“As I Was Walking” – The John Muir Trail

Sunrise at Garnet Lake

February 5, 2018

It was just over two years ago that, somewhat fresh from my 220-mile stroll down the John Muir Trail, I started writing a book about my adventure. It was actually two adventures – my first attempt at doing the JMT in 2014 was cut short by injury after completing a bit more than half of the trail; adventure #2 was my return/rematch the following summer (2015). It took me a year to write the first draft and then another year to edit and revise. At present, I’m finalizing the edits and writing a preface and some sidebars. Several months ago, I settled on the title. I also decided that this was going to be a self-published project. It might be a bit ambitious on my part, but in addition to the writing (presently my word count is in the 100,000 range) and photography, I’ll be designing the book myself with Adobe InDesign and offering it for sale on Apple iBooks and Amazon. I’m still working out the logistics and marketing plan. I’ll soon be starting a new blog and a new Instagram account specific to the “As I Was Walking” book with links to my iBooks page and direct ways to purchase.

Red’s Meadow camp

I’ve shared occasional excerpts from my manuscript already, and plan on putting more out on an increased basis – with accompanying photos – as I near my release date, still a few months away. Stay tuned! But for now, here’s another excerpt.

 

Day 1 – Happy Isles Trailhead

 

In this excerpt, I’m about to step onto the trail for my rematch, starting out from Yosemite Valley 

Day 1 – Thursday, July 16, 2015

Happy Isles Trailhead

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            I had the trailhead to myself for the moment. Past hiking experience in Yosemite Valley taught me that the majority of day hikers and the tourist hordes generally didn’t venture out until after 8:00. With no one else around to take a photo of my start, I took an iPhone selfie that showed me hopeful, beaming and relatively clean at the trailhead sign. I tapped my poles twice for luck as I set off and I was once again on the John Muir Trail. As happy as I appeared in the photo, it fell short of conveying my emotions and how ready I was to take flight. I felt as though I could sprint up to Little Yosemite Valley, heal some lepers and cripples along the way, and turn water into wine – or, in my case, gourmet coffee.

 

Nevada Falls and Liberty Cap – Day 1

 

 

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