Salt to Summit: A Vagabond Journey from Death Valley to Mount Whitney

by Daniel Arnold

Overview

From the depths of Death Valley, Daniel Arnold set out to reach Mount Whitney in a way no road or trail could take him. Anything manmade or designed to make travel easy was out. With a backpack full of empty two-liter bottles, and the remotest corners of desert before him, he began his toughest test yet of physical and mental endurance.

Badwater Basin sits 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley, the lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere. Mount Whitney rises 14,505 feet above sea level, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Arnold spent seventeen days traveling a roundabout route from one to the other, traversing salt flats, scaling dunes, and sinking into slot canyons. Aside from bighorn sheep and a phantom mountain lion, his only companions were ghosts of the dreamers and misfits who first dared into this unknown territory. He walked in the footsteps of William Manly, who rescued the last of the forty-niners from the bottom of Death Valley; tracked John LeMoigne, a prospector who died in the sand with his burros; and relived the tales of Mary Austin, who learned the secret trails of the Shoshone Indians. This is their story too, as much as it is a history of salt and water and of the places they collide and disappear.

Guiding the reader up treacherous climbs and through burning sands, Arnold captures the dramatic landscapes as only he can with photographs to bring it all to life. From the salt to the summit, this is an epic journey across America's most legendary desert.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781582437507
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	05/22/2012
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	862,414
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Daniel Arnold began climbing the Pacific Rim volcanoes and basalt crags of his native Portland as a teenager and went on to climb throughout North and South America. His work has appeared in Rock + Ice, ZYZZYVA, and The Mountain Gazette. His two books are Salt to Summit and Early Days in the Range of Light. He lives and climbs in Sonora, CA.

Editorial Reviews

Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere, and California's Mount Whitney is the highest point in the Lower 48, making logical and extreme endpoints for outdoor writer, climber, and philosopher Arnold (Early Days in the Range of Light) to connect—and chronicle—on foot. But his meandering journey from the "deepest pile of nothing" to the "glorious pile of weathered and levered granite" is completely off the beaten path: it follows a "no-trails mandate," leading through remote canyons, across vast playas, and over brilliantly-colored peaks. Arnold's whimsy and determination turn the journey into part meditation, part history lesson, all told in evocative language. Along the way, he encounters remnants and reminders of miners, prospectors, pioneers, misfits, tourists, authors, and Native Americans. Of course, long walks are slow-paced by their nature, so the book's momentum occasionally sags; Arnold's memory for detail is both impressive and exhausting, and the inherent repetition of his days creates a sense of beautiful numbness. In the end, the tale suffers from a slight lack of drama and suspense, but then "That's the trouble with the desert when you have a destination. You'll see where you're headed for a good long while before you get there." Photos. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Early Days in the Range of Light

"Ever wish you could travel back to climbing's early days and follow the earliest first-ascent visionaries? This fantasy comes to life . . . In this elegant narrative." --Climbing Magazine

"A spirited journey . . . This well-written memoir and travelogue should find a welcome home in many climbing collections." --Kirkus

"With great originality and insight . . . This is a splendid chronicle of early climbing in the Sierra Nevada." --Royal Robbins

From the Publisher

Arnold (Early Days in the Range of Light: Encounters with Legendary Mountaineers) is one tough guy—he's not even slightly intimidated by the hazardous extremes of California's deserts and mountains he describes in a travel memoir that also offers up a hearty does of history. Aware of the dangers before him, he relishes the challenge as he sets out from the Badwater Basin in Death Valley, CA, at 282 feet below sea level to the peak of Mount Whitney at 14,505 feet above it, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Interspersed with his own experiences hiking along a route he planned himself are those of travelers who came through this area before him: Mary Arnold, who learned the secret trails of the Shoshone Indians; William Manly, who rescued the last of the forty-niners from the bottom of Death Valley; and even the infamous Charles Manson. A useful appendix of sources will help the reader consult other firsthand accounts. VERDICT Arnold infuses the narrative of his strenuous journey with eloquence. For avid outdoors types and students of California history. (Photographs not seen.)—Olga B. Wise, Austin, TX

Library Journal