Customer Reviews

Scraping Heaven : A Family's Journey Along the Continental Divide

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When i first saw this book on the bookshelf I was excited about reading the very appealing story of this family and the way they journeyed along the Contintental Divide Trail. I very much enjoy reading outdoor adventure books such as Bill Bryson's "A Walk In the Woods" and Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air". Both excellent and well written stories.

I picked up this book with similar expectations. I was very dissapointed to say the least. The story was redundent, not well written and extremely self-indulgent. Another problem I had with this book was the constant projection of thoughts and feelings onto her husband and children. Instead of telling a compelling story of long distance hiking with her familiy, friends and llamas, the author tries too hard to create a platform for her contrived introspection. She ends up portraying herself as very narcissistic.

My recommendation: Save your money.

Some adventure books are driven along with the end goal in mind, a striving to reach something, building to a climax. The book, Scraping Heaven, is a story where the end, the finish, is not as important as in these other tales. It is an adventure where the goal is the path,where Cindy Ross's dreams and life force become the motivation for the day-to-day jounrey along the Rocky Mountain spine of the Continental Divide. Experiences are what matter, both sublime and the nitty gritty.

She writes beautifully about her young son, "Bryce stands calmly on the rock ledge with the very exposed and rugged view behind him; pink cheeks and blue eyes the color of the mountain lake peep out from his dirty hood. His rosebud little-boy lips curve up in a smile, and he looks like the prince of this exquisite domain- his kingdom, his gold. My Continental Divide son."

Or how remote a place feels like home: "How can such a wild, unknown place come to feel so familiar?...You must live in it. You have to immerse yourself in the sylvan streams, the sunrises and sunsets, the sound of bugling elk. Living in the Tetons makes them yours. It's a different kind of ownership, a different kind of home, and perhaps it's more lasting."

You can feel and hear what she writes about; "Afterward we lie on large rocks that have soaked up the sun's rays to warm and dry ourselves. The kids yell across the lake to the granite cirque we sit in and it echoes their voices. The land is talking back to them, and it tells them of the largeness of their world."

Cindy does not gloss over the details of the nitty gritty: the personality clashes, the stinky socks, the kids fighting about getting cooties from drinking out of the same side of the water bottle, washing boogers out of hankies in lake water, and how intimacy with her husband tends to evaporate on the trail. Sometimes the sublime merges with the nitty gritty:
"At night it's a land of yipping coyotes and stars so abundant that if you are a little boy, and wake up in the middle of the night, you stand and stare with your mouth open and your head tilted way back, and you pee on yourself because you just can't believe how many stars there are in the sky."

What really emerges from these pages is the author's love of life. The only thing stronger that that is her love of family. Heh Ophra, Heh Kelly & Regis- You want books that are saturated with tales of strong women and families bonding while fighting daunting obstacles together? Here's your next book! This family even confronts the big questions:
"My Catholic faith of 42 years has left me wanting. After our hike last year, wew returned to our church, and a priest who is fond of preaching hell and damnation and sin. After one Mass, Sierra said, "We leave here feeling worse. I feel closer to God on the trail. Why do we go? And I started to wonder that myself"

Together they are living the big question, "How does one truly live?" Cindy's kids grew up on the backbone of the world, the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Eventually they came to a finish line at the Mexican border. I wished at that point that the book could go on. But in the Epilogue, we get the feeling that there will be more tales to tell from this wilderness family in the promise of the future. More good stories from Cindy Ross- mother, wife, and life explorer.

If you can't go out and thru-hike the CDT yourself - then read Cindy's book instead! As with all of Cindy's previous books, her writing puts you right on the trail with her and her family. You feel all of the joy, the pain, the tears, the laughter and see all of the incredible beauty on this magnificent trail. To hike such a trail is a monumnetal undertaking, but to include your young children in such a hike is incredible. Her honesty about life on the trail with her family only reinforces the respect I have for her and her family. I highly recommend Scraping Heaven - truly a work of art.

Scraping Heaven is a beautifully written story. Cindy Ross describes the landscapes so vividly, you imagine yourself there. She talks about the family and social dynamics so openly, you feel like you are with them on their journey through the Continental Divide. As in life, it's not all about beautiful views and happy times. She doesn't leave out the hardships of bad weather, failing equipment, and strained family and friend relations. She also shares with you the joys of nature's rewards and the kindness of strangers. You experience life's lessons along with them.

My favorite parts are those involving their son Bryce. I'd often laugh out loud, even days later, just recalling stories of his antics. "It's only recently that Bryce's three year old brain has realized that the Oscar Meyer song he likes to sing is about one of his favorite foods. He is so taken by this discovery that he shouts to every hiker he sees on the widened, graded trail that leads to the parking lot: 'Do you know that an Oscar Meyer wiener is a hot dog?'"

It was thoughtful of her to have an Epilogue, updating you on her and her family's lives, because by the end of the book, you feel like you know them, and so would naturally be interested in how they are doing these days.

I would recommend this book to hikers and non-hikers alike. It keeps you interested and entertained from the inside cover until the last word.

Two long-distance hikers who have spent a lifetime hiking tackle the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail -with children in tow - in Scraping Heaven, an involved and involvingly dramatic story of a long-distance trek testing hearts and minds. Any interested in stories of survival and the outdoors will find Scraping Heaven to be a thoroughly moving, intensely memorable account of a family's impossible endeavor.

Helen Keller said,"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." And it is with this in mind that seasoned trekkers Cindy Ross and Todd Gladfelter set out to hike along the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico with their two toddlers, Sierra and Bryce,and a string of llamas. When Ross (A Woman's Journey) and her husband first met, two of the main loves they shared were of hiking and the outdoors. But when their children arrived, they were afraid they would have to wait years to return to the wilderness- until hearing of the docile nature and great versatility of the llamas, inventing more efficient ways to wash diapers on the trail and keeping two toddlers entertained, warm and healthy while trying to stay sane and absorb the vast beauty of the trail that drew them. After 2 months, 500 miles, bags of candy, wet and smelly socks, lightning storms and temper tantrums, what their friends and family thought would end early in disaster was completed with success and the desire to do it all over again. That summer in 1993 ends five years later as the Ross family returns summer after summer to the Continental Divide Trail in their quest to grow closer and be one with nature.
NOT ONLY ARE READERS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE THE SHEER BEAUTY AND AT TIMES FRIGHTENING DANGERS OF THE TRAIL, BUT THEY ALSO WATCH TWO CHILDREN GROW AND LEARN TO CALL THE TRAIL THEIR HOME. WELL WRITTEN, CAPTIVATING AND INCREDIBLY EDUCATIONAL, THIS ADVENTURE IS A LESSON IN THE SIMPLICITY AND THE BEAUTY OF ACCOMPLISHMENT.

This is the best book I have read that conveys the true feeling of hiking in the wilderness. There are rainy days, there are sunny days, there are sore feet... and then you see a rainbow on top of a high mountain pass and suddenly you know you are not alone, there really is a God in Heaven. "Scraping Heaven" is as good as it gets. If you enjoy the great outdoors, add this book to your memories. If you have not hiked in the wilderness, it should be required reading.

This is the best book I have read that conveys the true feeling of hiking in the wilderness. There are rainy days, there are sunny days, there are sore feet... and then you see a rainbow on top of a high mountain pass and suddenly you know you are not alone, there really is a God in Heaven. "Scraping Heaven" is as good as it gets. If you enjoy the great outdoors, add this book to your memories. If you have not hiked in the wilderness, it should be required reading.

I looked forward to the delivery of this book, but was sorely disappointed when it finally arrived. Both my husband and I--avid travelers, backpackers, and outdoorspeople--were annoyed with the amount of time Cindy Ross spends complaining about the trail conditions and her husband's lack of affection for her. In addition, this book is repetitive and at times poorly written.

The story itself is an interesting one, but too much time is spent psychoanalyzing--and, even worse, complaining--about other people's feelings, actions, etc. We came away from the book feeling as if Ross felt that she was above others, that everyone else's opinions and feelings--like Todd's, on the trail; and Bob's at times; and her relatives who hike with them for a short time--were not as important as her own.

In short, this book disappointed us from beginning to end.

My first reaction was why would anyone want to take two very young children on such a trail? The logistics alone were death-defying: baby food, cloth diapers...and five years to complete the struggle. Couldn't they have waited until the kids were potty-trained?

Although nicely written, with a unique topic, I'm not sure I can admire people who undertake such endeavors because they have to beg corporations for the finanicial support. And that alone makes one dependent on someone or something else to finish such a journey. I got the feeling at times the book was to endorse pack animals rather than hiking with young children through the wilderness.