RIP - Colin Fletcher
From the
NY Times:
Colin Fletcher, 85, a Trailblazer of Modern Backpacking, Dies
Colin Fletcher, whose ornate prose and prosaic tips on subjects like choosing the right hiking boots helped start the modern backpacking movement, died June 12 in Monterey, Calif. He was 85.
Mr. Fletcher died as a result of complications of head injuries he sustained in 2001 when he was struck by a car while walking near his home in Carmel Valley, Calif., said Chip Rawlins, who helped Mr. Fletcher write the fourth edition of “The Complete Walker” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2002). Many wilderness enthusiasts consider the work to be the hiker’s bible.
First published in 1968, the book has sold more than 500,000 copies and remains in print. So, too, have two of the seven other books that Mr. Fletcher offered as paeans to soul-restoring and solitary strolls through the hinterlands. Hiking, he wrote in “The Complete Walker III,” is a “simple, delightful, intended-to-be-liberating-from-the-straight-line-coordinates-of-civilization pastime.”
An American original -- he will be missed.
Posted by DaveH at June 19, 2007 3:26 PM