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Description
(Short description)
In the grand tradition of the travel memoir, Andreas M. Cohrs presents an awesome guide to the less visited regions of California as well as a glance into what makes up the Golden State and its glittering mentality.Through a chain of serendipitous events, Cohrs gained access to the belongings of the late backpacking icon, Colin Fletcher. Based on the outdoor guru's original maps, notes, and photos, fifty years later he retraced The Walker's hitherto untraceable thousand-mile journey along the lengthy spine of California, across the state's enchanting deserts and over the snow-laden High Sierra.With maps accompanying each chapter, drawn by Fletcher's cartographer David Lindroth, more than 100 photos, and with stories from the trail, Cohrs tells a compelling tale of one of the most varied and fascinating regions on our planet.Yet, as the title reveals, California Serendipity is more than a hiking guide that lays Fletcher's original route at your feet for the first time. It takes the reader on a crash course through the state's early history and its unique nature into finding the only true answer to Fletcher's concern whether his 1958-trip could ever be repeated.With his narrative travel writing, Cohrs conveys the intimate sensations of what it means to venture upon a four-month trek, unpretentious but up close and affective, and why serendipity will travel with you, rewarding you with the most unexpected encounters, when you take the right turn.
(Text)
Be it fate or happenstance, while perusing a flea market, Cohrs came across a 99¢-copy of an old book, The Thousand-Mile Summer, written by acclaimed author, environmentalist, and backpacking icon, the late Colin Fletcher. The book documents Fletcher's adventure to walk the length of California from Mexico to the Oregon border, a journey undertaken in 1958. Cohrs was so inspired while reading about this contemplative hike through the deserts and the High Sierra that he decided to celebrate a 50th- anniversary voyage, retrace Fletcher's footsteps and find out if he was right in stating that "this trip could never be repeated". While researching and planning the journey, serendipity struck again. Through a chain of the most incredulous events, Cohrs was granted access to Fletcher's belongings and was therefore able to retrace the exact route based on the original maps, notes, and hundreds of photos.So once again, a walker set out to take a look at America while comparing Fletcher'sobservations from 50 years ago with today's. Cohrs has written about and photographed California's wilderness, its remotest places, the freaks of nature, and the various experiences and characters encountered along the way. The book is laced with interesting facts about flora and fauna as well as information about the earliest explorers and the history of the places that both Fletcher and Cohrs came to experience while passing through these less visited regions of the state.Among the highlights were those experiences that occurred during times when his solitude while walking in the vast wilderness overlapped with brief sojourns in the small towns along the way. It was there that he discovered the hospitality of the people, unfailing good and kind and generous. Time and again when he walked into a small town, he was a king for a day. Perhaps the most unexpected encounter, though, and a great inspiration were the lessons one learns about oneself on an extended journey like this.
(Author portrait)
Thomas Lindemann, Jahrgang 1972, arbeitete nach Abschluss seines Psychologiestudiums als freier Journalist und schrieb für verschiedene Zeitungen und Magazine, u. a. für Jetzt , Stern und die Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . Seit 2006 ist er Feuilletonredakteur bei der Welt . Familie Heilmann-Lindemann lebt mit ihren zwei Söhnen in Berlin, drittes Kind nicht ausgeschlossen.
