Miracle Creek Christmas

Finished July 25
Miracle Creek Christmas by Krista Jensen

This novel features Riley Madigan an art teacher who has left behind a love affair gone wrong in California and come to the small mountain town of Miracle Creek to escape and recover. There, she revitalizes the school art program, participating in creating the set and props for the school production of Peter Pan, and begins to renovate an old house she's bought.
Her art work on the set attracts the attention of Mark Rivers, a local firefighter who is still recovering from a work-related accident that left him with severe burns, as well as the loss of his best friend, another fire-fighter. Mark's mom was an artist, and she passed away from cancer when he was a teenager, but Riley's work reminds him of his mom's style and he wonders if her can convince her to help him replace a sentimental piece of his mom's that was also lost in a fire the same year he was injured.
Riley isn't looking for a romance, feeling disillusioned by her recent relationship, and she also has baggage from other losses in her life. Part of her wants to fix up the house and move on, but she has also started to make connections in town, and enjoy the setting and the people.
There is miscommunication to start, and wariness on both sides of this developing romance, but Riley and Mark have things in common and services that they can offer each other in a practical way.
I liked how Mark brought Riley out of her comfort zone, exposing her to people that needed her in a different way and to the landscape around them. I liked how Riley looked beyond the scars to see Mark as a person with his own issues. A nice read.

Campbell's Kingdom

Finished September 3
Campbell's Kingdom by Hammond Innes

This is another novel I picked up used. It was written in 1952 and set roughly at the time.
Bruce Wetheral is working for an insurance company in England following WWII. He has just received some unsettling news about his health that has him questioning his future, when he gets a visit from his lawyer explaining that he is the heir to his grandfather, who passed away a few months earlier. Bruce only met his grandfather once, when he accompanied his mother as his grandfather was released from jail and took him to a ship bound for Canada. His childhood was one of deprivation, and when his mother passed away while he was still at school, he had no thought of other family.
Bruce doesn't have a lot of money or a lot of time, and he knows that his grandfather was written off as a dreamer when it came to discovering oil in the Rocky Mountains, but when he thinks on it, he decides he wants to see this land he now owns for himself, before he sells it to the eager buyer.
The easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to get where he wants to go is to emigrate to Canada, and so that is what Bruce does, committing himself fully to his new venture.
Once in Calgary, he again meets with a lawyer, but when aware of a ride towards his destination he snaps it up, and sets out. The logistics of getting to the small town of Come Lucky up in the Rockies is a complex one, and the locals aren't entirely friendly. They blame his grandfather's enthusiasm for oil for their own lost investments. Now, with a dam project offering jobs, they don't take kindly to his refusal to sell the land that will be flooded when the dam gets operating.
Bruce is determined to drill up there in his land, and when he finds questionable conduct among those set to thwart him, his determination grows.
Bruce is an interesting character, seemingly out of his element, but we are constantly reminded of his "war record". He is not the only one with war experience, but the personal experience of being found guilty of something draws him to his grandfather, and moves him to try to fulfill his grandfather's dream.
I enjoyed this book for the interesting plot, the suspense, and the character of Bruce.

Forgotten Highways

Finished September 11
Forgotten Highways: wilderness journeys down the historic trails of the Canadian Rockies by Nicky Brink and Stephen R Bown

This fascinating book details one summer in the lives of the authors who were inspired by history to hike five mountain trails first found by four early explorers.
Two of the treks were inspired by the explorations of David Thompson. The first was Howse Pass, one of the easier passes, abandoned due to rival tribes rivalries for trade. The second was Athabasca Pass, the pass Thompson found after, but too difficult for railways or roads.
The next hike was inspired by Hudson's Bay's George Simpson, another difficult pass found when searching for a pass accessible for more of the year than Athabasca was.
The fourth hike was found based on the explorations of John Palliser as he searched for a route north of the United States that would support a road and railway as part of the effort to claim the territory for the United Kingdom. This hike encompasses three passes, the Elk, the South Kananaskis, and the North Kananaskis.
The last hike was one found by one of the early female explorers, Mary Schäffer, and is Maligne Pass the route to Maligne Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in Jasper National Park. 
I spent of number of childhood vacations in the mountains, although only camping and doing day hikes. They will always be a cherished part of my younger years and close to my heart. This book brings those experiences back to me vicariously. The authors are not professional hikers, but those who do it for the love of their surroundings and that comes across clearly in this book.