Makes you want to get out in the woods and stay awhile. Inspiring book that makes you want to hike the John Muir Trail.

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I would only recommend this book to English teachers searching for countless examples of horrible prose, incompetent editing, pointless digressions, and disjointed, incoherent storytelling all bound into one volume. And by storytelling, I mean flights of fantasy that border on the delusional/ridiculous.

How does one hike for "awareness" anyway? This question is never asked nor answered. Smells more like a vacation finishing with a sad attempt at self-aggrandizement. Fortunately, as cosmic justice would have it, the author never exits the starting blocks.

Jeff and Beth are from the flatlands. Ohio, if I remember correctly. Frightened of their own shadows, they fear vicious wild animals at every turn: lions and tigers and bears, oh my! None of their fearful trepidations have any grounding in reality. I've spent the last 25 years backpacking and climbing (including three complete JMT hikes) in the Sierra backcountry--take it from me--Alt's harrowing tales of terror are all fabricated inside his cranium. In addition, like a good, God-fearing midwesterner, he demeans his fragile and delicate wife by exposing her (perceived) physical shortcomings and fearful attitudes regarding the wildlife and everything else in creation all while acting as the omni-protector macho man. Nice guy. He's one of those clowns you see backpacking with a giant 12 inch Bowie knife and a beryllium Boy Scout canteen hanging off his belt.

This "adventure" ("Adventure," really? On a trail where you're likely to pass at least twenty people every day?) is a 220 mile hike in which the first 45 miles of the trail take up the first *half* of the book. The book then slingshots you through the rest of the "adventure"/trail as if the author had gotten tried and bored with not only the hike but also the book writing, and just simply wanted it all over with.

A few chapters from the end, the God of the Christians pops into the story and the home stretch is suddenly punctuated with God-this and God-that and I don't mean "damn." Although that's what *I* was saying as I read this quivering tripe.

I have to hand it to Alt though, he scammed some well-meaning companies out of a heap of free gear for supporting his "expedition" (yes, he did describe this hike using that word) and wrote this utterly worthless tome thereby giving himself some street cred , as a "writer," at least in his own mind and with his church group back home.

This book is to books what a MickyD's 99-cent cheeseburger is to Oysters with Smoked Iberian Pancetta at El Bulli.

Actually, I'm changing my mind. Swap for this book, read it, and be as completely dumbfounded as I was. My wife enjoyed my many dramatic readings of the contents--get this book and entertain your loving spouse too! (5 stars)*(i**2)

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