The Lure of Pine and Sage

PDF If you wish to purchase a PDF copy, contact the author $4.99 USD

To purchase, contact me at jstoness@kingston.net and I will set up a link on Dropbox. You will get a notice from Dropbox with the link. Click and you will get a PDF copy of the book.

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The Lure of Pine and Sage Novel Cover

The Lure of Pine and Sage travel guide will give hours of enjoyment whether following the coloured maps, as you drive the Minitours in the travelguide, or sitting at home looking at the beautiful photographs, and reading about the geology of the areas through which you wish to travel.This book is now available as a CD-travelbook. Eventually it may become published as a traditional paper book.

The first of a series of CD books on Scenic Tours of North America, covers Western Canada and Central and Northwestern USA. Many travel books provide tours through a particularly scenic area, and then jump to another scenic area.

The Lure of Pine and Sage not only covers these areas but also includes them in a complete Minitour that connects with other Minitours. With some planning you can follow a charted itinerary for most of your trip within the coverage area of the book.

The Lure of Pine and Sage written in a manner that makes it an extremely useful book that the average family can use to select the most interesting route to a western destination. All Minitours are outlined on a large area map placed near the front of the book making it easy to locate a destination and select Minitours which go in that general direction. Then read each of those Minitours and string together those Minitours that you like best. Your trip is now ready.

The wide selection of 42 Minitours and almost 20 Parktours is designed to take you through areas of unusual scenic wonders, or geological phenomena, many of which are off the ‘beaten path’. The extensive Table of Contents leads the reader quickly to the information listed under each Minitour. A map of the Minitour accompanies each Minitour, and some areas are expanded to provide more detail. The excellent number of parks covered along with park maps make the book an invaluable addition to anyone’s travel library.

The author frequently relates the scenery to geology. His discussion on the great calderas that make up Yellowstone National Park is bound to add a sense of the ‘unbelievable’ to a trip there. Two tours follow the paths taken by two immense earth-changing floods of the past. Seeing the barren hills and great coulees of Washington State, or the great falls and deep canyons along the Snake River in Idaho will have much more meaning after reading about the events that shaped those areas.

It becomes obvious that the main purpose of The Lure of Pine and Sage is to provide the readers with a scenic and enjoyable trip by providing for a wide variety of interests. Train buffs will appreciate the references to places for train watching, or the locations of some of the great steam locomotives from the past. Whether it’s a visit to the Amana Colonies, museums of western art and artifacts, model trains, old forts, or a dinner tour on an old scenic railway, the reader is sure to find something that fits his interests.

The plentiful full colour maps and photographs make this book an attractive gift for the armchair reader, as well as for the seat of the car, or RV. The Lure of Pine and Sage makes it easy and fun to plan your vacation road trip.

PDF If you wish to purchase a PDF copy, contact the author $4.99 USD


From the Book

Dinasaur National Monument Dinosaur National Monument spreads over parts of the States of Utah and Colorado. Created in 1915, Dinosaur is a large protected area with about 200,000 acres. It is located in an area of very attractive red and pink sedimentary rock which shows colour best when wet. The annual rainfall of the region is less than 10 inches, and vegetation is scant. In very early geological times the land lay under the sea. Thick layers of sediments accumulated over the centuries. At times, these sediments must have been above water level…

Chapter Nine, Minitour 34, Dinosaur National Monument, Pg. 195


Jasper …Jasper is the largest of the Rocky Mountain parks, encompassing an area of 4,200 square miles, making it 700 square miles larger than Yellowstone National Park. It is not only the largest park, but it contains matchless scenery. Great, ice-carved peaks rise to the sky, and at their feet lie a myriad of green and blue lakes. Rough, craggy mountains guard each of the three entrances to the park. Many of the park’s remotest regions are reached by the over 600 miles of hiking trails. To prevent damaging the more sensitive environmental areas, only a limited number of hikers may enter some regions of the park…

Chapter Nine, Minitour 34,Jasper National Park, Pg. 218


..About 7,500 years ago Mt. Mazama towered above the forests. Topping over 12,000 feet, it must have been one of the kings among the Pacific West volcanoes, at least until it erupted with a cataclysmic blast that spread the top of the mountain over hundreds of square miles. Ash reached Montana and farther north. Just as happened with the great eruptions of the resurgent volcanoes in Yellowstone, much of the ash was so hot it welded itself into solid rock when it landed. Many of these welded tuff cliffs are visible around the mountain today…

Chapter Six, Crater Lake National Park, Pg. 143

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