The Making of Goldfield Mountain Hikes
Ted
Ted finds his way in the southern Goldfields.

Writing is a lifelong passion, but outside of work I didn’t have a chance to pursue it until after retirement. Fortunately I live near the Goldfields, a very inspiring mountain range.

If you seek a mountaintop experience, you’ll find it here.

   
1991 Moved to Arizona. Went hiking my first weekend. Saw the Goldfields when driving toward Payson on the Bush Highway. What beautiful mountains!
1996 My first Goldfield hike was the Tomahawk Mine hike led by Ken McGinty for the Sierra Club. When I set foot in these mountains it was love at first sight. Why isn’t there a book?
2000 Climbed the wrong mountain on an off-trail exploratory hike in the Goldfields.
Bought a GPS and software for mapping: started recording waypoints on hikes.
2002 Early Retirement. Decided to start writing a book about hiking in the Goldfield Mountains.
Joined the East Valley Writers’ Group.
Bought a film scanner to digitize my collection of 35mm photographic negatives and slides.
Sent out query letters. Got a stack of rejections from publishers and agents.
2003 Switched to a digital camera, painlessly downloading pictures to the computer henceforth.
Workshop — Getting Published in the Real World — Phoenix College, May 2-3, 2003.
Lots of research: libraries, universities, the Arizona Geological Survey, and local historians.
Developed the first version of the Goldfield Mountains web site. Self-taught in HTML.
Networking with other authors was ultimately successful in finding a publisher!
2004 Publication contract signed.
Initial version of Goldfield Mountain Hikes sent to the publisher on a CDROM.
Interviewed by Libby Farris of the East Valley Writers’ Group.
2005 Continued exploratory hiking in the Goldfields. More arches discovered. Lots of new pictures.
Publication delayed.  “By the way, I have some new material ready for the second edition.”
2006 New chapter, new maps, and six new hikes added to the first edition.
Final editing done by the author using QuarkXPress on my Apple Macintosh computer.
First 24 copies air-lifted to the Superstition Mountain Museum for a book signing.
since
2006		 Presentations, book signings, and exploratory hikes continue. See recent trip reports from the Goldfields and elsewhere.
Goldfield Mountains Home Page Phoenix College Workshop Interview by Libby Farris
updated June 5, 2018 © Copyright 2018 by Ted Tenny.  All rights reserved.