Pack Light

A Journey to Find Myself

By: Shilletha Curtis

Narrated by: Shilletha Curtis

Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

After losing her job due to the coronavirus pandemic, a vet tech decides to confront the roots of her childhood traumas by hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Pack Light follows a woman's journey changing the narrative of hiking while Black—because the great outdoors belongs to everyone.

This memoir will trace Shilletha's thru-hike from Georgia to Maine as she decided to confront the roots of her trauma. Growing up, Curtis suffered from a fractured family life, bullying at school, indifferent teachers, and abuse from people she trusted. Then she discovered the Appalachian Trail, which she successfully hiked in 2021. It took her eight months and four seasons to hike through 14 states, even more impressive given her lifelong struggle with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and ADHD.

©2024 Shilletha Curtis (P)2024 Audible, Inc.

Simply could not relate to her

I must have read a good half dozen memoirs of hikers who have walked the Appalachian Trial. Since my own 2002 walk of 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago, I am amazed at everyone who must take lock, stock, tent, cookware, shoes, socks, phone, hat, sunscreen, etc., etc. and walk in all weathers up to Maine or down to Georgia.

At least walking in Spain, you get a bed to sleep in, a beverage of choice, usually a hot meal and no requirement for a trail name; everyone is simply on a first name basis and English by and large the lingo franca.

But Sky Dragon packed so much emotional baggage I am surprised she made it out the door. She is speaking so rapidly and with a pronounced accent that early on, I lost the plot. And what I could make of it, I further lost ... in interest.

At some point, there was some argy-bargy about a man with a "45" hat taking her to an overnight in which unpleasant words in volatile situations made her distinctly uncomfortable and then ... I feel asleep. I had 54 minutes left when I awoke at 4:28 AM and I never replayed what came before nor what came after.

Here's the thing. I have Audibled and Kindled my way through AT trail memoirs from PTSD vets, a disconcertingly whiny and frail Englishwoman, one divorcee who kept gnawing bits of the AT off over the years, a Scotsman who made long distance walking interesting and appealing, the inimitable Bill Bryson, even a "how to walk the AT", more out of curiosity than intent. And numerous accounts of the Camino de Santiago and the Pacific Crest Trail, rarely bested by Cheryl Strayed's "Wild". By and large, these were not professional writers; they had simply done something which powerfully changed their life, set it down on paper and handed it the reader. "Here! It was a big deal for me, hope you like it, I had a lot of folks who helped me get it to you along the way. Peace out!"

But this lass? Give it a pass!