Point Reyes Hiking Fool - Winter - The Book

This book began as a blog about a year-long project to hike 300-miles of trails and roads on the Point Reyes peninsula while pondering the question, “Why do humans create trash?” It covers the first 14-hikes done through winter. It is meant as a trail companion for anyone pondering what it means to be human and our relationship with nature.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Book Review by Todd Plummer on July 24, 2019

An inspired journey narrated with sensitivity, compassion, and nuance.
"The Hiking Fool" series - represented so far by only the first of four seasonal volumes: "Winter" -- is a charming book. The fact that it is inspired by the Tarot led me to expect it to be a little New Agey and maybe hard to follow - but the exact opposite was true. The Tarot cards are merely suggestions for interpretation and themes for each journey, elements that any good writer needs anyway.

The real story is Sonja's mission: to understand why humans create trash - notably in the trails of the rugged back-country of Point Reyes National Seashore. Her hike journal marks the majesty of tule elk, struggles with trail ethics, hiking with her 6-year-old son, snot rags and beer bottles, human's place in nature. The big, the small, the whimsical - Williams captures it all and gives mileage, times, highlights of 14 trails on the Point Reyes peninsula throughout Winter 2012-2013. It's specific in place but broad in humanity. Great book.