Where the Waters Divide: A Walk Across America Along the Continental Divide

Spurred by a sense of adventure, this husband-and-wife team from New York--Smith is a former academic, Berger, a former book editor--hiked from Mexico to Canada along the Continental Divide, the geological feature that splits America's watersheds roughly along the line of the Rocky Mountains. This account of their 182-day, 2580-mile walk, written in Berger's voice, offers much to fellow hikers wanting information on the extensive patchwork of trails. Otherwise evocative accounts of the generosity of strangers that hikers call ``trail magic'' and the authors' growing sympathy for the complexities of the battle between ranchers and environmentalists occasionally bog down in minute descriptions. Though the trip is billed as the first extended companionship for this couple, readers may wish the authors had shed more light on themselves. (June)