No comments about City Smart: Richmond.

3 comments about Day and Overnight Hikes in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest.

1. I just got back from a hiking/camping experience I'll never forget. I'd never been to the Monongahela, or "Mon," as it is known, but when I saw this new hiking book I thought I would give it a try. The first hike, to Rohrbaugh Overlook, in the Dolly Sods, stunned me. Have you ever just known you were in the right place at the right time? That's how I felt, while looking over the Red Creek Valley surrounded by rock outcrops jutting from green forests. After a little national forest camping, I headed down to the Cranberry Wilderness, enjoying Molloy's Middle Fork overnight backpacking loop. The Middle Fork Cranberry River flowed clear beneath stately yellow birch trees and when I got up to the highcountry, the scent of spruce trees provided an aromatic backdrop for a night beneath the stars. Unfortunately the work bell rang and I had to return to Pittsburgh, but with 31 other day hikes and nine overnight backpacking loops in this book I shall return to the "Mon" many more times. This is a very useful and interesting book... perfect for anyone considering hiking in this area!



2. West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest is the mid-Atlantic's best kept secret. Sure, there are a few popular destinations, like the Dolly Sods, but there are so many other places to go in the "Mon". But with over a million acres of land, it's hard to figure out exactly where to go. That's where Mr. Molloy's new book comes in. It has there and back day hikes and overnight loops. It rates each hike and then gives a running narrative of the trail you are on. What is really nice, in my opinion are the concise directions to each trailhead, saving time and getting me to where I really want to be, and that is on the trail.



3. Recently, I visited Monongahela on vacation with my wife. What a truly fabulous place, rich in flora and fauna. And we used this book to guide us through. Each trail description (choose from 30 day hikes and 10 overnight) offers commentary on scenery, trail condition, difficulty, accessibility for children and solitude.

No comments about Carter's Grove: The Story of a Virginia Plantation.

5 comments about Living on Wilderness Time.

1. I actually learned of this book from the author on a rainy Georgia afternoon while touring her beautiful backyard garden which was part of a local tour. She and her husband Jerome were so interesting and kind to me and my tour buddy whom I also just met that day! This all proves once again, there are no accidents.
   
   After our garden tour, Jerome led us on a tour of his photography gallery. He explained that he took the stunning pictures when he joined Melissa several times out on her wilderness adventure. The sights were spectacular.
   
   Since I had traveled by car/van out west myself in my 20's and 30's, I was curious about a 50 year old gal out on her own in a tent! Immediately on returning home I ordered the book. I could hardly put it down! WOW, did she have some amazing experiences out there!
   
   Melissa is descriptive in the scenery, the people she meets along the way and her personal feelings and challenges while touring our nations wilderness country alone . . . and with a few new found friends from the trails.
   
   As a woman who's recently turned 50, I can relate to her own life curiosities of wanting to make a difference in our country. The fact that she actually made the quest on her own, and lived to tell the tale is so inspiring!
   
   Her travels make it seem possible that I too could pack up my CRV and hit the road again with a more deliberate purpose and find my own calm inner spirit by becoming one with our Motherland.
   
   This would make a great gift book for any woman who is at, or is reaching, that middle age point of life re-evaluation and personal self discovery. It's a book you'll cherish if you love the out of doors, animals, big skys and peeing in the middle of the wide open spaces! Her personal humor is a blast!
   
   Buy it, read it, share it with others! I feel blessed to have met Melissa and Jerome. They are now a part of my life journey!



2. I loved this book. I can't imagine having the "guts" to do what she did, I feel too vulnerable as a female. We are too easily overcome by strength, but I think she used her wits not to put her into these situations. I loved it when she hit the guy in the stomach for blocking her in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   
   There were two mistakes in the text however: page 65 "when I thought I might encounter the largest predator to roam the wilderness." The male polar bear is the largest land predator to roam the wilderness I believe, not the grizzly, and upon checking several resources they seem to agree. page 73: "then the next day we drove all the way across the state of Washington to the Olympic Peninsula National Park, east of Seattle." Upon checking a map, this peninsula and park appear to be west of Seattle. When I read mistakes like this in books I wonder why they haven't been caught by editors?????



3. My sister told me to read this book and I liked it so much, I returned the half read book to the library and bought one of my own so I could savour it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (She is right, I live in Washington, and the Olympic National Park is west of Seattle, not east as the text says.)



4. Very Inspirational when we all loose ourselves in the hustle of everyday life, I have adapted the saying Wilderness Time every time I feel rushed, it has a calming effect on me now, even being a outdoor addict, there are many of times I feel rushed in the outdoors. The book has made me appreciate that time more.
   
   I did not give the book 5 stars, simply because there was to much reference to Melissa being with someone, in a resort, in a hotel, and not being "alone" as the book lead me to beleive, I realize all the people she was with were for resources, but it got to be to much. Pretty picky I know! I always felt there she be more to the story that never got answered or told.



5. I purchased this book because of all the high ratings. Being a 50 year old woman myself I eagerly anticipated a " WILD " read. Melissa Walker claims she spent some 200 days within the wilderness...I wonder how many days she alone was in the deep wilderness. There was not one chapter in which she wasn't mentioning names of whom she was with on many legs of her journey. It seemed to me like she took a few weeks of solitary sojourning and heavily peppered them with experiences she had with others.
   
   I myself have lived on the Olympic Peninsula for twenty years. Within the last year I have seen elk herds numerous times (layed in a meadow and watched them graze) coyotes, cougar, bobcat, red fox, mink and bear. I consider myself fortunate but wouldn't blow it up and state that I live in the wilderness simply because I share my land with these amazing creatures.
   
   I gave her the rating I did simply because she had a dream and pursued it. Some parts of it were informative and I did find it interesting to see when the named Wilderness Areas actually came into the system for protection.
   
   I also felt that Melissa Walker was very blaise about the dangers that anyone may encounter by the " Human Animal " while hiking in the wilderness and the need to be prepared to protect oneself. Just two years ago a mother and daughter were out for a day hike near Mt. Pilchuck which is Northeast of Seattle and were brutally murdered
   
   All in all I was very disappointed and would not recommend this book to anyone.

No comments about First Colonists: Documents on the Planting of the First English Settlements in North America, 1584-1590.

No comments about West Virginia State Road Map.

No comments about PACIFIC FLAVOURS, SECOND EDITION: Guidebook and Cookbook (Flavours Guidebook & Cookbook).

No comments about Midland: Her Continuing Story (MI) (Images of America).

No comments about Lethal Passage: How the Travels of a Single Handgun Expose the Roots of America's Gun Crisis.

No comments about The Best in Tent Camping: Virginia: A Guide to Campers Who Hate RVs, Concrete Slabs, and Loud Portable Stereos.