This is a book about backpacking and high mountain exploration. Although it is not a guide in the traditional sense, the stories in this book will introduce the reader to three very special places: the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado, the Maroon Bells Wilderness in central Colorado, and the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico. These are spectacular landscapes, and worth seeing.But what this book is really about is the experience of being out on the open trail. It is about the unbridled joy of being out in the wilderness and daring to do things that are hard. It is about freedom and uncertainty and exploration and camaraderie. It is a little bit about fishing. But more than anything, this book is about self-discovery, about the philosophical underpinnings of self-awareness, although happily, not in a way that is too hard or intellectually challenging. This book is, in a nutshell, a guide that will get you through those difficult moments when the rest of the world is silent, when you can’t hear or be heard, because the bathroom door is shut.