We're in the Mountains Not over the Hill

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We're in the Mountains Not over the Hill: Tales and Tips from Seasoned Women Backpackers (book)

Susan Alcorn’s book is one of the few voices from the older women who are long distance hikers and backpackers. The women interviewed in this book have been backpacking for the pleasure of it, some of them for more than seventy years. The story is told in an oral history format, the stories of the women interviewed interwoven with the author's experiences.

The author interviewed thirty six women backpackers, most over the age of forty five, some well known, most just taking the wilderness in stride. Her book is a blend of stories and how to information. In her earlier oral history book Richmond - Windows to the Past a lot of the focus was on pictures of the past, here the focus is on the stories.

Two of the women in the book were not available for interviews, being long dead, but their stories were included since they were so significant to the early history of women in the wilderness. One was Emma Gatewood, and early walker of the Appalachian Trail, and the other was Isabella Bird, a victorian lady who had to travel extensively for her health.