Black and White

and soon to be read all over!

Yesterday marked a miner triumph for me. With the success of my hike into Olympic National Park's Flapjack Lakes and Black and White Lakes, I finally completed research for my upcoming Backpacking Washington Book. The research included 70 hikes that I chose to represent some of the best backpacking/multi-day destinations within the state. Yep-the state-as in the entire state. From the Olympic coast to NE Washington's Salmo-Priest Wilderness and Southeast Washington's Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness-that's a lot of ground to cover. And the hikes ranging from 17 to 50 miles with most in the 20-30 mile range was a lot of ground to cover too. I haven't yet tallied how many miles I have hiked total researching the book-nor the total miles I have hiked this year researching three books-I'll have those numbers soon. But all I can say is the the Backpacking Book is definitely the most challenging project and most demanding project that I have ever worked on. It is also one of the most satisfying, bringing me to amazing places and keeping me in shape. I am now finishing up the manuscript- 67,000 words currently penned, about 13,000 more to go. I look forward to this book's release and I look forward to sharing it with you. In the meantime-I welcome the autumn rains and a needed refrain from long distance hiking!