Backpacking California

Michel Digonnet is a professor of applied physics at Stanford University, where he carries out research on optical fibers, and lasers for sensing, and communication applications. He has explored several of the world's deserts, from the Sahara to Baja California, and Australia. He has also hiked, and backpacked extensively throughout the American West, especially on the Colorado Plateau, and in California. He is the author of Hiking Death Valley, and several other books on the Mojave Desert.



Kathleen Dodge Doherty first shouldered a backpack at age 10 when her dad forced her to walk around with a pack full of encyclopedias to prepare for an overnight outing in Yosemite. From the first heavily laden step, a love affair was born,, and a thirst for backcountry adventure has led to decades of starry nights in her native California. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Kathleen is the author of Day & Section Hikes: John Muir Trail, Walking San Francisco,, and has written for Fodors, Lonely Planet, Moon Handbooks, AFAR Magazine,, and VIA Magazine.



David Harris is a professor of engineering at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. He is the author or coauthor of six hiking guidebooks, and five engineering textbooks. David grew up rambling around the Desolation Wilderness as a toddler in his father's pack, and later roamed the High Sierra as a Boy Scout. As a Sierra Club trip leader, he organized mountaineering trips throughout the Sierra Nevada. Since 1999, he has been exploring the mountains, and deserts of Southern California. David's other books for Wilderness Press are 101 Hikes in Southern California (with Jerry Schad), Afoot & Afield: Orange County (with Jerry Schad), Afoot & Afield: Inland Empire, Day & Section Hikes Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California,, and San Bernardino Mountain Trails (with John W. Robinson).



Tim Hauserman wrote The Tahoe Rim Trail: The Official Guide for Hikers, Mountain Bikers, and Equestrians, as well as Monsters in the Woods: Backpacking with Children, Cross-Country Skiing in the Sierra Nevada,, and the children's book Gertrude's Tahoe Adventures in Time. For most of the year his focus is on writing articles on travel, recreation,, and inspiring people for a variety of publications-and, of course, hiking, road, and mountain biking,, and kayaking. Once the snow flies, he teaches cross-country skiing, and runs the Strider Glider after-school program at Tahoe Cross-Country Ski Area in his home town of Tahoe City, California.



An avid hiker, backpacker,, and naturalist, Analise Elliot Heid has pursued an outdoor lifestyle both professionally, and recreationally. She currently works as an environmental educator, and food & agricultural sciences teacher along the California coast. Analise holds a B.S. in forestry from U.C. Berkeley, a M.A. in secondary education from San Francisco State University,, and she works as a master teacher in the Cal State University Science Teacher, and Researcher program.



Jessica Lage is the author of Point Reyes: The Complete Guide to the National Seashore, and Surrounding Area, and Trail Runner's Guide: San Francisco Bay Area, both published by Wilderness Press. Jessica lives in the Bay Area with her family, and spends many weekends on the trails of Point Reyes. In summer she adventures in California's Sierra Nevada, and the Spanish Pyrenees.



Lowell, and Diana Lindsay began backpacking together in the early 1960s as members of the UCLA Bruin Mountaineers. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park became their focus when Lowell was assigned to San Diego as a Navy helicopter pilot in 1966. He became aware of the Anza-Borrego area while on training flights over the area. The park then became part of Diana's study at San Diego State University as the subject of her master's thesis. In 1978 Wilderness Press published the first edition of Anza-Borrego Desert Region, now in its sixth edition. Other award-winning books on this desert area authored, coauthored, or edited by the Lindsays followed, including Our Historic Desert; Geology of Anza-Borrego: Edge of Creation; Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places,, and Things; Marshal South, and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles;, and Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert (2007 winner of the PMA Ben Franklin Award in Science, and Environment).



Andy Selters has engaged with the Sierra, and mountains all over the world for many years. A former climbing instructor, and guide, he has climbed, and led treks in many parts of the Himalaya, Karakoram, and Tibet. He is also an accomplished photographer. His other books include Ways to the Sky: An Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering,, and Mt. Shasta: The Guide to Climbing, Skiing, and Hiking. He bases in Bishop, where he teaches T'ai-chi, and coaches his son in life, and baseball.



Scott Turner is a native Californian hiking guide author who moonlights as a Licensed Marriage, and Family Therapist. When he isn't shrinking heads, he's attempting to shrink an ever-expanding bucket list of journeys, and explorations of the American West's most beautiful places. Scott's writing credits include a full revision, and update of Jerry Schad's "hiking Bible," Afoot & Afield: San Diego County, which was released in spring of 2017. Scott has also contributed over 250 trip descriptions to Modern Hiker, the most-read hiking website in the American West.



Since childhood, Lizzy Wenk has hiked, and climbed in the Sierra Nevada, and continues the tradition with her husband, Douglas Bock,, and daughters, Eleanor, and Sophia. As she obtained a PhD in Sierran alpine plant ecology from the University of California, Berkeley, her love of the mountain range morphed into a profession. Since then, writing guidebooks has become her way to share her love, and knowledge of the Sierra Nevada with others. Lizzy continues to obsessively explore every bit of the Sierra, spending summers hiking on-, and off-trail throughout the range, but she currently lives in Sydney, Australia, during the "off-season." Other Wilderness Press titles she has authored include John Muir Trail, Top Trails: Yosemite, One Best Hike: Mount Whitney, One Best Hike: Grand Canyon, 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite,, and Wildflowers of the High Sierra, and John Muir Trail, the latter a perfect companion book for all naturalists.



Mike White was born, and raised in Portland, Oregon. He learned to hike, backpack,, and climb in the Cascade Mountains,, and he honed his outdoor skills further while obtaining a bachelor's degree from Seattle Pacific University. After college, Mike, and his wife, Robin, relocated to the Nevada desert, where he was drawn to the majesty of the High Sierra. Mike has contributed to several Wilderness Press classics, including Sierra South, and Sierra North, as well as Backpacking California. In addition to his books, Mike has written articles for Sunset, Backpacker, Tahoe Weekly, and the Reno Gazette-Journal. A former community college instructor, Mike is a featured speaker for outdoor groups. He, and Robin live in Reno; his two sons, David, and Stephen, live in the area as well.