Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books

Posted by: SwampDonkey

Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 02:45 PM

Hi all,

I am an avid reader on outdoor topics and I have heard author Colin Fletcher's name mentioned a few times here on the forum. I understand that he was the man credited with starting the backpacking movement in the 1960's.

I have located a source for some of his books, but now have to select which ones to order.

Some or the titles are:

- The Complete Walker: The Joys and Techniques of Hiking and Backpacking
- The NEW Complete Walker: The Joys and Techniques of Hiking and Backpacking
- Complete Walker III
- The Man Who Walked Through Time
- The 1000-mile Summer in the Desert and High Sierra

So to those who are familiar with Colin Fletchers books; are they any good and could you recommend one of them?

Addition: I just found a copy of The Complete Walker IV at Chapters, it seems to be an updated version (2002) of the previous 3 books, it is huge at 864 pages. Have any of you read it?

Thanks,

Mike


Posted by: Blast

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 03:26 PM

I liked "The Man Who Walked Through Time" though I found it a bit...crunchy...at times. I also have The Complete Walker III and it is filled with great info.

I reccommend buying the newest version of The Complete Walker and getting the Man Who Walked Through Time from a library or used book store.

-Blast
Posted by: Schwert

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 04:57 PM

Colin Fletcher has a number of great reads. The Complete Walker series is constantly outdated but still a fine read in all four editions. I would go for IV if you were interested in the most modern stuff.

I have an article reviewing all his works here:

http://www.outdoors-magazine.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=281

The Man Who Walked Though Time and 1000 Mile Summer are classics.

Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 05:35 PM

I believe I'm the one who keeps bringing up Colin Fletcher on this forum.

I have been reading and re-reading The Complete Walker III for about 20 years. I have hand-stitched the binding at least twice, so that tells you my esteem for this author and this book. These days, I mostly browse through the brilliant mini-essays he embeds in amongst the how-to sections. Highly readable and highly recommended.

I also found the first edition of The Complete Walker, complete with book jacket, at a second-hand store. Absolutely fascinating to go back in history regarding equipment, technique, first aid, etc. etc.

-----------
Another book you should really have, relating to survival in hard times (but not backpacking), is Barry Broadfoot's "Ten Lost Years 1929-1939, Memories of Canadians Who Survived the Depression". ISBN 0-7737-7094-1. I believe this was re-printed upon the author's death a couple of years ago. These are short excerpts of interviews with people who lived through those times, what they experienced and how they got by. I go through it again every year. Essential reading IMO.


Posted by: justmeagain

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 07:15 PM

Fletcher has a wonderful, dry British sense of humor and this is reflected in in the Complete Walker series. I have all four versions. I've read the first version cover to cover and have skimmed parts of the last three versions. For a how to backpack book the Complete Walker is as good as any and much more readable than most. Any time you write about gear the information is dated by the time the book hits the shelves, but that's not really the point of the books. Mainly the book's a great motivator to get out there.

This page from my mate Bruce on Fletcher.
http://www.oregonphotos.com/Colin-Fletcher1.html
Posted by: Schwert

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 08:06 PM

I have all four editions of "Complete Walker" and I think the definition of a real geek is laying out all 4 books and reading them all at the same time...page by page grin

The "stuff" is the glue that holds all of Colin's great writing together in these. His "Sample Day..." story which appears in all editions is a real classic of style.

I know Colin was my inspiration to walk, and still is. I wonder if Chip will do a CW V.
Posted by: Schwert

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 08:13 PM

Nice link to the history pages Justmeagain. Somewhere I have an old Frostline 60/40 I had my Mom sew. cool

Posted by: tomfaranda

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 10:13 PM

i read a long time ago - the Complete Walker - and then recently read the Complete Walker 4. in fact reviewed CW 4 on amazon.

It would be fascinating to compare the two, based on improvements in equipment -
Colin Fletcher was an excellent and breezy writer. I also read as a couple of other posters above did, "The man Who Walked Through Time."

The Complete Walker 4 was co -written with someone else whose name escapes me - not as stylish a writer as Fletcher.

Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 10:38 PM

Yes, AFAIK, Mr. Fletcher was clipped by a car while out for a stroll and minding his own business. Another writer helped out with the latest (IV) update.

I hope the idiot driver is rotting somewhere, paying a personal price for stupidity, negligence, and being a self-absorbed SOB. If a cell phone was involved, it should be strapped to a Taser and shoved in the appropriate place. But perhaps I am being too lenient.

Posted by: SwampDonkey

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 11:00 PM

Thank you for all the great recommendations folks.

I just finished "On Your Own in the Wilderness" by Townsend Whelen/Bradford Angler and really enjoyed this historical look at outdoor life.

So even though my Visa card has been smoking lately (a package arrived from Smokey Mountain Knife Works today), I am going to order The Complete Walker IV and just to make the free shipping level, I am going to add Cody Lundin's new book "When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need For Surviving Urban Catastrophes".

Would these two authors be considered "opposites" in writing style?

They should keep me entertained for quite a while.

Mike

Posted by: OldBaldGuy

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 11:32 PM

My favorite is The 1000-mile Summer, probably because I have been in a lot of the places he passed thru and wrote about...
Posted by: SwampDonkey

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 11:41 PM

Schwert,

Thank you for the link to your excellent review of Colin Fletcher's works.

I also found your review of Mors Kochanski's 16 Bushcraft Pamphlets very informative and when my credit card cools down a little, I will be purchasing those also.

I enjoy your articles and particularly the photography.

Mike
Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/08/08 11:43 PM


"On Your Own in the Wilderness" by Townsend Whelen/Bradford Angier"

Hey, that's a favourite in my library! Not a common item these days.

No matter how clever you are, how sweet the hardware you can buy and carry, there's no substitute for the experience of someone who's gone out there and done it.

Opposite styles? Whelen/Angier and Fletcher? I bet if you set these gents down, who have spend the prerequisite hundeds/thousands of solo hours in the bush, and are military men to boot, with a bottle of 12-year-old MacAllan, they would be on the same page, in every practical matter, from start to finish. And you'd be priviledged to be a witness.

Geez, where do I sign up for that? There are precious few heroes these days.

Betcha Cody L. would be proud to be bartender at such a meet.
Posted by: SwampDonkey

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/09/08 12:17 AM

Hey Doug,

I also like reading many of the older outdoor books, without the high-tech influence found in writing today. I heard about "On Your Own In THe Wilderness" from somewhere on the web (maybe from you) and ended up importing my used copy from California.

I think it was Bradford Angler's book, "The Art and Science of Taking To The Woods" that sparked my early interest in camping/hiking and my first survival kit was built around a copy of his "How to Stay Alive in the Woods".

After reading 98.6* and short passages of The Complete Walker (Thanks Schwert), I figured Cody Lundin and Colin Fletcher would have greatly different writing styles? But time will tell as both are on my reading list, with over a 1000 pages between them I should be done by next spring.

Addition: Yes Doug, I too would have enjoyed meeting/learning from, the great outdoor writers/adventurers of the past.

Mike
Posted by: BobS

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/09/08 01:13 AM

I found it amusing that Colin would tell you how using a catch to resupply was illegal and then go ahead and do it himself, and then admitting he would never go back to pickup the container he stored things in. I guess being an earth friendly person is fine if it doesn’t mean too much work.
Posted by: SwampDonkey

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/09/08 01:31 AM

The only caches I have done in the past were cans or barrels of vehicle fuel, lubricant or tree-marking paint, in remote locations. Bears were a problem, biting into the plastic chainsaw bar oil jugs. In my case everything was removed at the conclusion of the job.

Mike
Posted by: Schwert

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/11/08 04:56 PM

Thanks. Doing some of these reviews is pretty easy when you have good authors to quote.

Fletcher is definately a "must read" author. It is too bad he has passed, but fortunately for a couple of generations of walkers he provided not only a manual of equipment but even more importantly the inspiration to walk.
Posted by: haertig

Re: Colin Fletcher Hiking/Backpacking Books - 08/15/08 04:34 AM

I remember reading one of the Complete Walkers back in the 70's. I think it might have been the "New..." version, but I can't remember. It was a fun read. Not just for the hiking/backing info it contained, but because it was just plain 'ol entertaining. I still have my copy somewhere. I'll have to dig it out and give it another read.