Both are admirable accomplishments of equal quality, right?! Right?

Over the past two weeks, many friends have asked if I saw the story of Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders, the 91-year-old who just became the oldest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. After 359 days of hiking, Grey Beard set historical records with crowds of fans cheering him on… though a fall nearly ended it right before the finish line. Honestly, the story is amazing and worth a read with your morning coffee.

Naturally, my first thought went to Dad… the former, short-lived, and disgruntled Appalachian Trail hiker who had his infamous “spiritual awakening” in Chapter 35 of Hello My Name is Sharkbait. Trail name Happy, my dad is 79 years old and still going strong as a great outdoorsman. He’s got 12 years to break Grey Beard’s record, and probably could if not for his promise to “never set foot on that stupid white-blazed excuse for a trail ever again”. (Ok, not a direct quote, though may as well be).

But you don’t need to wait for a rematch between Happy and the Appalachian Mountain Club of New York for a feel-good hiker story, because…

My short story of Sharkbait and Happy’s latest adventure is yours to download!

If you followed along last month, you know I published a six-part sequel prequel on this blog. If you didn’t, no worries. That’s the whole point of this post.

Here’s the tea. I planned this summer trip to be the foundation of my next book, an entirely different adventure set in the backdrop of Glacier National Park and laced with Happy’s legendary backpacking tales. Reservations were made, travels commenced, then… yada yada yada …we found ourselves in Alaska. And as the saga took one dramatic step after another, I couldn’t stop writing it. What started as prologue material became a standalone short story I loved. So I ran it as a daily serial as soon as we got back. And now, for the first time, the whole thing is available as one continuous read.

The Adventures of Sharkbait and Happy, in the Land of the Midnight Sun, is available for FREE digital download here:

• PDF version for reading on your computer, tablet, or phone
• ePub file for Apple Books, Google Books, Kindle, or any eReader

A quick note before you dive in. This fictionalized story is based on real events with real people, though not every word happened verbatim. If it happens like this in the book, it happened close enough on the trip. The glacier calving on Dad’s cue in Chapter 6? That’s the kind of story you wouldn’t believe unless you saw it, and it happened. That’s the magic of Happy on the trail, and why the next book practically writes itself.

And yes, that sequel book is still coming!

Book three remains the Glacier National Park focus with Happy, as originally planned. A fresh adventure, callbacks to legendary stories from the past, and enough Dad-wisdom-slash-Happy-idioms to keep you laughing for days. Like him. After he tells a joke. That he’s already told you a dozen times before. (Don’t ever change, Dad).

But first, a small ask.

If you enjoy this short travel story, share the love. Recommend it to a friend who loves the outdoors, post about it on your social channels (mention @HelloNeiman), or forward it to that family member who’s been talking about wanting to go to Alaska since 1987. Every share helps grow the audience for the next book, and every review reminds me this whole writing thing is worth doing.

Because if you didn’t already realize, Sharkbait and Happy have many more adventures, and a lot more trail to cover.

Hello Neiman!