Author Sweeps Readers Up on Pack Adventure Through Rural Idaho in Fictionalized Memoir

In ‘Topping Out,’ Katherine Wonn Harris offers a bucolic glimpse into the past that honors a small community’s enduring spirit and the safety and comfort that can be found in the wilderness


EL CAJON, Calif., Oct. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Late author Katherine Wonn Harris provides a refreshing escape to a bygone time and a celebration of the peace nature brings in the second edition of her historical fiction book, “Topping Out”. Based on Harris’ life, her book follows a young girl named Kay as she sets out on adventures in rural Idaho and overcomes heartbreak and challenges along the way.

Set in the early 1900s in the wild Salmon River country and high Hells Canyon region, “Topping Out” chronicles Kay’s experiences teaching the children of hardworking Idaho ranchers and embarking on a treacherous wilderness pack trip with her companion, Smoky Mule, during which she must manage horses, cross dangerous rivers, and navigate narrow trails. Harris peppers the book with lavish descriptions of the natural environment and relates her own experiences growing up in the same region to celebrate rural Idaho’s spirit, beauty, and comfortable sense of community.

“It was a rough life with no refinements. Everything was done the hard way, for there was no other means, but my years there were not wasted,” Harris wrote in the prologue of “Topping Out”. “What progress I have made toward being a person, the measure of maturity I have been able to achieve, has deep roots in that country. Its people, without pretense and real as the rock of their canyons, will forever live in my memory with deep tenderness and thanksgiving that the human spirit can be so tough.”

Ultimately, Harris’ implores readers to care for and be good stewards of the environment. Through uplifting and often humorous protagonist Kay, readers are encouraged to laugh even when life gets hard, dance even when they’re tired, always keep their word, and spread compassion wherever they go.

“Settings are excellently painted. The prose is sparing and unfussy,” a reviewer for Foreword Reviews wrote about the book. “… Without sugarcoating the harshness of ranchers’ lives, ‘Topping Out’ is a broad-canvas memoir about a way of life valued for the freedom, beauty, and independence it provided.”

“A brief, often delightful remembrance that blooms into a warm tale of frontier life,” a Kirkus reviewer wrote about “Topping Out”.

“Topping Out”
By Katherine Wonn Harris
ISBN: 978-1-5043-9565-6 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-5043-9564-9 (softcover)
ISBN: 978-1-5043-9596-0 (e-book)
Available through Balboa Press, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon

About the author
Katherine Wonn Harris was born in Iowa and grew up in rural Boise, Idaho. Harris was a schoolteacher in the wilderness area of the Salmon River, Snake River, and Hells Canyon. She went on to work as a county school superintendent, women’s counselor, and newspaper writer. Harris based “Topping Out” on many of her own life experiences and originally published the book in 1971. She died in 1979. Harris’ niece, Marilyn Allen, republished “Topping Out” in 2018. Allen continues to spread her aunt’s legacy and inspiring life stories today. She currently resides in El Cajon, Calif., just outside of San Diego. To learn more, please visit www.toppingout2.com or view a trailer for the book on YouTube.

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