W. Clark Boutwell, although a long time resident in Alabama, was born in Chicago and raised outside Philadelphia. An avid solo hiker and backpacker for over fifty years, he picked up mountain climbing in his forties. He is a pediatrician and continues to provide intensive care for sick newborn infants in America and has done so on four continents and eight countries. Having seen the Southern Cross from Mukinge Hill, the sunset at Hale’iwa Bay from a seat on Jamieson’s porch, the midnight sun on Beaufort Sea ice, and moonrise over the Himalayas, he is finding that writing is quite an adventure.