When Niki Rellon fell 45 feet from the side of a Utah mountain in 2013, she thought she was going to die. She didn't, but the devastating injuries she suffered may well have put an end to her thrill-seeking outdoor lifestyle.
A modern, feminist take on the classic choose-your-own-journey book, inspiring readers to embrace the fact that there is no singular right path—just your own! So many women enter their adult lives believing that they should know where they are going and how to get there. This can make life decisions feel intimidating and overwhelming. While some choices that lie ahead are fairly predictable, such as those surrounding career, partnership, and motherhood, the effects of these choices can lead to more complicated and unexpected turns that are seldom discussed. Rather than suggesting a rule book, Rebekah Bastian, vice president at Zillow and recognized thought leader, inspires you to Blaze Your Own Trail. “I have the benefit of being a living example of crooked paths, magnificent screw-ups, and shocking successes,” she writes. Through storylines and supportive data that explore workplace sexism, career changes, marriage, child-rearing, existential crises, and everything in between, you will learn to embrace and feel less alone in your own nonlinear journey. Even better, you can turn back decisions and make different ones. Blaze Your Own Trail includes nineteen possible outcomes and many routes to get there. You will find that you have the strength to make it through any of them.
Hiking 2,159 miles from Georgia to Maine was not my idea...I was not a lost youth searching for an identity. I was not retired and looking for a new way to spend my time. I was not sorting through death or divorce. I was not recently fired from a job. The truth is, my boyfriend asked me on a date. So begins the story of one young woman's journey along the legendary Appalachian Trail. What starts as a date turns into the experience of a lifetime as Adrienne Hall faces blinding snowstorms, flooded rivers, and seemingly endless mountaintops. Yet despite the physical and mental hardships, she finds her commitment to her hiking companion and the AT experience growing with every mile. When she emerges from her trip - a million footsteps, countless candy bars, and one engagement proposal later - Adrienne has lived an adventure that few will ever know. Written with warmth, insight, and a keen sense of observation, A Journey North is a personal story about discovering what it means to hike the amazing corridor of wilderness that is the Appalachian Trail. (6 x 9 1/4, 224 pages, case bound)
Boots McFarland is an adventurous outdoor-loving cartoon character who has been hiking the trails for over 15 years. On the Trail with Boots McFarland-Volume 1 is a collection of humorous comics capturing the highs and lows of backpacking life, interspersed with entries from the author's Pacific Crest Trail hiking journal. The ideas for most of these cartoons come directly from personal trail experiences... real or imagined. Over the years, Boots cartoons have become popular in the worldwide hiking community and now for the first time, the artist Geolyn J. Carvin is offering these images in book form. You'll be ready to hit the trail after reading these pages!
Following her bestselling memoir, Thirst, here is the next step in Heather "Anish" Anderson's adventurous life journey--one of deep emotion and self-discovery
'One of the best books I've read in the last five or ten years... Wild is angry, brave, sad, self-knowing, redemptive, raw, compelling, and brilliantly written, and I think it's destined to be loved by a lot of people, men and women, for a very long time.' Nick Hornby
After moving into a dank and drafty basement suite in West Edmonton with her truck-driving father, nasty stepmother, and Ash, her taciturn twin brother, seventeen-year-old Greta doesn't have high expectations for her last year of high school. When she blacks out at a party and is told the next day that she's had sex, she thinks things can't get any worse. She's wrong. While Greta deals with the confusion and shame of that night, her stepmother and father choose that moment to disappear, abandoning Ash and Greta to the mercy of their peculiar landlord, Elgin, who lives upstairs. Even as Greta struggles to make sense of what happened to her, she finds herself enjoying her new and very eccentric family, who provide the shelter and support that has long been absent from her life. Much to Greta's surprise, she realizes there is still kindness in the world—and hope.
When Geraldine “Gerry” Largay (AT trail name, Inchworm) first went missing on the Appalachian Trail in remote western Maine in 2013, the people of Maine were wrought with concern. When she was not found, the family, the wardens, and the Navy personnel who searched for her were devastated. The Maine Warden Service continued to follow leads for more than a year. They never completely gave up the search. Two years after her disappearance, her bones and scattered possessions were found by chance by two surveyors. She was on the U.S. Navy’s SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) School land, about 2,100 feet from the Appalachian Trail. This book tells the story of events preceding Geraldine Largay’s vanishing in July 2013, while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine, what caused her to go astray, and the massive search and rescue operation that followed. Her disappearance sparked the largest lost-person search in Maine history, which culminated in her being presumed dead. She was never again seen alive. The author was one of the hundreds of volunteers who searched for her. Gerry’s story is one of heartbreak, most assuredly, but is also one of perseverance, determination, and faith. For her family and the searchers, especially the Maine Warden Service, it is also a story of grave sorrow. Marrying the joys and hardship of life in the outdoors, as well as exploring the search & rescue community, When You Find My Body examines dying with grace and dignity. There are lessons in the story, both large and small. Lessons that may well save lives in the future.
DECIDING ON TRAILS is for every local champion, thought leader, and dreamer who knows that trails can make a difference in their community if only their town would recognize the value of trails. Written by one of the first Trail Town practitioners, it covers the history of Trail Towns, recommended best practices, and how the concept has been adapted in dozens of places around the U.S. and Canada. This book is not a "how to" for structuring a Trail Town program. Rather, it is a call to action for trail communities and those dedicated individuals who want to cultivate a trail culture, embrace Trail Town best practices, and to once and for all "decide on trails." If you want more for your community and know that trails are part of the solution, this is the book for you. WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT DECIDING ON TRAILS "Deciding on Trails is a 'must read' for communities that hope to integrate trails into their placemaking efforts. Amy's passion, knowledge, and empathy are evident in her work and make her the perfect person to tell this Trail Towns story." --Laura Torchio, Director of Education, Project for Public Spaces "This ground-breaking book addresses head on something that has long been missing from conversations about trails: that they are more than the sum of their economic impact. Amy perfectly captures the many reasons communities ought to connect to their trails. Easy to digest, fun to read, and full of inspiration, this book is destined to become a staple in my trail reference library. " --Mike Passo, Executive Director of American Trails "Deciding on Trails is a book for people who want more for their places. This carefully researched, heartfelt book will easily convince community champions to embrace their trails. And these pages are not only full on inspiration, but this book provides these champions with the tools they need to make the most of their community's trails." --Kent Spellman, Consultant at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy