Death on the High Route

About the Book

Backpackers Sti and Rob discover skeletal remains of a female National Park Ranger at 11,000 feet in the trailless environment of the Sierra Nevada High Route. The official determination is accidental death- case closed. But for Sti and Rob it is only the beginning of a tale that takes them down paths never before traveled.

Preeminent geologist Matthew Harris believes his granddaughter was murdered and convinces the two semi-retired friends to be amateur investigators. As such they encounter a series of strange historical connections extending back to early settlers in California's Owens Valley in the 1860's.

The connections involve Indian uprisings, geological research, Los Angeles aqueduct, archeological artifacts, the deaths of two scientists, and extremes that accompany the lust for gold. What starts out as just another hike ends up as a journey through the history of the Eastern Sierra and the puzzling cause of the death of June Harris.

About the Author

Ken Stichter is a wanderer with a lifetime of backpacking, climbing, skiing and fly-fishing the Sierra Nevada. He loves books, history and writing. A former high school teacher and principal, Dr. Stichter is an Assistant Professor at California State University, Fullerton. He lives with his wife in Yorba Linda, California.