Let me give you a Book

to take away

the

November

Blues!

This month I am giving away two of my books! And perhaps you'll be one of the recipients. Choose from Day Hiking North Cascades, Day Hiking Central Cascades, Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula, Best Hikes with Dogs Inland Northwest or Winter Hikes of Western Washington Card Deck.

Are you interested? Here's how to win one:

• Suggest to your friends "liking" me on Facebook!

• When I hit 500 Likes I will give away a book by random drawing to one of the new recruits (as of November 11).


• The person responsible for suggesting that person (the recruit) will also receive a free book.


• And the more people you recruit increases your odds of winning a book!

Are you interested? Send your recruit here. And the sooner I hit 500 Likes, the sooner I can get those guidebooks into your and your recruit's hands! Use your book to plan future trips, venture out now, or give away as a gift. Good Luck!

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!

Mapping a new future (map!)

Green Trails Maps recently released a brand new Mount Rainier National Park Map which includes:

Trails within the entire park

Trails along the park's periphery including the Cougar Lakes Area

A close up climber's map of Paradise and Muir Snowfields

A profile of the entire Wonderland Trail

And all of it is water proof and tear resistant. How cool is that? I was part of the mapping team last year that put it together. We tracked every trail in the park to make sure they were accurately measured and accurately portrayed. This map is a must have in you hiking resource library.

And heads up-I am currently busy working with cartographer Marc Rothmeyer to produce two new Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area Maps. These maps too will include some great features including the entire Deschutes River Trail and new trails on the Washington side of the gorge as well as indicating the newly expanded Hatfield Wilderness. The first map for the western half of the Gorge will be out next spring-just in time for the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area's 25th Anniversary celebrations and the release of my Day Hiking Columbia Gorge Book. Of course, my book will have all its hikes referenced to the new maps. The book and the maps will be worth waiting for. Meanwhile don't wait any linger to do some good hiking-get out there and enjoy the spring weather!

Of Lady Birds and Wildflowers

This issue of Wildflower Magazine has a feature written by Melissa Gaskill called Trail Blazers- our picks for trails that put wildflowers in focus. Melissa interviewed me to pick a favorite wildflower hike in the Northwest-I chose Cady and West Cady Ridge in the Henry M Jackson Wilderness (and featured in my Day Hiking Central Cascades Book). Wildflower is the magazine of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the organization that first lady Lady Bird Johnson started back in 1982. LBJ wasn't my favorite president, but he did some good things in the conservation arena. Lady Bird was instrumental too in beautification projects, the establishment of Redwood National Park and a host of other important environmental campaigns.

Back in 2004 I had the opportunity to spend a week with Lady Bird's daughter, Linda Johnson (and her husband Chuck Robb, former senator and governor of Virginia) in the French Pyrenees. I was leading a hiking group with my wife-and Chuck, Linda and their entourage of friends from Texas and Georgia were our clients. We had a lot of fun and it was especially interesting for me to talk politics and history with this group. I'll never forget riding a chairlift with the former president's daughter and we talked about everyday American things-life in the suburbs. Only in America (I know we were in France-but you get my meaning) would this ever happen- a president's daughter and a lowly hiking guide chatting and sharing dinners and spending time on the trail. In fact, we had Linda in our hotel room talking to Lady Bird because she couldn't figure out how to use the phone-we had to make the call for her!

But one of the things that I'll always remember and cherish, is when I told friends of the First Lady that I had looked up Chuck Robbs' environmental record while he served in the senate and I told them that I was pleased with it. One of the friends, a refined southern woman-looked at me and softly but emphatically said- "of course it is-do you think that having Lady Bird as a mother-in-law-that she'd let him get away with not having a good environmental record!?" It was a warm moment and a nice view into the power brokers and politicians that we all too often demonize and denigrate. It was a great little anecdote-and I will always cherish it. When Lady Bird passed away a few years later-I felt as if I had known her. And now being in the magazine of the foundation that she started-I feel a stronger bond than if I was just interviewed for any old magazine. Thanks for all you have done Lady Bird--may those that follow shine in your example.