Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail - Softcover

Aksamit, Inga

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0997061804 ISBN 13: 9780997061802

Publisher: Pacific Adventures Press, 2015

Synopsis

This lively account of a woman’s trek on the John Muir Trail, which won the Best Outdoor Book award from the Outdoor Writers Association of California in 2015, is a must-read for those who plan to hike the trail. Armchair adventurers will enjoy the tale as well. Written in journal style, the author’s description of the majestic scenery, comradery of trail friends and challenges of the terrain are engaging and informative. Along the way, trekkers will see how she and her husband met obstacles head-on, lightened their load, planned meals and managed daily logistics for more than three weeks on the trail. The John Muir Trail traces an undulating path along the crest of the High Sierra with legendary elevation gains and losses of more 84,000 feet, topping out at 14,505 feet on the summit of Mt. Whitney. Updated to include a northbound section from Horseshoe Meadows to Onion Valley.

About this title

About the Author

Inga Aksamit is an award-winning author based in Northern California whose passion is adventure and exploration. She loves nature so she gets out whenever she can to hike, backpack, ski, mountain bike and paddle. The west coast of the Americas, the far north and all around the Pacific Rim are her favorite destinations. She's been backpacking for about 15 years and volunteers at local state parks, teaches backpacking classes and leads trips for the Sierra Club. She and her husband split their time between their home base in Sonoma County and Lake Tahoe. Publications include "Bear Encounters on the Chilkoot Trail" in Travel Stories from Around the Globe, "Rolling Down the River" in Coast and Kayak Magazine, "Upside Down in Western Australia" in Journeys: On the Road & Off the Map. Her blog, Inga's Adventures (Inga's Adventures.com), is loaded with backpacking tips, trip reports and other resources. Her book, "Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail," won the Best Outdoor Book award from the Outdoor Writers Association of California in 2016.

Review

"The current popularity of long-distance walking means that many new personal narratives have appeared in the past years. Inga Aksamit's book is a wonderful addition to these "trail tales," as she describes the 23-day trip she and her husband took along the John Muir Trail.
Readers will especially be drawn to this narrative both because it is very well written and accurate and because it represents the experience of an "everyday" person. She and her husband set out on the JMT to challenge themselves with a much longer backcountry adventure than they'd previously completed ... but not to launch into a completely unknown activity. Aksamit had backpacked frequently before her trip, had trained for her trip, and meticulously planned her itinerary, food, and gear.
Her extensive planning made her aware of all the problems that might arise - she does a superb job of weaving these into her story, one-by-one as many of the anticipated problems do materialize - medical problems, rare weather events, gear problems, and lack of motivation. I was especially drawn to her descriptions of how her mood, physical strength, and motivation shifted from day-to-day - as she sometimes found "difficult" sections to be straightforward and dragged where the going should have been "easy". As a guidebook author, I have to force myself to detach how I feel at a given moment from my "unbiased" perception of the terrain; it was wonderful to read an account that emphasized how difficult it is to predict how you'll feel on a given stretch of trail and what progress you'll make." -Elizabeth Wenk, author of "John Muir Trail: The Essential Guide to America's Most Famous Hiking Trail"

About this edition

• Publisher: Pacific Adventures Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0997061804
• ISBN 13: 9780997061802
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 259