Life of the Trail is a fascinating series that guides today's hikers and armchair travellers through the stories of historic routes in the Canadian Rockies. When authors Emerson Sanford and Janice Sanford Beck began backpacking together nearly 20 years ago, they often wondered whose footsteps they were retracing and how today's trails through the Rockies came to be there. In Life of the Trail, they share their findings with adventurers and history buffs alike.

The series divides the Rockies between Mount Robson and the Kananaskis Lakes into eight regions based on the geographical boundaries that influenced 19th century travellers. Within each region, the authors share the stories of those who recorded their travels along various routes between the time of the European pioneers and the 1930s. Never before has such a thorough history been presented in this manner, enabling adventurers to follow the history of the Rockies one route at a time.

For those tempted to follow in the footsteps of these historic adventurers, Emerson has hiked each and every trail in order to provide a detailed trail guide and interesting anecdotes from his own experiences. Each volume is rounded out with maps and colour photographs-both historical and contemporary-to further stimulate the imagination.

Life of the Trail 4: Historic Hikes in Eastern Jasper National Park includes trails throughout the Jasper area, as well as routes in the White Goat Wilderness and part of the Bighorn Wildland, outside the national park itself. Today's boundaries are the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93) to the west, the David Thompson Highway (11) to the south, and the Yellowhead Highway (16) to the north. The main routes are fur trade routes, Duncan McGillivray's route along the Brazeau river and Poboktan Creek, Jacques Cardinal's route from Jasper to the North Saskatchewan River along the South Boundary Trail and over Job Pass, and Old Klyne's Trail over Maligne and Cataract Passes and along the Cline River to the Kootenay Plains. The fourth is a 20th-century route: the Skyline Trail.