The Book, Upcoming Posts, and Venturing West

THANK YOU BLOG READERS!

I would like to extend an enormous thank you to all my readers that followed along with me on my blog. You helped me to stay focused and creative while walking the long miles and hours. Your feedback and comments kept me inspired and moving forward. Thank you!

THE UPCOMING BOOK

Now that I have completed the trail, so begins the research, compiling, and condensing of the journey. Every day of my trek I made a plant list of those that I identified, saw growing in abundance, and in what relation to other plants and the surroundings. I also kept a detailed daily journal of the terrain that I passed through, my experience with the natural world, and a whole lot about all the people I met and the highs and lows of the trail. I plan in the next year to bring all this together in book format. I am sure my vision will morph and change as I begin the process, but right now what I envision is a two book set. One will be the story of my journey compiled from my journal, the other will be a guide to the plants of the trail including how to identify them, use them, and where to look for them.

EMAIL REQUEST

I will certainly post as this project progresses but I would love to a have list of my readers' emails so that I may contact you directly when the book is complete and ready for purchase. If you are interested in receiving such notice please send me your info to my email: heather.herbs.yoga@gmail.com.  Also, in case you didn't already know, you can enter your email in the space on the righthand side of my blog that says "email" to receive my posts by email or just send me your email and let me know that you'd like to receive my posts as such and I'll do the process for you.

Also if anyone has any suggestions or connections as far as publishers go as well as any helpful publicity to offer, I am eager to receive it.

FUTURE OF THE BLOG AND MY TRIP OUT WEST

As for the blog, I will be continuing to post my hiking and botanical adventures along with info about individual edible / medicinals. I am currently in Asheville until the end of the week and will then be driving up to PA to my parents' house. On August 15th, my father and I are setting out in a drive cross country. We will be spending a month touring the national and smaller state parks of the west. I have never been west of Illinois and so this will be quite the adventure. We will be staying in plush accommodations in Colorado for 5 days, but beyond this we will be camping. Our days will consist of hiking, sight-seeing, and overall exploring. We have no set plan, but will rather create the trip as we go!

So I encourage y'all to continue to follow along, as I get to know the plants and landscape of the west. John Muir is my most cherished nature writer and so we will certainly be hitting many of his beloved sites. The mountains are twice the size out there and so I'm sure I'll be blown away, and once I know that landscape...I can prepare for my next big hiking adventure...

For those of you interested in the final overview of the miles and plants on the MST, that post is next to come, as well as a few final pics that I've been meaning to share.

Stayed tuned!