About this item
Cindy's story begins in the Rocky Mountain wilderness on a unique and extraordinary journey: two parents leading their young children 3,100 miles on the backs of llamas. This Canada-Mexico trek illustrated to Cindy and her husband what experiential education can do. Inspired by the experience, they went on to create a new way of supplementing their children's education, focusing on two arenas for learning: the natural world and travel.In this age of world connection, it is important to raise broad-minded and empathetic children who are knowledgeable about other cultures. To accomplish this goal, Cindy chose an unorthodox approach: she orchestrated learning opportunities for her children, Sierra and Bryce, in twelve countries. The family traveled the world, moving about on foot and bicycle, living simply and intimately.
About the Author
For the past few 35 years, Author Cindy Ross has found peace, happiness, and a sublime sense of contentment while walking and cycling the endless trails that are sewn into the fabric of the North American continent. She has crossed the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail as a single woman penning and illustrating her first book, A Woman's Journey on the Appalachian Trail, which has been in print for over 35 years and has become a hiking classic. Then she tackled the 2600-mile Pacific Crest Trail through the Sierra and Cascade Mountains with her husband, Todd Gladfelter and wrote and illustrated, Journey on the Crest. (The Mountaineers Books) Her 6th book, Scraping Heaven- A Family's Journey Along the Continental Divide (The Mountaineers Books) is the rousing adventure of a family's incredible five-summer, 3100-mile trek over the rooftop of North America. They used llamas as kid carriers and packers to carry supplies and diapers across the Rocky Mountains. The entire journey took 5 summers, hiking 500 miles a shot. The last stretch through New Mexico is all desert, so they traded their llamas in for tandem mountain bikes and pulled trailers full of 100 pounds of gear for the last 650 miles down to the Mexican border. Cindy had her formal education in Fine Arts Painting, attending the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She illustrated four of her books. She lives along the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania with her husband, Todd in a log home they built themselves from raw trees. They grow much of their own food on their rural property.As a family, besides the Continental Divide Trail, they have traveled to Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe hiking, cycling and paddling and have traveled extensively throughout the US.Besides Cindy's seven published books, she has written over 1,000 magazine articles for such national magazines as Outside, Backpacker, Paddler, Gray's Sporting Journal, Outdoor Life, Canoe & Kayak, Adventure Cyclist, Sailing, Wooden Boat, Scouting, Native Peoples, etc. Travel stories in newspapers include The LA Times, The San Francisco Examiner, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Toronto Star, The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, etc. Cindy has appeared on Philadelphia's NBC "The 10 Show;" Philadelphia's ABC "Sunday Live"; NYC's CBS News "Up to the Minute;" NYC's Channel 11Warner Bros., "The Morning News," and Denver's CBS. Her family and llamas were featured on a half-hour show on Animal Planet, called "Pet Story." Her newest book, The World is Our Classroom- How one family used nature and travel to shape an extraordinary education, will be published by Skyhorse Publishing, NYC in September 2018. One of Cindy's passions is spreading the word on how important the natural world plays in educating our children, and how to get them outdoors. Cindy shares her exp
