About the Author

Kathleen Dodge first shouldered a backpack at the tender age of 10 when her dad forced her to walk around the neighborhood with a pack full of encyclopedias to prepare for her inaugural overnight outing in Yosemite. From the first heavily laden step, a love affair was born, and a thirst for backcountry adventure has led Kathleen to decades of starry nights in her native California. Kathleen toasted her 30th birthday from the top of Mount Whitney after completing the John Muir Trail for the first time, and she has returned every summer thereafter. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Kathleen also spends her time leading hiking and biking trips around the globe, travel-writing, and planning her next adventure while holed up in Oakland and San Francisco cafes with great books.