Appalachian trail book

No matter the paradoxes. When vou smell the wild forest and feel the wind against your face, the time has come to get out on the trail. The blazes point the way and the spirit god of hikers whispers, "Go, thou restless soul, into the woods of the mountains. Take with you
any problem, or trouble, or worry. Solvitur ambulando! It is solved
by walking!" P14


Scarcely fifty years ago their society still had the peculiar characteristics of isolation. J. Russell Smith, the geographer, quotes a folklorist friend as saying in indignation, "These missionaries with their schools! I'd like to build a wall about these mountains and let the mountain people alone. *The only distinctive culture in America is here.* The people live. They sustain themselves on the meanest food. They are not interested in eating but they have time to sing ballads. P29