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Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail (Outdoor Lives) Paperback – September 1, 2012
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Winner of the 2012 National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature
Day One, and already she was lying in her journal. It was 1993, Suzanne Roberts had just finished college, and when her friend suggested they hike California’s John Muir Trail, the adventure sounded like the perfect distraction from a difficult home life and thoughts about the future. But she never imagined that the twenty-eight-day hike would change her life. Part memoir, part nature writing, part travelogue, Almost Somewhere is Roberts’s account of that hike.
John Muir had written of the Sierra Nevada as a “vast range of light,” and this was exactly what Roberts was looking for. But traveling with two girlfriends, one experienced and unflappable and the other inexperienced and bulimic, she quickly discovered that she needed a new frame of reference. Her story of a month in the backcountry—confronting bears, snowy passes, broken equipment, injuries, and strange men—is as much about finding a woman’s way into outdoor experience as it is about the natural world she so eloquently describes. Candid and funny and, finally, wise, Almost Somewhere is not just the whimsical coming-of-age story of a young woman ill-prepared for a month in the mountains but also the reflection of a distinctly feminine view of nature.
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- Print length262 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBison Books
- Publication dateSeptember 1, 2012
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-100803240120
- ISBN-13978-0803240124
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"Almost Somewhere is, at all turns, a gratifying read. It is intimate and funny, sharp and pensive, and its readers if not inspired to undertake their own adventures will certainly be sad to leave Roberts at the trail's end." --Michelle Schingler, ForeWord
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"In Almost Somewhere we get to travel both the physical John Muir Trail--its history, its flowers and trees and shadowy peaks--and the gritty emotional landscape of the three women who make the journey. Where are we in the world, anyway? Suzanne Roberts helps us know that the only place we can be is here, giving it all we have, day by day."--Fleda Brown, author of Driving with Dvořák
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- Publisher : Bison Books; 1st edition (September 1, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 262 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0803240120
- ISBN-13 : 978-0803240124
- Item Weight : 12.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #190,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #547 in Hiking & Camping Excursion Guides (Books)
- #744 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies
- #6,091 in Memoirs (Books)
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About the author
Suzanne Roberts' books include the collection of lyrical essays, Animal Bodies: On Death, Desire, and Other Difficulties (2022), the award-winning memoir in travel essays, Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel (2020), the memoir, Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail (winner of the 2012 National Outdoor Book Award) and as well as the poetry collections Shameless, Nothing to You, Three Hours to Burn a Body: Poems on Travel, and Plotting Temporality. National Geographic's Traveler magazine named Roberts "The Next Great Travel Writer," and her work has appeared in The New York Times, CNN, Creative Nonfiction, Brevity, and elsewhere. She holds a doctorate in literature and the environment from the University of Nevada-Reno and teaches for the low residency MFA program in creative writing at Sierra Nevada University. More information may be found on her website: www.suzanneroberts.net or follow her on Instagram: @suzanneroberts28
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Unsure about what direction to take after graduating from college with a degree in biology, and flapping against the wind in the floundering economy of 1993 that provided few job prospects, Suzanne hits the trail with Erika and Dionne to distract herself from it all. Strapping "Big Heiny" on her back, a name she affectionately calls her backpack, was only the first step. Overstuffed, unorganized and heavy, "Big Heiny" mimics her state of mind upon departure. Not long into the ascent to Mt. Whitney, the first leg of the trip, she realizes the scope of the undertaking. Is she up to it? Erika, an athletic superstar, her trail name being The Commander, is in stark contrast to Dionne, a wisp of a girl with a life-threatening eating disorder and a first time hiker. Robert's, somewhere in-between in terms of athletic prowess, learns quickly to be self-reliant.
Feminism is a cornerstone topic in "Almost Somewhere". Twenty years ago it was rare to find females hiking under such strenuous circumstances without male escorts. Some may even say impossible. But the three wise women, as they later coined themselves, proved them wrong. Of course there were issues. Competing for male attention, differences in endurance levels and the ever-present group dynamics, but at the end of the day the real battle was none of that. It was an internal struggle for self-understanding and acceptance.
No photographs were included other than a front cover photo. I personally would have enjoyed seeing a few; Dionne hiking in men's underwear her chosen trail attire, Erika, leading the pack reading her trusty trail map and Roberts sitting on top of Half Dome eating Pop-Tarts. Also not included were sketches Roberts drew that I believe would have added additional charm. The map, drawn by Phyllis Schaffer, was a visual depiction of the trail and a bonus. Other than these omissions "Almost Somewhere" will not disappoint. It is a wonderful read for outdoor lovers and inspirational for anyone experiencing self-doubt. The message that resonates is as Roberts says, "It's not just in the having done but in the doing... being "Almost Somewhere".
I found the entire book to be engaging, interesting, touching, inspiring, and down-to-earth honest. Rather than the typical travel story that only describes where the author has been and what they have seen, author Suzanne Roberts shares with us her innermost thoughts and reactions and feelings as she encounters personal challenges, interesting characters, her interaction with her friends and strangers, and her own thoughts as she hiked the John Muir Trail with two female friends. That's what really made the book for me. I laughed, felt sad, and was constantly impressed with the author's bravery and willingness to make herself vulnerable by sharing with us how she really felt, even when it was not very flattering to her. That made the story real to me. In this book I had a sense of not only the external experiences the author encountered, but how she in her uniqueness responded to each. For me, that was a central factor in keeping the book interesting and distinguishing it from the run of the mill travel journal. I felt like I had a sense of experiencing the trip from her perspective.
The book is laid out with one chapter for each day of her 28 day hike. This format helped me to visualize her progress, and I was always looking forward to see what the next day would bring. It was like opening a new gift box every chapter to see what was inside!
One theme which runs persistently through the book is the author's belief that there is a contrasting "male view" and "female view" of the wilderness, and how one is in wilderness (with, predictably, the guys wanting to conquer everything, and the gals wanting to relate to everything). Personally, I don't view the world that way, so I didn't relate to this emphasis. The author presumes the correctness of her worldview, and filters everything through this lens. My experiences have led me to think individuals have very different ways of viewing the wilderness, and ways of being in the wilderness based on their own experience, skills, interests, and abilities, and it is not essentially a male/female issue. I've know many women hikers and outdoor enthusiasts with what the author would consider a "male" view, and many men who hold what the author would consider a "female" view. I don't think it's legitimate for this reality to be easily explained away by simply asserting that each time the theory doesn't fit the facts it is due to the individual having "internalized" the opposite gender's view. That comes across to me as a gross rationalization, a forced bending of the facts to fit one's preconceived theory.
My impression is that the author's focus on this theme is likely due to what appears to be her personal hyper-sensitivity to male/female issues and her own difficulties in relating to the opposite sex, which I would guess has originated from her unique background, experiences, sensitivities and approach to life. I think the author was on the right track when she acknowledged that prior to going into the wilderness she had been heavily influenced by writers such as Muir and Thoreau, and that her experience did not match theirs. The key distinction, I think, was not that they were male writers, but that they were both writers who took a "romantic" view of the wilderness. That's not a distinctly "male" or "female" view. In fact, I could see someone likely arguing that a romantic view is more a "female" view than a "male" view.
When I was in Jr. High school my assistant principal took a group of us on a week long backpacking trip from Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon to Rae Lakes on the John Muir Trail. In high school a friend and I backpacked the JMT from Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley. That was back in the late 60s. About 10 years ago my wife and I day hiked the same trip. From my first trip about 45 years ago I've been in love with the white granite and glaciated basins of the high Sierra. I've always wanted to hike the entire JMT. This book was not only a great read, but has inspired me and motivated me to do something about my own dream. Thank you, Suzanne, for a great story!