She is fifty, asthmatic, overweight, with arthritic knees. And like so many married women with children, she’s lost herself.When she decides to hike the John Muir Trail, considered by many to be the most challenging and beautiful part of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, she’s sure it will help her reconnect with the adventurous girl inside.But by the end of the first day, Lori realizes she may have made a huge mistake.Monstrous bleeding blisters oozing with pus line the backs of her heels. It soon becomes painfully apparent her hiking partner, Debra, can hardly stand her. She can’t breathe and is using her asthma inhaler with alarming frequency. Trudging along, Lori walks most of the trail alone, and eventually loses her way.Lost on the trail Lori is forced to dig deep into her soul to find the strength to go on. But will inner strength be enough? Given her grim circumstances, she chooses to believe her husband’s words: even ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

    While she had a lively and beautiful six month journey, she noticed that there were not a lot of women on the trail. She wants to change that by inspiring other women to hit the A.T. and feel confident in their own backpacking abilities. In this book, Megan uses her own trials and errors to guide readers through their gear selections, mental preparation, dealing with weary friends and family, avoiding potentially dangerous situations, and everything else you need to know to be a successful solo girl in the wilderness. Some of the highlights of the book include: -Budgeting for your hike and cutting costs on the trail. -Selecting the best gear for your price range. -Choosing practical clothing that you will actually want to wear. -Getting a support system in place to improve your chances of success. -Dealing with things like your period and peeing in the woods. -Dealing with creepy or annoying men on the trail. -Learning skills like hitch-hiking, building fires, getting the most out of your phone battery, and Yogi-ing. -Megan's favorite spots to camp or visit in each state. -An outline of the best section hikes in each state. -Megan's personal account of her own thru-hike. -Awesome photos from Megan's thru-hike.

    Sleeping in the back of a beat-up station wagon, he seeks answers-and hopefully, the occasional shower-in the postcard-worthy places of the American West. Part ballad to the romance of the road and part heart-searching treatise on the American Dream, The New American Road Trip Mixtape is Leonard's raw, often hilarious, barstool storytelling at its best.

    Written with co-author Rosser Reeves, The 99 Critical Shots in Pool remains one of the most authoritative guides to the game ever written. Over 200 illustrations show the proper form, technique, and approach to shots such as:- The Center Ball Cheat-the-Pocket - The Hook Shot - The Seven Ball Stop Shot - The Jump Shot - The Frozen Kiss Shot - The Nudge Shot - The Side Pocket By-Pass ShotRay Martin, a Billiards Congress of America Hall of Fame inductee, is one of only seven players in the twentieth century to win three or more world 14.1 titles. He co-wrote this book with Rosser Reeves in 1976.

    Each included adventure has been selected to show the extent to which Muir courted and faced danger, i.e. lived "wildly, " throughout his life. From the famous avalanche ride off the rim of Yosemite Valley to his night spent riding out a windstorm at the top of a tree to death-defying falls on Alaskan glaciers, the renowned outdoorsman's exploits are related in passages that are by turns exhilarating, unnerving, dizzying and outrageous.

    The Magic Bus is becoming a national shrine, a holy pilgrim site, a modern-day Mecca. And I was determined to see it, too." So writes author and adventurer Ken Ilgunas, who, in the summer of 2011, moved up to Alaska and, like thousands before him, embarked on pilgrimage to explore the storied bus of the Stampede Trail, the very bus in which Chris McCandless of "Into the Wild" died twenty years before. What was supposed to be little more than a "literary tour" to a bus from a book that Ilgunas had "merely enjoyed" would become a humorous, enthralling, and, at times, treacherous journey, leading him to the very heart of Alaska.

    In this guide, he provides trekkers of all standards with up-to-date and reliable information on the region, including health and safety advice, notes on eco-tourism and detailed route descriptions.

    More than a cautionary tale, it is a tribute to all the volunteers and professionals who willingly put themselves in harm's way to save lives. This is a must read for anyone who hikes the Whites."In his first book, Where You'll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and the last Climb of Kate Matrosova, Ty Gagne established his credentials as a writer of well-researched and objective analysis of mountain accidents. Moreover, Where You'll Find Me reads like a novel, a book I couldn't put down. In his latest book, The Last Traverse, Gagne takes the combination of analysis and storytelling to a new level in a tale of survival and tragedy in the White Mountains."-Mark Synnott, author of The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life and The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest

    When he turned 50 he gave himself the birthday present to end all others--a trip to the end of the Earth to run his most unforgettable race.            The Coolest Race on Earth is both Hanc’s story and the story of the Antarctica Marathon, first held in 1995 and now an annual event that sells out years in advance. It’s full of humor, adventure, and inspiring characters--including a wheelchair-bound competitor, three record-breaking grandmothers, and an ex-Marine who described the race as “the hardest thing I ever did in my life, next to Vietnam.”            Muddy, cold, hilly, the race is by all accounts horrible--up and down a melting glacier twice, past curious penguins and hostile skuas, and finally to a bleak finish line. Even the best runners take longer to run the Antarctica Marathon than any other.            Yet the allure of marathon running combined with the fascinating reputation of the Last Continent has persuaded runners to brave a trip across the world’s most turbulent body of water, the Drake Passage, to a land of extinct volcanoes and craggy mountain peaks, lost explorers and isolated scientists, penguin rookeries and whale sightings, all for a chance to run those crazy 26.2 miles. The Coolest Race on Earth brings the world’s most difficult marathon to life in a book that’s not only a ripping read, but also a deeply funny meditation on what makes people run.

    In the span of a few hours, you can go from the brink of exhaustion in the worst possible conditions to an explosion of sunshine, amazing people, and breathtaking scenery.” On Friday the 13th, under a full moon and falling rain, Andy Amick completed the first day of the 2014 Tour Divide race. Even with a year of training and preparation, the the physical and mental challenges of the race pushed him further than he thought possible. During the 2700 mile race from Canada to Mexico, he climbed mountain after mountain, witnessed stunning sunsets, encountered the smiles and hospitality of countless people, crossed paths with a mountain lion, and rode through enough mud to last a lifetime. This is the story of one man’s dream to race the Tour Divide and his determination to reach the finish.

    You'll start in Maine and walk to Georgia, picking up seven lessons along the way. Each lesson is neatly woven into the fabric of the story.

    The route takes the walker into France, Switzerland and Italy and is described in both anti-clockwise and clockwise directions, with variants and information about facilities en route.

    This is an adventure story about a voyage from one life chapter to another that involves a too-big sailboat, a narrow and unknown sea, and an appetite to witness a mythical blonde bear that inhabits a remote rainforest.Kim Brown Seely and her husband had been damn good parents for more than 20 years. That was coming to an end as their youngest son was about to move across the country. The economy was in freefall and their jobs stagnant, so they impulsively decided to buy a big broken sailboat, learn how to sail it, and head up through the Salish Sea and the Inside Passage to an expanse of untamed wilderness in search of the elusive blonde Kermode bear that only lives in a secluded Northwest forest. Theirs was a voyage of discovery into who they were as individuals and as a couple at an axial moment in their lives. Wise and lyrical, this heartfelt memoir unfolds amid the stunningly wild archipelago on the far edge of the continent.

    When he and his wife and business partner, Barbara Cushman Rowell, perished in a small-plane crash in 2002, he had just completed a landmark assignment for National Geographic and had begun making stunning new images of his favorite old haunts in the Sierra Nevada.Fortunately for us, his productivity was immense and his photographs eticulously archived, making possible this first and only comprehensive retrospective of his work. It includes more than 175 images representing all phases and dimensions of Rowell’s singular career, chosen by the editors with whom he worked most closely, overseen by his family and studio colleagues, and reproduced to the highest standards of lithography from digital masters of his 35mm frames. Complementing and illuminating the pictures are essays and commentaries by Rowell’s friends and associates from the worlds of mountaineering, conservation, photography, and publishing, along with an in-depth biographical introduction by Robert Roper and an appreciation of his work by photography critic Andy Grundberg.

    Chris Santella, along with top expedition leaders, explores the world’s greatest walking adventures. Some, such as the Lunana Snowman Trek in Bhutan and the Kangshung Valley Trek in Tibet, are grueling multiweek adventures at high altitudes. Others, such as Japan’s Nakesando Trail, move leisurely from village to village, allowing walkers to immerse themselves in the local culture. Whether it’s climbing the Rwandan mountains to view mountain gorillas or strolling through bistros along Italy’s Amalfi Coast, there’s a memorable hike at everyone’s level within these 50 chapters. With commentaries from expert trekkers and insider tips that lead the reader off the beaten path, Santella has again captured the special characteristics that make these must-visit destinations.