Join us for our next monthly speaker series — Backpacking the John Muir Trail — on Tuesday, December 13 at 6:30pm! We'll be joined by Louise Cassilly Bullock of the Sierra Club Eastern Missouri Group, to hear about her adventures on the John Muir Trail. Louise and her friend Cindy hiked approximately 230 miles (a few of them unintended) over the course of 26 days. Their hike included summiting Mt. Whitney (14,505 feet), crossing over seven major mountain passes, and accumulating a total of 46,700 feet of elevation gain. Louise is an avid adventurer and loves hiking, paddling, and cycling. She has previously hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, the Routeburn and Milford Tracks in New Zealand, and a portion of El Camino in Spain. Other adventures include hiking in Colca Canyon, Peru, Copper Canyon, Mexico and Phu Kradueng National Park in Thailand. She also enjoys both flatwater and whitewater paddling and worked a portion of three summers as a raft guide on the Nantahala River in North Carolina. This fall, she cycled portions of the Erie Canal towpath and the P’tit Train du Nord Rails to Trails path in Canada. She also enjoys doing trail maintenance with Sierra Club on the Ozark Trail in Missouri and doing new trail construction with the Ozark Trail Association. During the Speaker Series event, Louise will share information about the High Sierras, logistics, training, equipment, food, weather and water considerations, trail conditions and maintenance, interactions with fellow hikers, and daily life on the trail. 

The Speaker Series will be held in-person at the Old Bakery Beer Company at 400 Landmarks Boulevard in Alton, Illinois. The speaking program will begin at 6:30pm in the room adjacent to Old Bakery Beer Company's dining room. There is a virtual option to tune into the speaking program via Zoom for folks who are unable to join us in-person. Register here to join us (either virtually or in-person) for our December Speaker Series to learn more from Louise Cassilly Bullock about the High Sierras!