Lifelong backpacker Rick Kempa will share stories from his new book, Truths of the Trail, at Grand Valley Books, 350 Main Street in Grand Junction, on Tuesday, June 11, at 6 p.m. Truths of the Trail is a collection of 27 short, entertaining essays about backpacking: its pains and pleasures, surprises and simplicities, soul-satisfying rhythms and just-plain joy.

Kempa began his backpacking career in 1972 when, at 16, he hitchhiked with his brother from Chicago to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. Since then, hooked for life, he has spent hundreds of days in the backcountry in national parks and other public lands, with a special affinity for the Colorado Plateau and Grand Canyon. He has served as artist-in-residence at Mesa Verde National Park and at Grand Canyon, South and North Rims, and has edited two collections of canyon-centered writing: On Foot: Grand Canyon Backpacking Stories and, with Peter Anderson, Going Down Grand: Poems from the Canyon. He is the founding editor of the literary journal Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry.