Warning: What follows is shameless self-promotion – a crass sales pitch intended to lure you to buy my new ebook “Measureless Mountain Days: A Father and Son on the John Muir Trail.” In exchange for your indulgence (and $3.99), I promise a lively read, and maybe the temptation to walk the John Muir Trail yourself.
In 2003, my son Drew and I walked the John Muir Trail together. The trail begins in Yosemite Valley, crosses eleven mountain passes – two over 13,000 feet – and ends 221 miles down the Sierra crest at the summit of 14,495-foot Mt. Whitney. We walked alone together all day every day in the Sierra high country for three weeks.
Drew and I had been on several backpack trips before – all three or four days long. While Drew enjoyed these trips, he did not want to tackle an epic walk like the John Muir Trail. But he was eighteen and had not been able to find a summer job. I had a commercial idea for video tape of the John Muir Trail and offered Drew payment for carrying a video camera and shooting our trip. Drew was certain he couldn’t do it, but felt he had no choice. Reluctantly, very reluctantly, he agreed to go.
Any 18-year-old young man feels the power of maturity growing inside him. He is testing and pushing the limits while his parents are intent on maintaining them. Under any circumstances, a father and his teenage son can be a volatile potion, but our relationship was complicated by a son with extraordinary gifts and equally extraordinary challenges. Drew and I had had some ugly moments. I did not know whether we would bond in our common challenge or clash under the weight of our oppressive togetherness.
Mother Nature and the fates would further complicate our task. Summer weather in the Sierra is typically ideal; long sunny days occasionally interrupted by the brief bluster of an afternoon thundershower. Extended stretches of stormy summer weather are unheard of. Thanks to this trip, I learned that every seven years or so, this may change. We spent many afternoons waiting out or walking through torrential hail and rain.
Would this trip be the best or the worst? Or a bit of both?
“Measureless Mountain Days” is our story. I have brightened the words only slightly from those I set down in my journal. The book is illustrated with some nice mountain photography. It is a Kindle eBook, but you can read it on any computer or tablet after downloading the Kindle app (the book itself cannot be downloaded through the Amazon app, but only through your browser). At $3.99, I promise at least $4.99 and as much as $5.99 worth of enjoyment (a 25%-50% return on your investment!). I think you will find it an engaging read.
Perhaps you are wondering; why walk that long arduous path? If only I could lift you up and drop you down virtually anywhere along its length. The complete silence and utter isolation is both magnificent and a bit unsettling. The magnitude of the effort and the immense beauty combine into an intoxicating potion. You will never feel more alive.
The best part is that if you are reasonably fit, you can do it. Part of the reason for writing this book is to give other “everyday adventurers” an idea of what it would feel like to walk the John Muir Trail. This is an adventure for people like you and me. We won’t summit Everest, but we can walk the John Muir Trail. And it doesn’t take much more than simply deciding to do it.
