I can tell you the exact moment I decided to write a children’s book featuring my beloved adventure pup, Aspen. We were wrapping up a public lands road trip with a day hike in Lamoille Canyon outside of Elko, Nevada. As we hiked up toward Liberty Lake, I reflected back on the limited places we could explore in Grand Teton National Park and how we had to drive past the National Park playgrounds in Moab since we had three dogs with us. The conversation started something like this, “Grumble grumble, I should write a book about poor Aspen that can’t find anywhere to explore because she’s not allowed anywhere!”

That sounded like a downer of a children’s book; I might as well have Cruella de Vil try to skin some adventure pups for a fur coat at that rate. Plus, it’s simply not true that Aspen isn’t allowed anywhere; Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands are primarily dog-friendly and attract a fraction of the crowds. Looking back, we may have met a handful of folks along the trail in Lamoille Canyon, which I refer to as Nevada’s Yosemite. Try only running into a handful of people in actual Yosemite on a day hike.

An idea was born in the Ruby Mountains.

Then a light bulb switched on to combine two of my passions – Aspen can teach children about Leave No Trace! She started out as a bit of an impact monster, like most pups do, but has come a long way. In the book, she has tail-wagging fun while practicing all seven of the Leave No Trace principles.

This book was two years in the making since I only seemed to be inspired to write while long-distance hiking and, although Aspen is photogenic, she isn’t one to pose for photo shoots.

Get your paws on a copy of Hiking With Aspen through Blurb. The book is available in hardcover, softcover, and a downloadable PDF – hiker’s choice. I won’t lie, print on demand is not the most cost-effective publishing option, but Blurb often has offer codes. If there isn’t one posted, contact me and I’ll notify you when the next offer is available.

Aspen in print!

Alternately, let me know if you’d like to fund a mass print job of Hiking With Aspen to bring down the cost per book. Again, hiker’s choice.

One more thing, holy bolders! I wrote a children’s book and it’s out there on the internet for people to purchase! The book is mostly to capture my adventures with Aspen, the best trail partner a girl could ask for; but hey if we sell a copy here or there, that’s awesome too.

Happy,
Trails and Aspen