ENHS Nature Trails September 2004 Article 1

This month's speaker: Bill Sullivan

Enjoying natural history can take place any month of the year; however, it might take a little more pluck or perhaps imagination to venture outside in Oregon during the rainy season. Many of us use Bill Sullivan’s hiking guides for suggestions of summer outings, but we then put Sullivan away as the fog roles in, and the rain, drip, drip, . . . We shouldn’t put him away; fall offers some of the finest trailside vignettes for Oregon residents. And winter offers the impact of contrasts, black and white and all the shades in between, providing the artist with a full palette and the nature lover with simplicity and solitude, incredible aids for discovery.

In Oregon Trips and Trails, Bill Sullivan easily inspires those summer outings, but he also entices the reader to explore the beauty and the life of Oregon through all of the senses in all of the seasons. The ENHS is in for a memorable presentation Friday evening from this fifth-generation Oregonian who began his hiking career at age 5.

At 17 Bill went to work and to study in a remote area of the California desert at Deep Springs College. (His duties included the hand-milking of cows.) Later he earned a degree in English from Cornell University, studied linguistics at Germany's Heidelberg University, and earned an M.A. in German literature from the University of Oregon. While in Germany, he biked over 3,000 miles with his wife, Janell Sorensen.

Today they both live in Eugene with their two children but spend their summers in the log cabin they built by hand on a roadless stretch of a remote river in Oregon's Coast Range. Sullivan's newest book (April, 2004) is Cabin Fever: Notes From a Part-Time Pioneer, a memoir about the log cabin he and his wife built. (I suspect Bill might not always be at the cabin in summer with all the scenic, geologic and culturally interesting areas he has to visit and revisit to keep his numerous hiking guidebooks up to date.)

Perhaps his career really began when he carried his first backpack at the age of six. That was awhile back. In 1984 the Wilderness Act increased Oregon's designated wilderness areas from 14 to 37. There was very little information readily available about these areas; maps were poor or unavailable, and there were still many wilderness areas worthy of exploration and recreation, not included in the Wilderness Act. Sullivan had already authored numerous articles and a few books. His professional experience and love of adventure and love of Oregon gave him the credentials to take on the task of making the wilderness areas accessible to all. Bill Sullivan backpacked 1,360 miles across Oregon to research his first well-known guide, Exploring Oregon's Wild Areas. The ONRC (Oregon Natural Resources Council) staff and volunteers worked with Bill to authenticate maps and provide information for this wilderness resource. Bill has been hiking and writing ever since.

“With the [subsequent] completion of the popular 5-book series of 100 Hikes, guides to Oregon's trails, Sullivan has hiked every significant trail in Oregon. Now he is rehiking many of those trails to keep his guidebooks up to date. 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon is printed fresh every year, and his other books are updated every other year, keeping pace with new trails, storm damage and new fee systems.”

When Sullivan's not hiking, you can guess he might be cross country skiing, but he also might be playing the harpsichord, reading foreign language novels, and/or promoting libraries. "He helped with the campaign to build Eugene's new library, is a member of the Oregon State Library Board, and is vice president of the Lane Library League, a citizen group with the goal of extending library service to the 90,000 people in Lane County who currently lack service."

WHAT TO EXPECT FRIDAY NIGHT

Based on his recently published, full-color travel guide, Oregon Trips and Trails, we'll "go on a tour of the state's most interesting and scenic places, from the hot springs of Steens Mountain and the gold-mining ghost towns of Northeast Oregon to the wildfire landscape of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and the alpine wildflower displays of the High Cascades." The color photos in the guide suggest a first class slide presentation--you better bring a pencil or perhaps you can get an autographed copy of Oregon Trips and Trails.

(Information above from www.oregon.com/hiking/sulivan and Exploring Oregon’s Wild Areas)

Oregon Trips & Trails, William L. Sullivan. 800 color maps and photographs, details for visiting 100 destinations worth the journey, 65 hiking trails, and 250 places to stay--including campgrounds, bed & breakfast inns, and quaint hotels. 285 pages. Navillus Press, April 2003. $24.95.

[ Back ]

Page last modified: 17 September 2004
Location: http://biology.uoregon.edu/enhs/archive/sep04/sep041.html
E-mail the WebSpinner: cpapke@gmail.com