Crow’s Nest: Take the Road Less Traveled with Cindy Ross – March 24, 2023
By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.
Photo courtesy Cindy Ross
We are very excited that we will be hosting a talk on Friday, March 24 by Cindy Ross: adventurer, traveler, educator, conservationist, writer, artist, lecturer, and so much more! This is the latest event sponsored by the Cassandra O. and Dennis B. Lacey Performance Series, designed to bring performing arts, lectures, and learning to Crow’s Nest Preserve.
Cindy Ross is a prolific writer—you’ll find her work in Pennsylvania Magazine, Scouting, Fine Woodworking, Outside, Backpacker, Paddler, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Outdoor Life, Canoe & Kayak, Adventure Cyclist, Sailing, Wooden Boat, and Grit. She has been a contributing editor at Backpacker Magazine. I met Cindy when she came to Crow’s Nest to hike and interview me for an article she wrote in Pennsylvania Magazine about the Hopewell Big Woods in which the preserve is located. Cindy has paddled, biked, and hiked in 65 countries.
Recently she has written The Log Cabin Years: How One Couple Built a Home from Scratch and Created a Life (Skyhorse, 2021) about the home that she and husband Todd Gladfelter built near the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. She and Todd share a simple lifestyle in harmony with nature around them.
Cindy also founded and directs River House PA, a nonprofit that… “facilitates healing through nature, in the form of outdoor adventures, recreational opportunities and workshops for veterans and their families who have been affected by trauma.” She writes about these people’s stories in her latest book, Walking Toward Peace: Veterans Healing on America’s Trails, (Mountaineers Books, 2021). This book has illustrations of the veterans by Bryce Ross Gladfelter, Cindy’s and Todd’s son.
Cindy has written nine books including The World is Our Classroom: How One Family Used Nature and Travel to Shape an Extraordinary Education (Skyhorse, 2018). Earlier she and her husband Todd Gladfelter wrote Kids in the Wild: A Family Guide to Outdoor Recreation (Mountaineers Books, 1995) and A Hiker’s Companion: 12,000 Miles of Trail-Tested Wisdom (Mountaineers Books, 1993).
Cindy has hiked all of the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and with Todd and their two young children, the Continental Divide Trail. She describes these experiences in A Woman’s Journey (Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 1982), Journey on the Crest (Mountaineers Books, 1987), and Scraping Heaven: A Family’s Journey Along the Continental Divide Trail (Mountaineer’s Books, 2016). Cindy’s vivid writing and illustrations bring these stories to life.
You can see that there’s a lot of ground for Cindy to cover when she comes to Crow’s Nest; it promises to be an exciting evening of discussion, reflection, and discovery. You can register on our website here.
