LITMIR.BIZ

Walking Toward Peace shares the intimate stories of veterans who, post-deployment, have wrestled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Through a process called «ecotherapy,» spending time in nature to promote healing and mental health, they have found new tools to deal with issues that have resulted from combat experiences: survivor’s guilt, nightmares, lack of trust, depression, hypervigilance, thoughts of suicide, and lack of purpose. Some veterans profiled here have gone to extremes, spending months on long-distance expeditions, like hiking the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail or canoeing the 2,320-mile Mississippi River. For many others, however, brief excursions in the outdoors offer an opportunity for healing. Author Cindy Ross examines current research and perspectives of professional therapists and provides information on organizations devoted to healing veterans in the outdoors. Each featured veteran is depicted in an illustrated portrait. Veterans share their stories, frequently as they sit by a campfire, describing wartime traumas and their present lives. Through their collective voices what becomes clear is that anyone suffering from any form of PTSD may discover the powerful comfort and healing that can be found in the outdoors.

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“Not only are readers given the opportunity to experience the sheer beauty and at times frightening dangers of the trail, but they also watch two children grow and learn to call the trail their home. Well written, captivating, and incredibly educational, this adventure is a lesson in the simplicity of life and the beauty of accomplishment.” —Publishers Weekly "This is both an epic adventure of the first order and the heartwarming story of the family who accomplished it." —San Francisco Chronicle Now available for the first time in paperback and ebook, Scraping Heaven is the story of a family’s adventurous trek over the rooftop of North America—a warm and heartfelt account with a powerful message for parents, long-distance hikers, and outdoor adventurers alike. The Continental Divide Trail, a rugged 3100-mile footpath running along the crest of the Rocky Mountains from Canada to Mexico, is infamous for its tricky mountain passes and snowy traverses. In 1993, Cindy Ross, her husband, and their two toddlers set out together on the Trail. Using llamas as kid-carriers and packers, they successfully hiked the entire route over the next five summers, covering the last 700 miles on tandem mountain bikes in 1998. A keenly observant storyteller, Ross deftly interweaves evocative descriptions of the landscape with dramatic accounts of sudden snowstorms, gale-force winds strong enough to lift a child, and heart-pounding wildlife encounters. Through it all, her intimate reflections on marriage, family, and children provide depth and interest far beyond the high Rocky Mountain peaks. Scraping Heaven features a new afterword by the author.

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“Cindy Ross does not claim to be a heroine. Her book is about the fear of an ordinary person doing extraordinary things. . . . It is good to read of someone who is just crammed full of courage, guts, spirit and determination.” —Smoke Blanchard, Walking Up and Down in the World Cindy Ross had already hiked the 2000-mile length of the Appalachian Trail when, hoping to escape a deadening daily routine and sort out her life, she returned to the wild. But this time it was a more rugged arena: the Pacific Crest Trail, a mostly mountainous, 2600-mile route from Mexico to Canada, vastly different from the relatively gentle, well-traveled Appalachian Trail. Her trip began—badly—in the California desert, where the hiking “partner” she had selected from an advertisement proved to be totally inexperienced and so strange that they parted company the first day. Continuing alone, Ross soon became the de facto leader of a motley, ever-changing crew of PCT walkers that came to be known as “Cindy’s Circus.” Long, rugged hiking days produced physical ailments and strong emotions, but in confronting and surmounting these challenges, Ross grew in strength. After many months and several major changes in her life, Ross beat fall snows and storms to reach the Canadian border. More than the end of the trail, this was also a symbolic milestone in her life. In narrating her story, Ross deftly brings the reader into the physical and emotional landscape of long-distance hiking. Her cast of “Crest characters” is sharply drawn in both words and sketches.

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