Northbounders: 2,186 Miles of Friendship
By: Karen Lord Rutter / Narrated By: Charles Winfield
Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
Sweet, yes, but PLENty of Boooooo tooooo!!!
Here I go again with sooo TOTally going against rave reviews—Looked on Amazon and all it has is five-star reviews, mostly from people who own Golden Retrievers or who have hiked the Appalachian Trail. Apparently this book is true to the breed and is an accurate reflection on what it’s like to hike the Trail.
Which leads me to the most reSOUNding Booooo I can possibly give: Dude, if it’s so inCREDibly known about what the Trail is like, the terrain, the weather… why on EARTH did our “hero” David take his precious dog Copper, an over 10-year old Golden, along with him?!?
But I’m off and running without giving ya the story, I see…
Okay, so Copper’s history is one of being traumatized by a horrific rainstorm to the point where he busts outta his home and gets lost in the woods, far from his loving family. Things get worse when a deer hunter blasts him with a gun, and gravely wounds the dog. Skinny and wobbly, he’s found by a new family who look for his owners, can’t find them, fall in love with him, and name him Copper. He grows up with the kids and is a favorite of David who likes to go off hiking and exploring with him.
Yeeeeeears later, David gets it in his brain that he wants to hike the Appalachian Trail, all gazillion and six miles, and he wants to take Copper… who’s 70+ in dog years. David is all smug that he’s researched it all, and all should be okay. He gets the vet’s go-ahead, gets a backpack for Copper—who’ll have to pull his own weight—and even gets some hiking booties for the sweet dog.
And then he becomes the MOST oblivious git imaginable. Copper loses a bootie whilst David is off in LaLa Land listening to an audiobook (… okay… so I know about THOSE and how engaging they can be, but DUDE!). Copper, now in pain, tries nudging him, whines, and then since David isn’t noticing, it’s up to another hiker to pick up the bootie and find the duo. Also, David ignores what the weather will be like, and when there’s a horror show of a thunderstorm, Copper is terrified and runs away. It’s up to another pair of hikers to find him and try to get him back to David, who freaking CHASTISES the dog and is upset that he hasn’t gotten over his terror of storms.
Loads the dog’s backpack up with apples so that the poor dog is burdened by what is NOT for him, makes the dog walk with a sodden and comPLETEly HEAVY pack so that it cuts into his skin. Copper again tries to get him to notice by crying, nudging, but when he’s ignored, he chafes the pack off by rubbing at rocks. Does David notice? Nooooo. It’s up to another hiker to bring the backpack to David, who’s freaking MAD at Copper for doing that to his pack.
Uphill scaling that exhausts the dog? Copper’s fault that he’s not keeping up and is a “burden” to David. Making the dog go on when he flops down in exhaustion? It’s getting colder out, much colder (And shouldn’t David know that with a bit of research?!), so David yells at the poor dog to get up and get moving, but Copper is again a “burden” and David is all put out that he has to go find help. Taking the dog through tick-infested wilderness? Copper is, yup! A BURDEN for getting freaking Lyme disease, vomiting, weak, frail, needs rest.
And does David scale back his plans, love his dog enough to alter his schedule? Nope, it’s up to other people to take care of Copper as David goes on and hikes the Trail (And poor Copper is pawned off on others SEVeral times through this “Adventure”).
Add to all this is the “helpful information” on hiking, from what Resupplying is, to what Zero Days are, and that all slows the momentum of the story. Chuck in narrator Charles Winfield’s Papa Bear voice for David (He who knows all and is the voice of God as he reprimands Copper), and the sometimes goofy (Dorky dog), sometimes oh so tragic (I’m such a burden to David/I do hope he’ll give me another chance!) voices for Copper, and truly, I was ready to throttle our hero.
Yeh yeh yeh, lots of helpful advice on how to hike the trail here (Like: NOTICE when your faithful companion’s crying and nudging you), and a grand view of life on the Trail (Hikers eat a LOT, and p’raps one should pay attention to weather when one’s dog keeps dropping from exhaustion so that one does NOT have to yell at said dog to MOVE), and a sweet look at the temperament of Goldens in particular (Precious dogs eager to please, even when being dragged up sheer cliffs—s’pose you looked at a map and checked out the terrain?—or made to plod through swift waters).
But all in all, when this family effort of a book came to its conclusion (Copper lived a bit longer, was loving to the end, and oSTENsibly did NOT haaaaate David afterward), and I was feeling mightily disappointed with it all, and with the way we treat our canine companions as tho’ they’re just there to please us, no thought to what might be best for them in any given situation.
Two weeks in a row of Animal Picks Booooooos, here at Audiobook Accomplice.
Oh good grief, dear Accomplice. I SWEAR the next one will be better… (fingers oh soooo crossed)!
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