Andrea Lani

Andrea Lani is a Maine writer, naturalist, and teacher whose work connects family experience with close observation of landscapes. Uphill Both Ways recounts a five-hundred-mile family hike along the Colorado Trail, undertaken with her husband and children. Published by Bison Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, the memoir follows the practical strain of distance and elevation while reflecting on midlife, parenting, environmental history, and happiness. Lani holds degrees in human ecology and creative writing and is a Maine Master Naturalist. Her essays and workshops likewise bring scientific curiosity into personal narrative, encouraging attention to plants, wildlife, and the histories carried by a place. The trail memoir does not treat the journey as an uninterrupted triumph. Fatigue, competing needs, and the work of keeping a family moving remain visible alongside alpine beauty. Lani’s perspective is strongest when physical details lead toward larger questions: what children remember, how parents revise expectations, and why a demanding shared journey can alter a family’s understanding of home.