Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Yesterday I played hooky from my writing and went for a little hike to see the fall colors. The weather gods granted us a perfect day. I picked up my brother-in-law at 7 a.m. It was barely light at that hour, as fog had settled on Seattle. I wondered if we were crazy, but figured the vine maple and other colorful vegetation would still be visible, even if we didn't get good views. After an hour's drive, we started up the Granite Peak trail at 8:20 a.m. It was chilly enough I wore a sweatshirt for at least the first 15 minutes of the hike.  Sun and mist. The first visual reward came within minutes of the start. We reached the sun and the color about the same time. The morning dew still shone on the leaves. After a couple of miles--and a couple of thousand feet of climbing--we broke out pretty much above tree line. Here, the color came from huckleberries (mountain blueberries) and other alpine shrubs. Before the final climb, we got a pleasant surprise--not just Mt. Rainier, but a

  A follow-up to Mountains of the Mind , I grabbed the audio of this book to get more of the author's thoughts. Then I had to get the paperback because there were things I needed to read slowly, and flag, and return to. Title: The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot Author: Robert Macfarlane. Read by Robin Sachs Publication Info: Blackstone Audio, 2012.  Original hardback, Hamish Hamilton, 2012, 433 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Blurb: From the acclaimed author of  The Wild Places  comes an engrossing exploration of walking and thinking. In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep and tell, and of pilgrimage and

After my trip to the Grand Canyon in mid-April, I met up with my friend Zeke and we headed to Utah, with plans for about 10 days of explorations in the canyon country and the Bears Ears National Monument. The best-laid plans and all that, but I did get some good photos. The Grand Canyon photos: Part 1 of this series was up on the South Rim . Part 2 took us down the Bright Angel trail and out the Tonto West Trail to Horn Creek . Part 3 is Monument Canyon and Granite Rapids . Part 4 took us to Hermit Creek and Hermit Rapids, where we finally saw some decent wildflowers. Part 5 was the trip up the Hermit Trail and a few extra bits.   Grand Staircase-Escalante The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is in the south central part of Utah, and abuts both the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Capitol Reef National Park. With minimal development and a maze of canyons (accessed by gravel/dirt roads/jeep trails) it's a favorite haunt of mine. In camp along the Hole In the Rock

 ... To the Grand Canyon, that is. Time for the spring desert trip, and a return to the big hole in the ground. Just for fun, here are a few books I've read about the Canyon, some of which you might enjoy. Oddly, I don't seem to have reviewed many of them. The Man Who Walked Through Time, Colin Fletcher. An absolute classic, the account of the first person to walk the length of the Canyon, below the rim. The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and his Vision for the American West. John F. Ross.  A good account of Powell's journey and a thought-provoking look at his all-too-accurate assessment of the ability of the western lands to sustain agriculture. The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons. John Wesley Powell. The man's own account of the trip.   The Emerald Mile. Kevin Fedarko. The story of 3 crazy river guides and the fastest trip ever through the Canyon, on the waters of the 1983 flood. Also tells about that flo