing extensively about hiking and backpacking, he never claimed superhuman strength or endurance. I am saddened by his passing, and by learning that his health had been in decline since a being the victim of a traffic accident in 2001. I hope he is at peace. I will brew a cup of tea in his honor. .

By: caddis

caddis — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:19:09 -0800

I was hoping somebody would post a tribute to this fine fellow. He definitely motivated an awful lot of people, including me, to hit the trail with a pack on their back. Also, his book about walking through the Grand Canyon is not to be missed.

By: sebastienbailard

sebastienbailard — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:12:25 -0800

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 14:47:18 -0800

Great writer. Damn shame.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:40:09 -0800

> (tents: mostly unnecessary) for those who don't do their hiking/camping in bug (specifically mosquito) country. But I did enjoy his advice that cutting down your toothbrush handle to save weight is taking things to a ridiculous extreme.

By: faineant

faineant — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:53:55 -0800

By: gum

gum — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:30:13 -0800

I just read the fourth edition of The Complete Walker, this time coauthored with Chip Rawlins. Apart from being the best book there is about walking and backpacking, it's also an extremely interesting approach to literary collaboration, with each author retaining his voice in alternating passages and coauthorial responses in sequence and in footnotes. Also read River recently, an account of his walking and rafting trip down the Colorado River at the age of 69 -- and an essay about becoming an old man. I hope I remember to look up this book when I reach that age, and I hope both the world and I are still within striking distance of the vitality he describes there. RIP.

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:31:10 -0800

Remembrance from this morning's Weekend Edition Saturday, with Linda Wertheimer interviewing Chip Rawlins, who worked with Fletcher.

By: theora55

theora55 — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 20:12:07 -0800

By: LarryC

LarryC — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 20:16:20 -0800

What a neat guy he was. The Man Who Walked through Time got me interested in backpacking, and the Complete Walker taught me how. So many good things in my life (including a through hike of the Appalachian Trail) came to me via those books. God bless and good night.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:11:46 -0800

"The best dress for walking is nakedness." -- Colin Fletcher, "The Complete Walker III" *sniff* .

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:35:06 -0800

Oh yes, he was the naked backpacker. When he walked through the Grand Canyon, he might as well have been the only person in it. The AT has become like a superhighway at times, but his trek through the GC was all alone. On a related note, there was some kid named Eric who wrote about walking the Pacific Crest trail alone, running into almost no one along major portions, and in fact having no real trail along major portions. These and other stories of lone adventurers, like the kid who at 18 sailed around the world alone, were so inspiring to my young teenage mind. Of course, there was also "My Side of the Mountain." One person facing nature and surviving, not conquering which is so wrong, just surviving and pushing themselves to succeed. I love that. When I feel weak and in personal crisis these stories often inspire me.