Kathy and Craig are dedicated to each other, and to hiking, in that order. Their second date was a 32-km (20-mile) dayhike in Arizona. Since then they haven’t stopped for long.
They’ve trekked through much of the world’s vertical topography, including the Himalayas, Patagonian Andes, Pyrenees, French Alps, Scottish Highlands, Dolomites, Sierra Nevada, North Cascades, Colorado Rockies, New Zealand, Spain’s Costa Blanca Mountains, and canyons of the American Southwest. In 1989, they moved from the U.S. to Canada, so they could live near the Canadian Rockies, the range that inspired Don’t Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies: The Opinionated Hiking Guide. It was the first of their refreshingly unconventional guidebooks.
While living in Vancouver, British Columbia, they explored the Coast Mountains and the North Cascades, then wrote hiking guidebooks on each of those ranges. Later, while living in a cabin on fiord-like Kootenay Lake (between B.C.’s Purcell and Selkirk mountains), they researched and wrote a hiking guidebook on that area.
Kathy and Craig have since returned to the Canadian Rockies and now live in Canmore, Alberta. Their desire to hike, however, keeps them travelling constantly. For example, they migrate each spring and fall to the high-desert canyon country of southern Utah. Their guidebook on that sensual, other-worldly landscape is especially stimulating.
Kathy and Craig agree: no matter how arduous the trail, or how severe the conditions, hiking is the easiest of the many tasks necessary to create a guidebook. What they find most challenging is having to sit. They spend twice as much time at their computers writing, organizing, editing, checking facts, rewriting, re-organizing, re-editing, re-checking facts as they do on the trail.
The result is worth it. Kathy and Craig’s colourful writing, opinionated commentary, and enthusiasm for the joys of hiking make their guidebooks uniquely helpful and compelling.
Go to their website at hikingcamping. Click on Authors to see a TV interview with them, and also to listen to Craig s speech, Why the World Needs More Hikers.
Click on Images to view slideshows of many of the world’s most exciting hiking destinations. Follow the nomads, Kathy and Craig, by clicking on Blog.
In the midst of sprawling, feral, Jasper National Park is a unique town of the same name. Jasper still has the look, the feel, indeed the substance of a frontier outpost. Yes, there are restaurants, hotels, shops, and everything else travelers need. And what Jasper doesn’t have you won’t miss. You’ll be grateful it’s not there. No glitz. No hype. No buzz. Jasper has foresworn the growth at any cost mentality that afflicts most of North America. It has peace and authenticity, which are deeply endearing to visitors in search of the genuine Canadian Rockies.
Done in a Day Jasper describes where to invest your limited hiking time to enjoy the greatest scenic reward. Choose an easy, vigorous, or challenging hike. Start your adventure within a short drive of town. Witness the wonder of Jasper National Park and be back for a great great meal, and soft bed.
Jasper is four hours drive north from Banff town, along the spectacular Icefields Parkway.
Done in a Day Jasper: The 10 Premier Hikes 
Moon Canadian Rockies: Including Banff & Jasper National Parks
As a travel writer and photographer, Andrew Hempstead has spent many years exploring, photographing, and writing about Canada. He looks forward to spending every second summer at home in the Canadian Rockies, traveling mountain highways and hiking trails, exploring new places and updating old favorites. He spends as much time as possible on the road, traveling incognito, experiencing the many and varied delights of the region just as his readers do. The result is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of information available for traveling in the Canadian Rockies.
Andrew has been writing since the late 1980s, when he left an established career in advertising and took off for Alaska, linking up with veteran travel writer Deke Castleman to research and update the fourth edition of the Moon Handbook to Alaska and the Yukon. Since then he has produced several guides to Canada, including guidebooks to British Columbia, Vancouver and Victoria, Alberta, Western Canada, Atlantic Canada, and Nova Scotia. He is also the author of Moon guidebooks to Australia and New Zealand, and a contributor to Moon San Juan Islands, Road Trip USA, Northwest Best Places, and Eyewitness Guide to the USA, as well as the updater of The Illustrated Guide to New Zealand. His writing and photographs have appeared in a wide variety of other media, including National Geographic Traveler, Travesias, Where, Interval World, Microsoft’s Automap, and on the Alaska Airlines and Expedia websites.
The website WesternCanadaTravel.com showcases Andrews work, while also providing invaluable planning tips for travelers heading to Canada.
Moon Canadian Rockies: Including Banff & Jasper National Parks (Moon Handbooks)
