Katie Githens and her four-legged research assistant, Denali, have experienced a lot together. Denali is the puppy love-child of a roommate's purebred German shepherd and a neighbor's Dalmatian. She wiggled her way into Katie's life a few weeks before her college graduation in 2005. With a journalism degree in hand, the duo boarded a transcontinental flight from the West Coast to Washington DC.

Prior to moving to DC, Katie honed her writing skills at The Aspen Times and Los Angeles Sports & Fitness magazine. Katie and Denali happily sniffed out this writing project, and together they've spent months searching in and around DC for the doggone highlights of the nation's capital. Katie, herself a trail hound, has appreciated the opportunity to write about a topic close to her heart, while exploring new and familiar terrain. Denali's research for this book involved sharpening her own expertise on the relative ground speed of Mid-Atlantic squirrels.

Katie lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband Mike Githens (and Denali, of course). When not following Denali's nose, Katie works as a technical writer and editor in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is her first book.