Escape to the Mountain: Mid-life Redemption on the John Muir Trail [Perfect Paperback]

Stephen Wade Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

Dr. Smith takes the reader on five fascinating journeys of unexcelled natural beauty, soul searching and wild encounters with man and beast in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. We tag along on hiking and backpacking adventures with Smith's chiropractic buddies, another time with his sixteen-year-old son Jared, with friends, professional guides and with his beloved wife Judy. Looking for bear stories? Escape to the Mountains delivers them in abundance along with marmots and mosquitoes, the injured horse that had to be put down along the trail, the sexy woman in the black thong panties and other surprising misfits and benefactors along the John Muir Trail.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephen Wade Smith is a practicing chiropractor whose experiences with his own pain and the need for physical, spiritual and emotional renewal led him to challenge himself by hiking and backpacking a place he had loved since childhood: The John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevadas.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Emerick Publishing Company; 1st edition (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978834305
• ISBN-13: 978-0978834302
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,971,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind (Body and Soul) over Mountains!, March 28, 2007

By 

Jennifer Wright "kiwijenn" (Christchurch, New Zeland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Escape to the Mountain: Mid-life Redemption on the John Muir Trail (Perfect Paperback)

Stephen Wade Smith tells the story that so many Baby Boomer men (and their partners) can relate to, that of the myth having it "all". Creating what our culture has told us to do as "good men", have the right job, right social standing, and the list goes on. Many of us do not have the courage as Smith did, to put this on the line, and seach for self. This is not the "selfish" self, but the connected self, the one we were created by God to be. We cannot connect without knowing who we are.
As an experienced backpacker myself, who takes midlife women into the wilderness for time away and finding that connected self, I was attracted to this book written by a man. His discriptions of life on the trail are detailed and allow the reader to experience the journey at all levels. This is important, as it brings to the reader the experience of putting one's body to the "wall". This is something that, unfortunately, only athletes do in today's culture. We are information rich, and experience poor. Smith gives the reader the opportunity to see his pain as well as his exhileration as he reflects on what he has done.
What I enjoyed the most was the relationship that Smith shared with his son. Again, in our culture,where there are few rites of passage for our young men, Smith has used the wilderness for that. Brilliant! A great read for boomer men and the women who love them!

5.0 out of 5 stars CLARITY ON HIGH, March 27, 2007

By 

Donna Coomer "Between the Lines Reviews" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Escape to the Mountain: Mid-life Redemption on the John Muir Trail (Perfect Paperback)

Despite being told time and time again that we will know when we have reached the highpoint of our lives, it is still a surprise to many when it is not where, when or what we thought it would be. Steve Smith can attest to that. As he somewhat arrogantly professes he had it all. Great job, great family, great friends, but sidelined by continual back ailments requiring numerous surgeries and the accompanying recovering periods he began to wonder.

What most folks don't know is that God, the Universe, or whomever you believe in, searches for ways to bring us clarity. We most often live our lives in sort of the "forest for the trees" mentality. It took Steve Smith a chance moment far above the treeline to see that an opportunity for achieving it may lie along the infamous John Muir Trail in his beloved Sierras.

Using the meticulousness Smith has built his career on he plans a series of hikes along the JMT. With, at various times, friends, family, colleagues and assorted professional packers, he visits the mountains, the meadows and the lakes of his dreams. And as he had hoped a bit of clarity is achieved with each pass that's crossed, each trout that's caught, and as each trip is completed.

Smith's narrative is a combination of brutal honesty, camp humor, and moments that show the author taking the time to really look at himself and see where he's not quite made the right choices when it came to deciding between his overly zealous work habits and quality time with his young family.

How we benefit is that we are given the chance to see that despite someone apparently having it all, there are still bad times to be endured and relationships that need to be mended. Learning from what Smith achieved on his adventures gives us all the chance to strive for that clarity on high.

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring story of a man finding strength, March 5, 2007

By 

Reader Views "Reviews, by readers, for readers" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Escape to the Mountain: Mid-life Redemption on the John Muir Trail (Perfect Paperback)

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (2/07)

This is an amazing story of a man, who, while fulfilling a life time goal discovers so much more as he pondered the questions: "What will I learn? What was the meaning of life? And what was important to me?" He concluded, "I was beginning to sense that my purpose for hiking the John Muir Trail was larger and more important than I had imagined. It wasn't just about accomplishing a goal I had set. It was about shaping a better character for the second half of my life. I saw that I needed a higher level of maturity and purpose."

Smith relived a summer of backpacking in the Sierra's as he reviewed his detailed journals, translating them into "Escape to the Mountains." Much of that which Stephen chronicled in his journals I have to live vicariously, through him, having never backpacked. However, I experienced with him the sound of silence, the grandeur of the scenic vistas of the Sierra's, and the taste of blueberry cheesecake. Dozens of photos and maps illustrate the events and bring the story to life.

I was profoundly impacted by the insights he shared with his son in the chapter "Lessons Learned from the Mountains." These are the principles I would like to articulate to my own sons.

Smith is an outstanding communicator, motivator, and teacher. He introduced tips for back packing, fly fishing, and business management, while writing on the environment, goal setting, core values and family relationships. By the time I finished the final line of the last chapter of the book I felt I knew Stephen personally. This is a book I want to pass along to each of my own four sons.

Stephen Wade Smith's book, "Escape to the Mountain," is an inspiring story of a man finding strength, and renewal, of realigning his priorities through a return to nature on the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I highly recommend the book for nature lovers, back packers, and the thousands who, each year, visit the magnificent State and National Parks throughout our country.

Received book free of charge.