Hiking with Larry

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley - photo courtesy of Larry Zuiker

Larry Zuiker has written a book about his love for hiking, and the enjoyment he gets taking friends and family on the trails of the Southwest.

[These individuals] have allowed me to experience the beauty of Arizona’s deserts, mountains, rivers and canyons. They have also followed me beyond Arizona to Zion, Mount Rainier, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Death Valley and Capitol Reef National Parks.

Larry’s book, Hiking Arizona and Beyond, chronicles his favorite hikes with details of the trails and his memories of being in those grand spaces. He includes many color photographs, showing the rattlesnakes he encountered, rivers he forded, and footbridges he crossed.

One chapter is about his trips to Death Valley, the largest national park in the lower 48 states. Larry studied the National Geographic map to plan his hikes, then used Google Earth to find “a gem of a slot canyon not shown on the park map.” He hiked with three friends into that canyon, to a high ridge overlooking the rainbow hues of Artists Ridge. Larry also once hiked through Zabriskie Point during a rare rain storm.

Right now, in 2016, Death Valley is in a superbloom, last year’s rains giving moisture, in this driest of places, for flowers to blanket the valley.

More than 20 years ago, Uncle Larry came to visit my dad and me in Hawaii. Larry wanted to hike one of the pali trails (the Hawaii Mountain and Trail Club has a good list). I was disabled by a painful back injury, so dad and Larry went hiking without me.

Now, I’m looking forward to an April trip to Phoenix. I will attend the AAMC Group on Institutional Advancement professional development conference, where the Duke School of Medicine and Department of Medicine will receive an award for our collaborative web redevelopment project. Larry and I have scheduled a hike in the red-rock country of Sedona on my final day in Arizona.

Zuiker books

Larry’s book follows in the footsteps of Michael Zuiker, my father, and my grandfather.

  • Shut Up: A Quiet Guide to Speaking, by Michael Zuiker
  • Back Forty, by Francis C. Zuiker
  • Step to Freedom, by Joseph F. Zuiker

02.29.2016

 


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