Outdoor Adventures

From the majestic redwoods and rocky shores in the north to the palm trees and wide, sandy beaches in the south, the California coast is an area of unsurpassed beauty and diversity. This thoroughly revised and expanded 7th edition of the California Coastal Access Guide is an essential travel handbook for both new and seasoned visitors exploring California's majestic 1,271-mile shoreline. With up-to-date maps and information, it is an invaluable travel guide for all coastal visitors--beachgoers, hikers, campers, swimmers, divers, surfers, anglers, and boaters--detailing where to go, how to get there, and what facilities and environment to expect. The 7th edition features: --Information on more than 1,150 public access areas --Descriptions of campgrounds, trails, recreation areas, and visitor centers --Addresses, directions, and phone numbers --Information on wheelchair-accessible trails and facilities --Easy-to-read charts listing facilities and amenities --More than 170 color maps showing roads, trails and topography --More than 360 color photographs

Year after year, hundreds of millions of visitors spend more than a billion hours enjoying the magnificent, astonishingly diverse realm overseen by America's National Park Service. And the National Geographic Society has been involved with this forward-looking, environmentally-minded department from the very beginning.This extensive travel planner covers not just the 58 official National Parks but also the nearly 350 additional properties in the Park Service's domain. The premier Parks are described in detail, but equal attention is given to the National Monuments, Memorials, Preserves, Historic Sites, Battlefields, Cemeteries, and Seashores, not to mention a network of "National Trails" and even the intriguingly referred to "Affiliated Areas." From Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty, from the hallowed ground of Gettysburg National Military Park to the Pacific waters shrouding Hawaii's U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, this catalog spans American history and territory both, with practical advice on how to reach each park, when to go, and what to do there.

A collection of personal stories and reflections based on the memoirs of Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. Honouring High Places is a compelling collection of highlights from Junko Tabei's stirring life that she considered important, inspiring and interesting to mountaineering culture. Until now, her works have been available only in Japanese, and RMB is honoured to be sharing these profound and moving stories with the English-speaking world for the first time. The collection opens on Mount Everest, where the first all-women's expedition is met with disaster but pushes on against all odds. The story then shifts to the early years of Tabei's life and reflects on her countryside childhood as a frail girl with no talent for sport, and cultural expectations that ignored her passion for mountains. With reminiscences of the early days of female climbers on Everest, the deaths of fellow mountaineers, Tabei's pursuit of Mount Tomur, a cancer diagnosis, and efforts to restore a love for nature in the surviving youth of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, this beautifully curated collection of essays captures the essence of a notable time and the strength of character of one of the 20th and 21st centuries' female mountaineering pioneers.

"A fascinating study of the trees, shrubs, and vines that feed the insects, birds, and other animals in the suburban garden." --The New York Times   As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife--native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals.   But there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference.  

Anthropologist Jasmina Praprotnik met Helena Zigon while running. Over the course of an icy Slovenian winter, the two marathon runners got together frequently, and Zigon told Praprotnik about her life. Here, Praprotnik tells Zigon's captivating story in Zigon's own voice. Each chapter is marked by a kilometer of the half-marathon Zigon ran along the Adriatic Sea on her eighty-sixth birthday, shortly after losing her husband of sixty years, Stane. Zigon's life spanned most of the twentieth century. She witnessed the Second World War, the rise and fall of Yugoslavia, and the founding of the new state of Slovenia. Abandoned by her parents and having grown up poor and mistreated by her stepmother, Zigon demonstrates the stoic resilience of a long-suffering Slavic woman. Though beset with challenges, she found a source of strength in the act of running. From a young girl running errands to an old woman running in the face of new grief, running has been a bright thread braided throughout her life. It has served her as a balm and a joy--one that she is grateful to still be able to savor. This inspirational memoir will appeal to general readers, especially those interested in history and running.