Jim Rahtz is the retired Deputy Director of the Hamilton County Park District (Cincinnati, Ohio). He has hiked, canoed and camped extensively throughout Ohio, the Boundary Waters Area (Minnesota & Ontario), the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada and the Appalachian Mountains. He has thru-hiked the Colorado Trail, Tahoe Rim Trail, Sheltowee Trace Trail in Kentucky, John Muir Trail in California and the Long Trail in Vermont. As a freelance writer his outdoor and humor writing has appeared in regional and national publications such as The Boundary Waters Journal, Camping Life and Paddler. His backpacking oriented books and photography have won multiple awards from the Outdoor Writers of Ohio.