Reginald Spittle's Blog: See my book blog, page 21

RVing, Hiking and Biking Across America

When I am not wearing a backpack, I am often behind the wheel of a Ford F-150, towing our Winnebago Micro Minnie (my Mom’s name was Minnie).

Click on the photo to see Sue’s short YouTube video from our adventure across America earlier in 2021. We took our hiking boots and hybrid bikes along, discovering great trails in many of the 19 states we visited. Several of the best trails are pictured, with locations. Each campground is also shown, with locations. Just in case you are in the area.

While you are on Sue’s YouTube site, you can check out her shows from our treks, including our recent John Muir Trail adventure.

Pacific Crest Trail: What Is Your Plan?

Whether you are thinking of tackling a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, walking the entire 2,653 miles, or want to glimpse the trail from your armchair, these guidebooks are for you.

In the Pacific Coast Trail: Oregon and Washington, Jordan Summers presents a user-friendly guide that addresses my questions: Could I walk the two states’ sections? Or just one state? Or should I try a short section first?

Summers’ book, updated in 2020, includes PCT history, mile-by-mile points of interest, permitting, and equipment. Topographic maps and elevation charts accompany blue text boxes highlighting all-important water sources. Looking for campsites or resupply information? Summers has you covered.

In Hiking the Pacific Coast Trail: Oregon, Eli Boschetto covers similar basics for the middle state of the PCT.

After walking five famed distance trails in Europe, I wondered if I could enjoy a backpacking trip in the USA, without the perks of hostels, hotels, and places to eat at the end of each day. I read both guidebooks as I prepared to walk California’s John Muir Trail in August 2021. For a month, I filtered water, bathed in streams and lakes, and lived in a tent. I was part of a group of 11 backpackers who were mule-supported, relieving us of the need to carry a heavy pack for 243 miles on the northbound walk through the Sierra Nevada.

The high-elevation trek included summitting Mt. Whitney and conquering 12 passes as high as 13,150 feet. It was the greatest physical challenge of my life, but, as tough as it was, I long for more.

The next logical step would be to tackle another section of the PCT, but without mule support. No doubt, I hear the PCT calling, but I have yet to answer.

At the very least, these books allowed me to appreciate and understand the challenges of one of the world’s great trails. If I decide to answer the call, even if just for a weeklong section, I will return to their pages.

Check out my new book about my adventures on four iconic trails in Europe: Trippin’ Through My Sixties.

My first book is Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows.

Baltimore Jack: Who Was He?

If you don’t know the story of Baltimore Jack of Appalachian Trail fame, this Outside Magazine piece tells it well. His passionate path through life attracted love, laughter, curiosity, and frustration, as well as a plethora of other reactions.

Are Backpackers Introverts?

Sue and I as we finished our northbound John Muir Trail in August 2021.

Are certain kinds of people drawn to challenging travel situations, like backpacking in the wilderness? Does it change you? Check out this engaging story:

Are backpackers introverts?

In Case You Missed It!

Your copy is waiting here.

For This Kid, the Worst Bullies Are at Home

I loved this book so much that I sent a copy to each of my three adult sons. To be honest, I wished they were kids again and I could read it aloud with them, like I did with countless stories when they were growing up with me.

Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay for Now tells the story of Doug Swieteck, 14, who has just moved to Marysville, New York.

“I hate this town,” he says. But maybe he actually detests a father whose abuse made me want to scream, an older brother who stole Doug’s most treasured possession, and an oldest brother who used to beat him up before being sent to war in Vietnam.

Doug Swieteck’s voice is a masterful creation that will tickle your funny bone and touch your heart. This book is funny, very funny, but life for this boy is hardly fun. He finds refuge and the artist inside him at the town library, where a rare book of Audubon bird plates speaks to him like nothing else in his life does.

Except for Lil Spicer, a girl whose words would repel most everyone. Except Doug Swieteck. Doug gets a delivery job at Lil’s dad’s store, leading the boy to more tests and quirky discoveries. His oldest brother returns from Vietnam a changed man in ways that made me wish I had not judged him so harshly. His story enriches a book already full of engrossing characters and experiences in Doug’s life.

Doug Swieteck sees so much more than anyone around him, other than Lil, a librarian, and his dad’s boss. I wanted him to yell out, speak his mind, let it be known he would not stand for how others treated him. But he shows remarkable restraint, making me think he knew it was best. But, in the end, Doug Swieteck is blindsided in a way that I did not see coming.

Newberry Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt writes on a 1953 Royal typewriter and his works are timeless masterpieces, written for kids, young adults, and big kids like me.

Okay for Now is even better than the earlier accompanying book, The Wednesday Wars, which is no small achievement. I read several other Schmidt books and was especially drawn to Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. His stories grab me like no other author has done for years.

John Muir Trail: Never Say Never

Sue and I visit the Muir Hut atop the mountain pass named after John Muir.

It was the toughest physical challenge of our lives. You just gotta see how it came to be. Click on the YouTube links below to watch Sue’s pair of brief (I promise) shows. Look carefully and you’ll see a mule train snake up Forester Pass at more than 13,000 feet.

It began with one word: “Never!”

Sue and I had just returned after our fifth European long-distance trek. Our youngest son Chris, an avid outdoorsman, had a suggestion that came from his heart: “You should do the John Muir Trail.”

“We can’t do that. Live in a tent? Carry all our stuff?”

I paused as the reasons for my absolute answer piled up. “The elevation would kill us. No toilets? No showers? Weeks in the wilderness?”

“It’s the most beautiful trail in the world, Dad.”

In August 2021, we began our JMT south of Mt. Whitney with a plan to walk 240-plus miles northbound to Happy Isles in Yosemite National Park. We sometimes gasped for oxygen, but we coped with living at mostly 10,000 feet-plus elevation. We bathed in creeks and lakes, filtered our own water. Set up and took down our tent every day for a month.

What made us say “Yes?” Mules and packers. Mules carried the bulk of our stuff, allowing us to get by with 20-pound daypacks, which held water, rain gear, lunch, snacks and a few other essentials. Packers loaded and unloaded the mules, cooked our food, and set up a rustic privy. And much more.

Here’s your ticket to the most beautiful trail in the world.

John Muir Trail Part I

John Muir Trail Part II

Lace Up Your Boots, Come With Me

 

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

                                                                                   ~Lao Tzu

It’s time to lace up your boots once again and come along with me on four more European trekking adventures.

Three years ago, I stepped into my office and typed my first word.  Thus began the journey that would lead to my second book. 

I would be grateful if you share this announcement; indie authors like me don’t have the advertising support from publishing companies. 

I appreciate your interest in my work. I hope you enjoy Trippin’ Through My 60s.

(If you search for the book, beware of autocorrect, as in Trippin’, or 60s.)

Check out this one-minute trailer that my wife (and book illustrator) Sue created.

Take your first step with a click on the cover. (This is a U.S. link.)

England Map

Here is a sneak peek at one of four maps by Susan Spittle that appear in my next book, Trippin’ Through My 60s, coming soon to Amazon. It follows our adventures on four famed European trails: England’s South West Coast Path, the Alps’ Tour du Mont Blanc, Scotland’s West Highland Way, and Italy’s Way of St. Francis.

South West Coast Path

Italy Map

Here is a sneak peek at one of four maps by Susan Spittle that will appear in my next book, Trippin’ Through My Sixties.

The Way of St. Francis