Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

  Back in August, I spent 12 days walking an 80-mile segment of the Washington PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). So far I've featured the 1st three days and a bit, from our start near Crystal Mountain Ski Area to Chinook Pass, and a couple of days continuing south into the William O. Douglas wilderness. Today we're on across White Pass and approaching the Goat Rocks--the scenic highlight of the trip. The fog that settled on my camp in the late afternoon turned overnight to a wet mizzle, maybe even a drizzle. I wasn't keen to get up, but it has to be done, and breakfast cooked and eaten, regardless of the weather. Happily, it wasn't really that wet, though the trees dripped on my tent something fierce. Starting out on a misty hike, but the sun is making a valiant effort/ The day began with a 1400' descent to cross the Bumping River, at this point little more than a creek and easily spanned by a log. This was a 7-mile day, with modest climbing and descending, but limited ...

Back in August, I spent 12 days walking another segment of the WA PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). Last week I featured the 1st three days and a bit, from our start near Crystal Mountain Ski Area to Chinook Pass. Today we'll hit the next couple of days, continuing south into the William O. Douglas wilderness. There should have been fantastic views of Mt. Rainier, at least in places, but alas, the weather continued to be uncooperative. I took off from Chinook Pass about 11 a.m, carrying just a little more weight than I like as I was prepared for 8 nights on the trail. The PCT actually crosses Highway 410 on the top of the sign marking the boundary of Mt. Rainier National Park. The clear morning was holding nicely, and lots of people were walking the mile to this pretty tarn. Continuing up, looking back across the Chinook Pass area to where I was in the morning. Having climbed 800' or so around the shoulder of Naches Peak (a hike around the peak is a decent 3-mile dayhike with views t...

I don't know whether to review this as juvy or YA. I put it more toward YA both due to age of the characters (15) and subject matter (murder, in a cozy-mystery way).   Participating this week in the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out his blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there. Title: Top Marks for Murder   Author : Robin Stevens Publication info : Kindle edition, Simon & Schuster, 2023, 260 pages. Originally published 2019 by Puffin. Publisher's Blurb: Daisy and Hazel are finally back at Deepdean, and the school is preparing for a most exciting event: the fiftieth Anniversary. Plans for a weekend of celebrations are in full swing. But all is not well, for in the detectives' long absence, Deepdean has changed. Daisy has lost her crown to a fascinating new girl - and many of the Detective Society's old allies are now their swor...

 This is a classic of the genre, with the good and the bad that implies.     Title: The Singing Wilderness Author :Sigurd F. Olson. Illustrated by Francis Lee Jaques Publication info :Kindle edition, Knopf 2017. Originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. 244 pages. Publisher's Blurb (per Goodreads): Sigurd F. Olson was for more than thirty years a wilderness guide in the Quetico-Superior country, and no one knew with the same intimacy the mysteries of the lakes and forests of that magnificent primitive area. To the many out-of-doorsmen who canoed and portaged with him through this wilderness, he was known honorifically as the Bourgeois--as the voyageurs of old called their trusted leaders through this same region. My Review: As is common with classics of nature and the outdoors, this book has both aged well, and aged poorly. There is no question that it is a beautiful paeon to the author's home, the lakes and streams on the boundary between Canada and the US on...

Participating today in the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattrige of Always in the Middle . Check out his blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. I've been discovering some great reads there.   Title: Half Moon Summer 
Author : 
Elaine Vickers. Read by Mark Sanderlin and Charley Flyte Publication Info : 
Peachtree, 2023. Audiobook by Listening Library, 4 hours. Source: Library 

Publisher’s Blurb: 

 Two seventh graders discover it takes more than grit and a good pair of shoes to run 13.1 miles. You’ve got to have a partner who refuses to let you quit. Drew was never much of a runner. Until his dad’s unexpected diagnosis. Mia has nothing better to do. Until she realizes entering Half Moon Bay’s half-marathon could solve her family’s housing problems. And just like that they decide to spend their entire summer training to run 13.1 miles. Drew and Mia have very different reasons for running, but these two twelve year olds have...

Bet you thought I was never going to get around to posting some photos, or anything else this weekend!  Back in August, I spent 12 days walking another segment of the WA PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). Today we'll look at the 1st three days and a bit, while I had company. We entered near the Crystal Mountain ski resort, and climbed the Goat Lake trail to the PCT at Barnard Pass. Since we had a late start, the first night was just under 4 miles--and 2200' of climb--to Goat Lake, one of innumerable lakes so-named in the Cascades (and probably the Rockies and anywhere else mountain goats hang out). The "trail" to the lake seemed to be mostly a matter of following where the elk had led, which wasn't altogether comfortable. In fact, we didn't even go to the lake, which was kind of a sad puddle. We found a camp a quarter mile away not far from a bunch of springs feeding a decent creek. The sun that had plagued us on the long, hot climb gave way to fog by dinner time, a p...