Up by Patricia Ellis Herr

I found this book while doing a search for books that related to hiking in thee White Mountains and the 4000 foot club. The search may have even been more narrow in the sense that I was looking for the best hiking books out there that weren't guides of some sort and were mostly if not all memoir. It took root in Herr's blog about hiking with her daughters. She also has nother blog about hiking here. After having done my research on her, I was quite frankly fascinated. I admire her drive - she's a homeschooling feminist thta dropped out of the workforce and before getting her Ph.D from Harvard in order to do what she did - and I wanted to do what she did at least as far as the hiking with the kids thing. So I eagerly went hunting for this book at my local library and I found it.

Tricia and her 6 year old daughter start hiking on a whim - she's one of those moms that believe in indulging her daughter to some degree and encouraging her to try new things in the hopes that her daughter will develop a passion for them and continue to do them. In this case, they both quickly become addicted to and passionate about hiking and they set out to hike all 48 mountains above 4000 feet in the State of New Hampshire. When they initially start, they experience a number of mishaps, including hiking without the proper gear when there is still snow in the higher elevations when there was still snow on the ground - and not simply an inch or two. Tricia fell in p to her hip!!

What I quickly feared was that the book would be over the top and preachy - I wrongly assumed that she would be like some of the homeschooling parents out there that were in the holier than thou school of thought; however I wasn't right at all. I found myself respecting Tricia because she explained herself but didn't preach about how her way of life should be the way of life of all around her. I found that this book was very inspiring and made me very excited to hike on my own and to conquer my own mountains with my children and on my own. The book also moved pleasantly quickly. This is a definite must read.

Books read in the 100 Fiction Challenge: 2

Books read in 2013: 4