Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Alta California: From San Diego to San Francisco, a Journey on Foot to Rediscover the Golden State

Alta California: From San Diego to San Francisco, a Journey on Foot to Rediscover the Golden State

Neely, Nick

Paperback

Travel GeneralTravel WritingWest

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 164009444X
ISBN13: 9781640094444
Publisher: Counterpoint Pr
Published: Jun 9 2020
Pages: 432
Weight: 1.16
Height: 1.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
National Bestseller: This fascinating account of one man's 650-mile trek from San Diego to San Francisco captures the many layers of California's fiendishly complex history.

[Makes] you fall, or refall, in love with California . . . wildfires and insane housing prices and all . . . What a journey, you think. What a state. --San Francisco Chronicle

In 1769, an expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá sketched a route that would become, in part, the famous El Camino Real. It laid the foundation for the Golden State we know today, a place that remains as mythical and captivating as any in the world.

Despite having grown up in California, Nick Neely realized how little he knew about its history. So he set off to learn it bodily, with just a backpack and a tent, trekking through stretches of California both lonely and urban. For twelve weeks, following the journal of expedition missionary Father Juan Crespí, Neely kept pace with the ghosts of the Portolá expedition--nearly 250 years later.

Weaving natural and human history, Alta California relives Neely's adventure, while telling a story of Native cultures and the Spanish missions that soon devastated them, and exploring the evolution of California and its landscape. The result is a collage of historical and contemporary California, of lyricism and pedestrian serendipity, and of the biggest issues facing California today--water, agriculture, oil and gas, immigration, and development--all of it one step at a time.

Also from

Neely, Nick

View All

Also in

Travel Writing

View All