As many of you know I have written a guidebook to the Wind River Mountains. It should be printed in the next few weeks. I am getting a website set up and will post the link here when I get it all ready. I am not really trying to sell the book on this forum. It is just that a lot of you have sent me personal messages and wanted to know when the book will be available. People have been sending me personal messages - so instead of answering each one- here is a summary of the book.

It is an off-trail backpacking guidebook for ADVANCED backpackers. It is NOT a comprehensive guide of the Wind Rivers and NOT a trail guide for beginners. Because of page constraints I have focused on the off-trail portions, thus no cute stories or descriptions of flora, fauna, etc - just did not have room. It is more technical writing than bedside reading. The book presents 48 specific routes, from 3-days to two weeks, most being about a week. Seven of the routes are very difficult and require mountaineering experience. There are also several routes suitable for someone who is an experienced backpacker but who has never gone off-trail. But if you are a raw beginner, the book may be good reading for future trips, but I certainly am not encouraging beginners to do ANY of the routes that I describe. Also, the book is NOT a fishing guide. I do mention some places with good fishing but this is just an aside. One chapter is devoted to the Wind River Indian Reservation - an area with very little information currently available.

A detailed suggested "travel plan" is presented for each route. The travel plan is handy for those who have not been in the Wind Rivers before. I also rated each travel increment somewhat like a climbing guidebook. This gives a pretty objective idea of the difficulty of each route.

I ended up putting the 71 route maps in an appendix in the book, however the maps are in gray-scale and if you have old eyes like mine, you may have to use a magnifying glass to see everything. Being in the back of the book the maps are also a bit unhandy. So, I also offer an optional CD that has the maps in PDF format, in color, so you can print out your own maps. The CD also has "virtual tours" of the routes so you can droll over lots of color photos!

I honestly do not know when the books will be printed and when I will have them in my hand. I would guess 2 weeks at best. The printer has the final draft now.

Getting my website up and running is my goal this week. Anybody who can give me advise on websites, I sure need it! I know that a few of you have your own websites. I will have a sub-domain name on my husband's website - hey, maybe those who need a CPA would also want a guidebook! I read all the stuff on having a unique website versus a sub-domain. Well, it all came down to cost - zero verus something, at least for now until I pay off some of my expenses.

For all you who have shown interest, thanks for being so patient and your support.

So you don't cover any trails that I can tackle in my flip-flops

In all seriousness, it sounds great.

I can hardly wait! As you know, I do mostly on-trail hiking, but for next summer I do have two off-trail segments planned (one being the one you did last summer from the Doubletop Mountain trail to the New Fork trail via Thompson and Hidden Lakes, the other being the one you described to me a couple of years ago, through the pass between Island Lake and Wall Lake). In the future, should the Lord allow me to keep going, I'd like to go to Golden and Alpine Lakes (not quite off-trail, but certainly unofficial, unmaintained trail). I'm glad you have the precautions listed on these routes, because I'm definitely not into glacier travel nor do I want to be going through very much boulder fields or scree (for my dog's sake as well as my own). Much of my reading will therefore be "wishful thinking" rather than something I'll actually do, but that doesn't make it any less interesting!

I have friends (who do more serious stuff than I do, like the LooWit Trail around Mt. St. Helens which has significantly washed-out portions!) who went to the Winds for the very first time last summer and are seriously interested in going back for some off-trail hiking. They took only the stupid Earthwalk Press map last summer, and as you know, that's completely useless for anything off-trail! I'm sure they will be interested in your book, too! So that's definitely one and maybe two copies you'll sell around here!

When I get mine, I'll review it on several Pacific NW area forums, which hopefully may boost your sales!

Since the other guidebooks to the Winds are all over 15 years old, yours is needed!

Sounds cool. I've always considered the Indian Passes, Angel Pass, Tiny Glacier Pass, Upper Ross Lk, etc etc etc the real TH's to the Wind's.

Thanks for all of your effort.

I'll pick one up just for your Rez suggestions, the only place I've never been.

Congrats on getting your work published. I've got my site finally up and running. I took the easiest way I could, and I did my own page as well.
I went with GoDaddy, and it is 5$ a month for my site. Pretty cheap. I have a single page with a short info section, and then a Buy Now button for Paypal.
You can list your site with all the big names for free, and then when searched you can show up on their searches.
I'm no web designer, but wanted something out there cheap and easy. I bought web software for $10 on ebay. Let me know if I can help with any details of how I set mine up.
Good Luck!
Steve

For more information on availability of the guidebook check out my website;

backpackwindrivers.mcreynoldscpa.com

I am still setting up PayPal - hope to have it working next week. For those who want to use PayPal right now, check out graydogpress.com

The link doesn't seem to work--can you provide the full URL? Thanks!

I couldn't find anything about your book on graydogpress, either.

Gray Dog press has not put it on their website yet.

I just tested my website address and it works.

http://www.mcreynoldscpa.com/BeyondTrails

I have two linked pages with different names to help search engines pick up the book title and general backpacking quaries. If you type in backpackwindrivers.mcreynoldscpa.com in the http window, it works too.

Thanks, W_D! It looks like a great book, as I assumed it would be!

As soon as you get Paypal up, I'll be ordering!

The e-mail link on my webpage is not properly working at this time. If you want to contact me regarding the book please e-mail from your own computer :
nancy@mcreynoldscpa.com

To use the e-mail link under "contact us" on my website, you must have Outlook set up on your computer. There is no error message to indicate if the "contact us" fails. The best bet is simply to copy or type in the address and send from whatever e-mail system you use. Sorry about the long address.

backpackwindrivers@mcreynoldscpa.com

For example my computer is set up for Outlook Express. Little did I know that Outlook Express is NOT Outlook! Now I know why I never got a reply from Tarp Tent when I sent a message through their "contact us" link!

I am adding a warning about this on my webpage.

What a bummer! A lot of us don't use Outlook in any way, shape or form, preferring to use non-Microsoft products!

Really looking forward to reading your book. While doing the "virtual trip" on your website, I was drooling!