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Summary: Scraping Heaven Merges the Sublime with the Nitty Gritty
Review: Some adventure books are driven along with the end goal in mind, a striving to reach something, building to a climax. The book, Scraping Heaven, is a story where the end, the finish, is not as important as in these other tales. It is an adventure where the goal is the path,where Cindy Ross's dreams and life force become the motivation for the day-to-day jounrey along the Rocky Mountain spine of the Continental Divide. Experiences are what matter, both sublime and the nitty gritty. She writes beautifully about her young son, "Bryce stands calmly on the rock ledge with the very exposed and rugged view behind him; pink cheeks and blue eyes the color of the mountain lake peep out from his dirty hood. His rosebud little-boy lips curve up in a smile, and he looks like the prince of this exquisite domain- his kingdom, his gold. My Continental Divide son." Or how remote a place feels like home: "How can such a wild, unknown place come to feel so familiar?...You must live in it. You have to immerse yourself in the sylvan streams, the sunrises and sunsets, the sound of bugling elk. Living in the Tetons makes them yours. It's a different kind of ownership, a different kind of home, and perhaps it's more lasting." You can feel and hear what she writes about; "Afterward we lie on large rocks that have soaked up the sun's rays to warm and dry ourselves. The kids yell across the lake to the granite cirque we sit in and it echoes their voices. The land is talking back to them, and it tells them of the largeness of their world." Cindy does not gloss over the details of the nitty gritty: the personality clashes, the stinky socks, the kids fighting about getting cooties from drinking out of the same side of the water bottle, washing boogers out of hankies in lake water, and how intimacy with her husband tends to evaporate on the trail. Sometimes the sublime merges with the nitty gritty:
"At night it's a land of yipping coyotes and stars so abundant that if you are a little boy, and wake up in the middle of the night, you stand and stare with your mouth open and your head tilted way back, and you pee on yourself because you just can't believe how many stars there are in the sky." What really emerges from these pages is the author's love of life. The only thing stronger that that is her love of family. Heh Ophra, Heh Kelly & Regis- You want books that are saturated with tales of strong women and families bonding while fighting daunting obstacles together? Here's your next book! This family even confronts the big questions:
"My Catholic faith of 42 years has left me wanting. After our hike last year, wew returned to our church, and a priest who is fond of preaching hell and damnation and sin. After one Mass, Sierra said, "We leave here feeling worse. I feel closer to God on the trail. Why do we go? And I started to wonder that myself" Together they are living the big question, "How does one truly live?" Cindy's kids grew up on the backbone of the world, the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Eventually they came to a finish line at the Mexican border. I wished at that point that the book could go on. But in the Epilogue, we get the feeling that there will be more tales to tell from this wilderness family in the promise of the future. More good stories from Cindy Ross- mother, wife, and life explorer.
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Summary: Scraping Heaven- A Truly Inspirational Read
Review: There are so many so-called spiritual books but to me they all pale by comparision to "Scraping Heaven." Cindy Ross has told a story which is truly inspirational.
From ointment on her llama, Jupiter's tush, fears of lions capturing her daughter, Sierra, singing her way through the tough times, the sweetness of her son, Bryce with being memsmerized by an aster and all the "angles" along the way- her journey across the mountains was full of love, spirit, and generosity.
The comments she made on her and her husband, Todd, the gender differences which are so common and yet so difficult, make it easy for readers to relate to the viccisitudes of marriage.
She was sometimes lonely, but she managed to find a way to admire her husband for his strength. That took strength on her part. She asked, "Who should I be true to? To my husband? To myself?" These are universal questions and are so helpful to readers.
Of course, her love of nature, adventures and her beautiful children shine throughout the book, seeing them as jewels, hiking with their little hands in hers or dancing nude in the sunlight. Precious.
I'm so glad Cindy Ross wrote this book!
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Summary: Hiking with Family and Llamas is HEAVEN!
Review: This is the best book I have read that conveys the true feeling of hiking in the wilderness. There are rainy days, there are sunny days, there are sore feet... and then you see a rainbow on top of a high mountain pass and suddenly you know you are not alone, there really is a God in Heaven. "Scraping Heaven" is as good as it gets. If you enjoy the great outdoors, add this book to your memories. If you have not hiked in the wilderness, it should be required reading.
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Summary: A long-distance trek testing hearts and minds
Review: Two long-distance hikers who have spent a lifetime hiking tackle the 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail -with children in tow - in Scraping Heaven, an involved and involvingly dramatic story of a long-distance trek testing hearts and minds. Any interested in stories of survival and the outdoors will find Scraping Heaven to be a thoroughly moving, intensely memorable account of a family's impossible endeavor.
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Summary: Scraping Heaven Touches All the Bases
Review: What a warm, wonderful and utterly real account of Cindy Ross's epic trip on the Continental Divide Trail. No other writer gets so much of the nitty-gritty of trail life and human relations into a travel book, while keeping us well minded of the grand scenes around you. From the mundane to the sublime, Scraping Heaven touches all the bases (and a few others where angels fear to tread). I never thought that a book with so many references to bodily functions could be so entertaining. But perhaps her greatest gift as a writer is the way she strives to see things from everyone else's viewpoint- adults, kids, even llamas.
The whole family accomplished this incredible feat together, and I'm in awe of all four of them, and in particular, "Trail Boss," Todd, Cindy's husband, who seemed to tackle the most strenuous physical and mental tasks so well. All they had to organize, beg, borrow and deal for, co-ordinate and endure as he marshalled his traveling circus along the Divide. I know what it's like to solo backpack and it requires all of your resources, spiritual and physical.
Thanks Cindy for a great read and a major dose of inspiration!
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Summary: A Dissapointment
Review: When i first saw this book on the bookshelf I was excited about reading the very appealing story of this family and the way they journeyed along the Contintental Divide Trail. I very much enjoy reading outdoor adventure books such as Bill Bryson's "A Walk In the Woods" and Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air". Both excellent and well written stories. I picked up this book with similar expectations. I was very dissapointed to say the least. The story was redundent, not well written and extremely self-indulgent. Another problem I had with this book was the constant projection of thoughts and feelings onto her husband and children. Instead of telling a compelling story of long distance hiking with her familiy, friends and llamas, the author tries too hard to create a platform for her contrived introspection. She ends up portraying herself as very narcissistic. My recommendation: Save your money.
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