Hiking Alone: Trails Out, Trails Home

In this collection of personal essays, Mary Beath often does follow trails in solitude--both literally and metaphorically. With the focus of a scientist, the attention to detail of an artist, and the lyrical language of a poet, she recasts a classic American tale: travel from the East westward and remake your life.

Beath lived for ten years in New York City's East Village in the 1980s before she moved to New Mexico. Whether on a solo hike in the San Juan Mountains weighing risk and choice in unexpected encounters, diving in the Sea of Cortez hoping to make peace with traditional biology, or lobbying for wilderness on Capitol Hill, she never fails to engage the reader on multiple levels, within a natural world that includes humans. This book will resonate with anyone who values self-reliance and celebrates the West's rich and complex landscapes.

"Whether navigating the fields of Zuni, the halls of Congress, or simply her own ruminations, Beath takes the reader on a journey through the wonders of the West."--U.S. Representative Tom Udall, NM

"I loved trekking with Mary Beath, her sweet song and vision leading the way through both dark and sun-drenched vales of soul-making. Hiking Alone is a generous and reflective book, lovely in language, sharp in observation."--Garrett Hongo, author of Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i