High Summer: Backpacking the Canadian Rockies

The updated second edition of a hiking classic: High Summer, the true story of the first thru-hike of Canada's Rocky Mountains.

The full end-to-end traverse on foot of Canada's Rocky Mountains is one of North America's greatest hiking challenges. By the late 1980s, it had never been completed. When long-distance backpacker Chris Townsend heard about the route, he couldn't resist it.

The Canadian Rockies offer everything a wilderness connoisseur could desire. There are glaciated peaks, forested valleys, remote tracts where solitude can be found, and abundant wildlife-grizzly bears, wolves, moose and wolverines among them. From celebrated national parks in the south, to vast undeveloped regions in the north, the range is filled with natural wonders... many only accessible to a lone traveller on foot.

In June 1988, Chris Townsend set out to discover this range for himself. With no set route to follow, he pioneered his own path, first linking established trails, then heading cross-country into a trackless land. He walked, not to be the first to complete the route, but instead to treasure the journey, and above all to spend long enough in the wild for it to come to feel like home. Challenged by rough weather and even rougher terrain, sometimes navigating from suggestions received in frontier settlements or by dead reckoning, his backpacking skills were pushed to the limit. He began the journey as a hiker, but over 1,600 miles had to evolve into something more: an explorer.

First published in 1989, this new and updated edition of High Summer features a new introduction by the author, new footnotes, and over 100 black and white photos from the hike, many never before seen. Written by a passionate advocate for wild places, and told with honesty and authenticity, High Summer will take the reader on an engrossing journey into a wilderness that very few people will ever experience for themselves.