Author Gail Storey and her husband Porter "wear" copies of her book, "I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail." She will visit Avid Reader Active on Friday, Oct. 4, to talk about the book. Courtesy photo

Author Gail Storey will discuss her new book about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with her husband during an appearance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, at Avid Reader Active, 605 Second St. in downtown Davis.

The book is “I Promise Not To Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail.”

With comfortable urban lives in Houston and career and life goals mostly accomplished, Storey and her husband Porter were in their 50s when they decided it was time to test themselves on a new path — a 2,663-mile path known as the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Mexico to Canada.

“I Promise Not to Suffer” is Storey’s light-hearted yet heartfelt memoir about the couple’s adventures and misadventures, deepening marriage and reflections on being irrevocably changed by life on the trail.

She was a novice hiker, while he was an experienced outdoorsman. Removed from their usual routines and living outside in the wilderness for months exposed hidden intricacies in their relationship. Hiking 20 miles a day over mountains, thirsting in the high desert of California, forcing frozen feet into icy socks and boots each morning in the High Sierra, stumbling through lava fields in Oregon, Storey was required to meet the elements on their own tough-love terms.

From an encounter with a mountain lion to her mother’s battle with cancer at home, she confronts each challenge with wit and brave style. While a dangerous loss of weight forced her to leave the trail after 900 miles, she regained strength and later rejoined her husband on sections until he triumphantly reached the northern terminus in Canada.

Humorous yet honest, this journey of harrowing hilarity and reluctant revelations will be loved by active hikers (appendices include details of their unique ultralight gear and other essential how-to information), fans of female adventure stories and armchair travelers alike.

Says Cheryl Strayed, author of “Wild, ” “Witty, wise, and full of heart, Gail Storey’s winning memoir of her hike on the Pacific Crest Trail at the age of 56 is as inspiring as it is hilarious, as poignant as it is smart. It’s one of those oh-please-don’t-let-it-end books. I’d carry it in my backpack anywhere.”

StoreyW

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