I’ve read Odyssa’s first book several times and loved it. I also got to see her speak twice at Trail Days this year, once about her first book, and once about this new one which details her record-setting 2011 AT hike. She is a very inspiring hiker. That said, I had been hesitant to read this book since I had seen in others’ reviews, and heard from Davis herself, that she spends a lot of the book complaining about the people helping her. I wasn’t interested in reading about diva behavior so I chose to pass. Then one day the ebook showed up on sale for only 99¢ on amazon and I figured I might as well give it a shot.
Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph is the retelling of Odyssa’s supported Appalachian Trail thru hike record of 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes. That’s a 46.93 mile/day average; her shortest day was 27.8 miles and her longest was 60.2. As a supported hike, her husband led a crew of various friends and family who met her at roads, prepared all her food and drinks, hiked with her, carried her supplies, and set up her camp at night. Although I still wasn’t that happy to read about her ungrateful (at times, she always apologized) behavior, I can’t imagine that I’d be in a better mood while hiking that much. In fact, this isn’t a record that I would ever personally want to attempt, but I do understand how she made the decision to go for it, and it was interesting to see the logistics behind an endurance record attempt.
Davis is a good writer and this book is her love letter to the trail. You can also check out her husband’s perspective of the journey in his book, 46 Days.
Leave a Reply