By Barbara Hodgin

Elvis Presley once said that the secret to a happy life is "Someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to." Seems like Elvis forgot his own advice somewhere along the way. But we don't have to. We're lucky to have Angela and Duffy Ballard's fine new book, A Blistered Kind of Love to remind us.

The Pacific Crest Trail called Angela and Duffy's names in the early stages of their falling in love, and soon they were off on the adventure of a lifetime. Angela's second full night out on any trail was her first night on the PCT.

Angela acknowledges the fear so many who attempt "big" things feel before starting, "Surrounded by wilderness, there'd be no traffic to fight, no ringing telephones, no emails, and nobody to answer to but my hiking partner. It sounded like freedom-so why did I feel so trapped?" Still, she finds an important, different kind of freedom on the trail - a confidence in her own strength and competence, and a hard-won trust in her partner.

The book is full of heroic, notorious and beloved figures from the trail community. Early on, trail angel Meadow Ed hints that he has doubts Angela will make it to Canada, leaving Angela thinking "…the female half of a couple - well it seemed like she might as well be dead weight, because she clearly wasn't pulling it." Meadow Ed didn't know that he just added to her determination. Or maybe he did.

The couple learns of Bruce, "…a middle-aged gentleman who suffered from Parkinson's disease, (whose) goal was to hike the California length of the Pacific Crest Trail… he'd been suffering from Parkinson's for fifteen years and was receiving progressively less relief from his medicine. To prolong the pills' benefits… he took them only twice a day. On the trail this meant he'd have an hour and a half in the morning to break camp, put on his pack and get going before the onset of incapacitating tremors, slowness and clumsiness. After his evening dose, he'd have another symptom-limited hour and a half to set up camp…"

The book is best when the lessons of the trail are unexplained but obvious from the adventures of these two hikers. Duffy and Angela are not perfectly suited to hike together. They have moments of genuine conflict on the trail. Duffy, long-legged and with an optimistic "get over it" attitude, has trouble figuring out how to relate to the shorter Angela, who likes to talk about how she feels, good or bad. She chases him for many miles and resents his apparent indifference to her difficulties. The trail forces them to find accommodation and cooperation in a compressed time frame or else end up apart.

Hopeful PCT hikers, wanna-be's and armchair travelers will enjoy this book. It's full of good yarns and helpful information about what works on the trail and what doesn't. Angela and Duffy Ballard are candid about themselves and their relationship, and this makes for a book of interest to people not interested in distance hiking, as well. People who wonder how animals as different as men and women ever get together will enjoy watching this relationship unfold across the miles.

To purchase A Blistered Kind of Love, visit the "Journals & General Reading" section of the PCTA Store .