A118. Covering Ground: A Chronicle of the John Muir Trail

A118. Donna Thomas. Covering Ground: A Chronicle of the John Muir Trail. Santa Cruz, California: Peter & Donna Thomas, 2003.

11.5 x 19 cm (4 ½” x 7 ½”), 40 pages, 25 copies.

Binding: Coptic binding. Covers are redwood. Relief carving on cover by Donna Thomas. Paper: Blue, handmade by Peter Thomas with fabric inclusions from shirts Donna Thomas wore on the hike. Printing: Text is letterpress; printed from metal engravings. Illustrations are digital. Typography: Reproduction of text handwritten by Donna Thomas. Illustration: Reproductions of fifty-eight watercolor paintings by Donna Thomas tipped in.

“In the summer of 2002 Donna hiked the John Muir Trail, a 218-mile trek from California's Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney, for the second time. She was accompanied for the whole trip by her friend Katy McLaughlin, and a number of other people (including Peter) joined her at various times. Donna used the watercolors she painted on that trip to make two miniature books, Landscapes of the John Muir Trail [A108] and Wildflowers of the John Muir Trail [A107]. This book was created as an opportunity to combine some of those same paintings with things written by the people who had accompanied her on that adventure. The wood used for the cover is first growth redwood salvaged when our neighbor's house was being torn down. It was cut, milled and finished by Donna with the help her brother John Millar.”