Then the Hail Came

A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike

By: George Steffanos

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

“Then the Hail Came” is the true story of George Steffanos on his quest to become more than just a two pack a day looser by finally completing something significant in his life - The Appalachian Trail. It is true that everyone who hikes the A.T. has their share of misfortune, but for George, it seems like a daily occurrence, yet he continues to put his best foot forward. All the ups and downs are described poignantly with humor as he manages to provide wonderful descriptions of the characters he meets, and the surrounding landscape encountered through all 2138 miles from Georgia to Maine. Inspired by the events of his journey, he weaves fanciful dream interludes throughout, while beginning to change and grow as a person while hiking "The Trail." Along the way he realizes the people he encounters on the Appalachian Trail are as crazy as the ones he hung around with at home - He just wishes that he had “come prepared for that with more food.”

at

It’s hard listening to this virtual voice refer to the AT as “at”. The story is good. I wish he would have told it himself.

If not for the AI narrator…

…this would have been five stars. The mispronunciations were very distracting. Otherwise it was a great story!!

Fantastic Book!

I like how well the author documented his entire thru hike. Some very funny things in there as well.

Amazing

Great book, loved it! What a wonderful story, glad I came across this book. Makes me want to get outside and home.

Virtual voice is awful

The story is interesting but I hate the virtual voice. As others have mentioned, this AI voice mispronounces words. It calls the AT the "at." It pronounces "minute" in Minute Rice as "minute," with the accent on the second syllable and a long u. I could go on. We need a human reader who can understand the word being used, look it up if they don't, and pronounce it correctly. If this is the future for Audible books, I'll probably have to quit listening to them. In addition, it takes employment from voice actors.