Zane Grey wrote about the West and lived it as well. Tales of Lonely Trails is a collection of true travel tales describing his explorations of uninhabited areas of the west, much of it on pack horses with a guide.

Here are descriptions of his hunting, camping, and exploring trips in the wild and desolate parts of the West, including Arizona territory, Colorado, Death Valley, the Tonto Basin, the Grand Canyon and more. These adventures gave him the first-hard experience that he later used in writing his descriptions of the landscape and characters of his Western novels.