A Beginner's Guide to Hiking and Backpacking
by Diana Helmuth
Loved it--and I'm not even planning on doing any hiking or backpacking. Not anytime soon, anyway. But I can dream!
And I can laugh, chortle and snirkle at her hilarious way of getting the information across. For example, one chapter is called,
Clothes. How not to get killed by your jeans.
She starts this out with an anecdote--at the start of a trip at the snow line in mountains, her male companion informed her that the jeans he'd brought we the only pants he'd brought,
I wanted to sigh. Loudly. I wanted to womansplain to him both that jeans are a terrible idea in this mushy weather and that we talked about this before we left (because we definitely, definitely talked about this before we left.)
What's so bad about jeans? [he asked]
They'll soak up all the water on the trail and they won't dry. You'll be walking in wet denim for six hours. They'll be heavy, and you'll be freezing.
And that's what happened. But it was a short trip and not too far away to pack out to the car and leave, With the heater blowing hot air on his freezing legs.
Okay, so this wasn't the funniest bit in there. But there are lots of them, and I fully recommend this book even if, like me, you won't be getting to do any hiking anytime soon. But you'll sure want to.
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