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About the Author Meet Bill Sullivan! (16-second video)

The log cabin Bill and Janell built on a roadless portion of Oregon's Coast Range. Tour the log cabin (2-minute video in small format) (Log cabin video in larger format)

William L. Sullivan

is the author of a dozen books and numerous articles about Oregon, including a "Oregon Trails" feature column for Eugene's Register-Guard. A fifth-generation Oregonian, Sullivan began hiking at the age of five and has been exploring new trails ever since. After studying at Deep Springs College in the California desert, receiving an English degree from Cornell University, and studying linguistics at Germany's Heidelberg University, he earned an M.A. in German literature from the University of Oregon.

Sullivan's hobbies include backcountry ski touring, playing the pipe organ, reading foreign language novels, and promoting libraries. He is a member of the Round Table Club of Eugene. He helped with the campaign to build Eugene's new library, served on the Oregon State Library Board, and is president of the Lane Library League, a citizen group with the goal of extending library service to the 80,000 people in Lane County who currently lack service. He also organizes three author events in Eugene each year -- the Oregon Authors Table at the Art & the Vineyard Festival on the 4th of July weekend, the Oregon Authors Table at the Lane County Fair in mid August, and the Authors & Artists Fair, a fundraiser for the Lane Library League at the Lane County Fairgrounds on the first Saturday in December.

He and his wife Janell Sorensen live in Eugene, but they spend summers in a log cabin they built by hand on a roadless stretch of a remote river in Oregon's Coast Range.

In 1985 Sullivan set out to investigate Oregon's wilderness on a 1,361-mile solo backpacking trek from the state's westernmost shore at Cape Blanco to Oregon's easternmost point in Hells Canyon. His journal of that two-month adventure, published as Listening for Coyote (1-minute video), was chosen in by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission in 2005 as one of the 100 most significant books in Oregon's history.

Sullivan's most colorful guidebook is Oregon Trips & Trails(1-minute video), a guide to the state's most beautiful places, illustrated with 800 color maps and photographs. The book has details for visiting 100 star destinations worth a journey, 65 hiking trails, and 250 places to stay -- including campgrounds, bed & breakfast inns, and quaint hotels.

The book Oregon's Greatest Natural Disasters(1-minute video) is an entertaining and provocative examination of the floods, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions that have affected people in Oregon during the past 13,000 years. Sullivan shows that these events are actually part of larger natural cycles -- some more regular than others. Understanding the cycles can help reduce damage in the future. The final chapter in the book is fictional, set 12 years in the future when a massive earthquake and tsunami devastate the Oregon Coast.

Sullivan's other books include Hiking Oregon's History(1-minute video), the Atlas of Oregon Wilderness Oregon (1-minute video), and a popular series of 100 Hikes guidebooks to the regions of Oregon. Titles in that series include 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & SW Washington (1-minute video), 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades (1-minute video), 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon (1-minute video), 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Eastern Oregon (1-minute video), and 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range (1-minute video). Bill has also co-authored two college computer textbooks, Desktop Publishing and The New Computer User, and he edited and published two books written by his father, the late Salem newspaper editor J. Wesley Sullivan: Jam on the Ceiling and To Elsie With Love.

Sullivan's second novel is a light mystery entitled The Case of Einstein's Violin(1-minute video). In the book, an Oregon schoolteacher sells Einstein's violin case on eBay and finds herself pursued through Europe by international spies in search of a missing Einstein formula for quantum gravity. Sullivan's 2007 author tour paired the book with a slide show on hiking in Europe. that featured trails used as settings in the novel.

Sullivan's first novel, A Deeper Wild (1-minute video), is based on the true adventures of Joaquin Miller, the swashbuckling Oregon Country gold miner, editor, pony express rider, horse thief, and county judge who won international renown in 1872 as the "Poet of the Sierras."

Sullivan's memoir, Cabin Fever: Notes From a Part-Time Pioneer (1-minute video), tells the humorous and dramatic story of the 25 summers that he and his wife spent building a log cabin by hand on a roadless tract along a remote river in Oregon's Coast Range.

With the completion of the popular 5-book series of "100 Hikes" guides to Oregon's trails Sullivan has hiked nearly every public trail in Oregon. Now he is rehiking many of those trails, keeping his guidebooks up to date. Each new edition features a dozen new trails, updated information on museums and rental cabins, and a 16-page color section that includes a wildflower identification guide. All of his "100 Hikes" books are updated every year or two to keep pace with changes due to storm damage, fires, construction, and changing fee systems.

Browse a catalog of Sullivan's books, read samples, and place orders.

Oregon adventures index

Slide Shows & Booksignings

William L. Sullivan presents about 30 slide shows each year at libraries, outdoor clubs, bookstores, museums, and community centers. He offers slide shows about each of his books, with a new show each year. Subjects currently available (click for descriptions and sample photos) include Hiking Oregon's History, Oregon's Most Beautiful Trips & Trails, New Hikes in NW Oregon & SW Washington, Hiking in Europe, Oregon's Greatest Natural Disasters, Listening for Coyote and New Hikes in Eastern Oregon. New for April 2009 are New Hikes on the Oregon Coast and Exploring Oregon's Wilderness. The presentations are usually in Oregon, although he has presented in Europe and at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Most of the shows are free and open to the public.

July 3-5, Friday-Sunday, 11:30am-7:30pm. EUGENE, booksigning at the Oregon Authors Table of the Art & the Vineyard Festival at Alton Baker Park. Open to the public. Festival admission required.

July 7, Tuesday, 7pm. TIGARD, slide show on "Family Friendly Trips & Trails in Oregon" at the Tigard Public Library, 13500 SW Hall Blvd. Open to the public. Free.

July 8, Wednesday, 6pm. PORTLAND, slide show on "Oregon's New Wilderness Areas" at the Roots Organic Brewery at 1520 SE 7th Avenue, sponsored by Oregon Wild. Open to the public. Free.

July 16, Thursday, 7pm. ASHLAND, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's Wilderness" at the Headwaters Hall, sponsored by the Northwest Nature Shop. Open to the public. Free.

July 24-26, Friday-Sunday. DEADFALL LAKES, CALIFORNIA, backpacking trip in the Mt. Eddy area between Mt. Shasta and the Trinity Alps, co-sponsored by the Chemeketans of Salem and the Obsidians of Eugene. A moderate backpack along the PCT on Friday to a base camp near the Deadfall Lakes. On Saturday an optional climb of Mt. Eddy. Reservations required. Club members preferred. Limit of 12. This trip is currently full, with a waiting list. For info, email sullivan@efn.org.

August 15, Saturday, 6:30pm. SISTERS, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's New Wilderness" at the Paulina Springs Bookstore at 252 Hood Street. Open to the public. Free.

August 16, Sunday, 6:30pm. REDMOND, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's New Wilderness" at the Paulina Springs Bookstore in the heart of downtown Redmond. Open to the public. Free.

August 18-23, Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-10pm. EUGENE, booksigning at the Oregon Authors Table in the Atrium (the center room of the largest building) at the Lane County Fair. Open to the public. Fair admission required.

August 28-September 7, Friday-Monday, 10am-10pm. SALEM, booksigning at the Oregon Authors Table in the Jackman-Long Building of the Oregon State Fair. Open to the public. Fair admission required.

September 13, Sunday, 3pm, EUGENE, performance reading from Eugene Skinner's diaries in honor of the 200th birthday party of Eugene Skinner (pioneer founder of Eugene) in the Masonic Cemetery at 25th and University. Open to the public. Free.

September 15, Tuesday, 7pm. EUGENE, slide show on "Oregon's Most Beautiful Wilderness Areas" for the Emerald Photography Club. For details contact Don Lown, 541-942-6462. Open to the public. Free.

September 24, Thursday, noon. COTTAGE GROVE, slide show on "Hiking Oregon's History" for the Cottage Grove Rotary Club at Stacy's Covered Bridge Restaurant. Members and guests only.

October 8, Thursday, 7pm. EUGENE, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's New Wilderness" for the University of Oregon Outdoor Club. Location on campus to be announced. Open to the public. Free.

October 9, Friday, 11:30am-1:30pm. PORTLAND, booksigning at the Oregon Convention Center for the American Association for Environmental Education. Members and guests only.

October 10-11, Saturday-Sunday, 10am-6pm. PORTLAND, booksigning at the Wordstock festival in the Oregon Convention Center. Open to the public. Festival admission required.

November 10, Tuesday, 10:45am-12:15pm. EUGENE, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's Wilderness" in the upstairs of Macy's at Valley River Center, sponsored by OASIS continuing education program. Open to the public. Reservations required; call OASIS.

November 13, Friday, 7pm. SALEM, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's New Wilderness" for the Chemeketans' outdoor club at 360-1/2 State Street (upstairs). Open to the public. Free.

November 21, Saturday, 10am-4pm. PORTLAND, booksigning at the Wild Arts Festival for the Portland Audubon Society in the Montgomery Park center near 27th and Thurman. Open to the public. Festival admission required.

December 5, Saturday, 10am-6pm. EUGENE, booksigning at the Authors & Artists Fair, sponsored by the Lane Library League in the Atrium (next door to Holiday Market) of the Lane Events Center (the county fairgrounds). Open to the public. Free.

January 21, 2010, Thursday, 7pm. SALEM, slide show on "Family-Friendly Hikes in Oregon" in the Loucks Auditorium of the downtown Salem Public Library, sponsored by the Straub Environmental Center. Open to the public. Free.

April 20, Tuesday, 7pm. SALEM, slide show on "Exploring Oregon's New Wilderness" for the Salem Audubon Society in the Anderson Room of the Salem Public Library. Open to the public. Free.

April 21, 2010, Wednesday, noon. VANCOUVER, slide show on "New Hikes in SW Washington" at the Clark College Bookstore. Open to the public. Free.

April 21, 2010, Wednesday, 7pm. PORTLAND, slide show on "New Hikes in Southern Oregon " at the Mazamas Mountaineering Center at 43rd and Stark Streets in East Portland. Open to the public. Free.

April 22, 2010, Thursday, noon. PORTLAND, slide show for the Portland Garden Club near Washington Park. Info at christinefarmington@comcast.net.

March 13, 2011, Sunday, 7pm. ALBANY, slide show on "Hiking Oregon's History" for the Linn County Historical Society at the Lakeside Center in Mennonite Village. Open to the public. Free.

If your group would be interested in arranging a slide show or booksigning, contact Bill at (541) 683-6837 or sullivan@efn.org

Browse a catalog of Sullivan's books, read samples, and place orders.

Oregon adventures index

Register-Guard Articles

Bill has written a monthly "Oregon Trails" column for Eugene's Register-Guard since 2000. He wrote a monthly outdoor column for Eugene Weekly from 1992 to 2000. The R-G column appears on the Outdoors page, usually on the third Tuesday of each month. To check out the R-G's latest issue, visit the Register-Guard website. The columns typically include a map and a color photograph. Meanwhile, here is the text of a recent column -- without the map, but with a spiffy color picture.

Fog on Mt. June

Recent Register-Guard article:

Aiming for the Stars

by William L. Sullivan

Ian Sullivan is so nervous his fingers are shaking.

With the countdown set to start at 2:50 a.m. on New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range, the 26-year-old from Eugene is rechecking the launch time yet again on his laptop computer. His somber look suggests that the young man’s career is riding on tonight’s rocket.

And now I have to confess it is hard for me to give an unemotional report of this particular launch.

You see, I am Ian’s father.

Yes, I usually write outdoor columns and hiking guidebooks. But that’s not the only reason I’m hesitant to write about Ian.

I don’t want to be accused of the boastful dad routine, boring people with the story that my son is a rocket scientist. For most people, “rocket science” means braininess, fame, and glamour.

That’s not entirely accurate. Sure, Ian got good grades at South Eugene High School and the University of Oregon. Now he’s a graduate student at CalTech in Pasadena.

But from what I’ve seen, the life of an actual astrophysicist is marked largely by tedium, stress, hard work, and often failure. A firefighter, a doctor, or a teacher would have a better shot at fame or glamour.

Part of the problem is that physics research is hard to explain, especially for a guy like me who writes articles about hiking.

Ian’s project goes by the name of CIBER, which stands for the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment. A dozen scientists in four countries have been working on it for four years under Dr. James Bock, Ian’s smiling, fortyish, workaholic advisor at CalTech.

But no one has spent as much time on CIBER as Ian.

As I understand it, CIBER’s goal is to fire an infrared telescope into space just long enough to take pictures of the background radiation remaining from the universe’s first stars.

Apparently physicists now theorize that the Big Bang dispersed matter so thoroughly that 400 million years passed before things coalesced enough for stars to form. Those first suns flared to life with a vengeance, creating a mighty blaze that might still echo faintly as infrared light 13 billion years later.

If you could take a picture of that infrared signal you might prove the theory of the Big Bang. Certainly you would learn a lot about how the universe began.

The stakes for this research are high.

Unfortunately, telescopes on the ground can’t discern infrared signals from space very well because the Earth’s atmosphere is awash with its own infrared light, drowning out other sources.

Orbiting telescopes like the Hubble and the Spitzer are in a much better position to take infrared pictures, but none of them currently has the right kind of wide-angle camera for the job.

Teams of scientists around the world are racing to solve this problem.

The largest project, the James Webb Space Telescope, is set to put the perfect infrared camera in orbit by 2013. The budget for the Webb Telescope may run as high as $4 billion.

Ian’s CIBER project is a dark horse in this race. CIBER’s budget is a mere $1.2 million for the telescope payload, plus a million or so for the NASA rocket.

If CIBER works, it could scoop the James Webb team at less than a thousandth of the cost.

But will it work?

Last July, on CIBER’s original launch date, the infrared camera failed. The camera shutter that Ian built broke at the last minute.

That launch was scrubbed just before the final countdown, with the missile standing by.

Humiliated, Ian had to drive back to CalTech from New Mexico with a van full of sullen colleagues and broken equipment.

To this day, Ian has trouble talking about how much that failure hurt.

In all honesty, I think he almost gave up on astrophysics.

I also believe it was the support of his wife Guinevere Saenger, herself a graduate student of piano, that turned him around.

Ian went back to his lab and redesigned the cursed shutter from scratch, stress-testing every part for failure along the way.

Now it’s 2:50 a.m. on Wednesday, February 25, and the final countdown has begun. Forty minutes to liftoff.

This has also been a strange and stressful trip for me and my wife, Janell Sorensen.

When this launch date was finalized two days ago, we boarded a flight from rainy Eugene to sunny El Paso, rented a car, and drove an hour to the hotel in Las Cruces, New Mexico where Ian was staying.

Yesterday we drove another 45 minutes through the desert to the missile base where Ian has been assembling the rocket payload for the past month.

As a guidebook author, I can tell you that White Sands’ 100-mile-long valley is too desolate even for sagebrush. Unexploded bomblets from past missile tests make hiking impractical.

On one side of the valley, incessant winds have whipped gypsum dust from a dry lakebed into the scenic white dunes of a national monument.

On the other side of the valley, near the launch site, a surprising variety of wildlife seems to tolerate the harsh environment. Roadrunners, wily coyotes, jackrabbits, and even oryx (antelope introduced from Africa) eke out a living among yucca and mesquite brush.

White Sands is the valley where the world’s first atomic bomb exploded in July of 1945. America’s space program began here after World War II when captured Nazi scientists helped build and fly V-2 rockets.

Today, security is still so tight that the foreign scientists on Ian’s team – even the Canadian -- are allowed on base only with a military escort. Cameras are taboo. Military police checked the underside of our car with mirrors.

Janell and I have not even been allowed to see the rocket itself up close. Instead, Ian took us to the empty six-story hangar where it had been assembled.

With pictures and spare parts as show-and-tell props, Ian explained that Black Brant rockets for research projects like this are about 60 feet tall and 18 inches in diameter, with two propulsion stages. The 15-foot payload section includes guidance systems, radio transmitters, a re-entry parachute, and the 3-foot-long CIBER telescope.

The entire flight will last just 15 minutes. Still, that’s enough time for the rocket to zoom 220 miles straight up and linger for six minutes of infrared photography. Then the payload lands about 40 miles to the north, where Ian is supposed to fetch it by helicopter at dawn.

If all goes well.

Ten minutes and counting. Ian is in a control bunker 100 feet from the launch site, behind triple-pane glass windows three inches thick.

Janell and I, along with Ian’s wife Guinevere, have had to join a cluster of visitors in an observation building half a mile away. On a TV monitor we watch as a metal hangar slides away and the rocket launcher slowly tilts upright.

“Wait!” A woman in combat fatigues suddenly tell us, “We have a delay.”

Janell and I look at each other with foreboding. Not again.

“How much of a delay?” I ask.

“Fifteen minutes.”

The added minutes are the slowest of all.

Finally, at 3:45 a.m., a ball of light the size of my thumbnail rises across the dark desert, as swift and silent as a white-hot bullet. The roar arrives a few seconds later. Then the light sputters and the booster rocket falls away. A moment later another, smaller ball of light soars into the stars, directly overhead.

After less than 40 seconds the light blinks out altogether. The second stage has dropped away, leaving the unseen payload to arc into space on its own.

Everyone cheers, but we are also worried. Did the camera shutter open? Will the telescope send back pictures?

The rocket seems to have functioned, but what about Ian’s experiment?

Half an hour later we are allowed to drive to the control bunker at the launch site. Strange smoke still hangs in the air.

Ian walks up to meet us, his face set in stone.

His wife wraps her arms around him. “Oh, Ian.”

“It’s OK,” he says, obviously exhausted by stress and lack of sleep.

“Why is it OK?”

Finally he smiles. “We got the data. The camera shutter worked.”

Then the night becomes a blur of cheers and congratulations.

It is only the next day, after Ian has retrieved the payload in the military helicopter, packed a van for the return trip to Pasadena, and grabbed three hours of sleep, that I dare to ask him the question I’ve been holding back.

“So, when will you know about the first stars?”

Ian shrugs. “I’ll have to analyze the data first. We wouldn’t announce anything until we’ve published a paper about our findings anyway. At least a year.”

“A year?”

My son nods. “This project is controversial. Some people are going to object to whatever we say about the Big Bang. We’ve got to have our facts straight.”

I’m returning to Eugene having learned a few lessons about astrophysics. Science can’t be rushed. It’s not about fame.

But I’ll be watching for that next paper by Ian Sullivan.