Favorite Books

[Steve Scearce]

Monkeywrench Gang, Desert Solitaire, The Secret Knowledge of Water, House of Rain, The Way Out, In Search of the Old Ones, Sandstone Spine, Comb Ridge and its People, A Hiking Guide to Cedar Mesa, Cowboys and Cave Dwellers, Canyon Country Hiking Guide to the Colorado Plateau, Technical Slot Canyon Guide to the Colorado Plateau, Hiking and Exploring Utah's San Rafael Swell, and Under the Banner of Heaven... off the top of my head. Obvious focus on SE Utah, my nearby playground!

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Since several people have mentioned John McPhee I would recommend picking up his entire collection, Annals of the Former World, which includes Basin and Range, In Suspect Terrain, Rising from the Plains, Assembling California,and Crossing the Craton.

Another Good one is History of the Sierra Nevadaby Francis P. Farquhar.

Sand County Almanac is a must read in my opinion as is Cadillac Desert

Cort


Great list of books here!

Anybody interested in following up on Cort's suggestion of Cadillac Desert and the water wars should read Water and Power.

 

[MarkBC]

When I looked up "Water and Power" on Amazon I found a number of related (in one way or another) books, including:
A Land Between: Owens Valley, California by Rebecca Fish Ewan

Has anyone here read this book?
It seems like something that I should have...may have...

Mostly unrelated, but BTW: I always think of the movie, "Chinatown" (one of my all-time favorites), whenever I hear about LADWP and water-politics.

 

[ntsqd]

Since I see that no one has mentioned it yet, one that immediately comes to mind is "Deep Enough, A working stiff in the Western Mine Camps"; Frank A. Crampton.

 

[ski3pin]

The list is growing, thanks everyone!

My additions will move a little south now to the Colorado River mystery of Glen and Bessie Hyde

http://www.amazon.com/Sunk-Without-Sound-Colorado-Honeymoon/dp/1892327988/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295017910&sr=1-1

 

[chnlisle]

Here's a 9 minute segment from Burn's National Parks series on the Hydes.
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/visitors/

 

[Argonaut20]

For those with an interest in prehistory, try "1491" by Charles C. Mann. In the southwest, "Chaco Meridian" by S. Lekson is great reading for those who wander the Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Hovenweep, Gila Cliff Dwellings route. For a view of what the 1800's were like for a fur trapper "Journal of a Trapper" by Osborne Russell, "We Pointed Them North" by E. C. Abbott for the cowpuncher side of life.

Howard Bryan took down verbal histories from old timers in New Mexico and published several books with excerpts from the stories. Clear Light Press is the publisher. A couple of titles are "Robbers, Rogues, and Ruffians" and "True Tales of the American Southwest".

 

[MarkBC]

In the historical/exploration genre, I enjoyed this book about John C. Fremont's expeditions (1842 - 1854) that covered much of the West:
Fremont: Explorer for a Restless Nation by Ferol Egan

There are plenty of other books about Fremont, but this is the only one I've read. At the time I'd relatively-recently discovered "Oregon's Outback" (southeastern Oregon), so I was particularly intrigued by the description of Fremont's second expedition (1843-44) that went through Oregon, including central/southern Oregon: he named Winter Rim and Summer Lake (there's a sign/plaque/display there commemorating his expedition).
It was Fremont who first coined the term "Great Basin" to describe (more-or-less) what we call that area between the Sierras and Rockies.
And as a native Californian, I liked that his multiple trips through that state visited places I know there, too. (I had a high school teacher who quoted a saying: "John Fremont's campfires are now the cities of California"...or something like that.)

From that book linked above, here's a map showing Fremont's expeditions:




BTW: I'm not a Fremont promoter...he wasn't a great guy in general and definitely not in modern sensibilities, but still important -- and I recommend the read.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

For those with an interest in prehistory, try "1491" by Charles C. Mann. In the southwest, "Chaco Meridian" by S. Lekson is great reading for those who wander the Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Hovenweep, Gila Cliff Dwellings route.

Both of these are good reads!

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

In the historical/exploration genre, I enjoyed this book about John C. Fremont's expeditions (1842 - 1854) that covered much of the West:
Fremont: Explorer for a Restless Nation by Ferol Egan

From that book linked above, here's a map showing Fremont's expeditions:

View attachment 11152



Yes, this is an interesting book on Fremont and his time. And, Mark, four of Fremont's five expeditions went through my now hometown, Pueblo, CO.

 

[generubin]

For the Baja Fans: All the old Erle Stanley Gardner books about his early Baja explorations.

For the South West Fans: All the Ed Abbeys.

For the Alaska/Arctic Canada Fans: McPhee's "Coming Into The Country" (btw: I was married by John Borg in Eagle, AK), Hans Reusch's "Top Of The World" and "Return to top of the World".

And my favorite book of the arctic (I recommend the audio on iTunes) "Kabloona", by Gotran De Pocoins

 

[ski3pin]

All right everybody, get back to reading!

For you southern Utah explorers, an interesting read is The Mystery of Everett Ruess by W.L. Rusho. Ruess is the young man who disappeared in 1934. His story was written about in an article in the inaugural issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine several years ago.

 

[chnlisle]

Ditto Ski.

You give a little.
http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/everett-ruess/david-roberts-text


And you take it it away.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13613067

Before Reuss there was Bessie and Glen Hyde.
http://www.mygrandcanyonpark.com/TTD/ShowThingsToDo.aspx?ttd=103&index=1

 

[DirtyDog]

That reminds me of a part in Abbey's Desert Solitaire where he high tails it out of Moab into the La Sals to beat the heat; Runs his pickup as far up Mount Tukuhnikivatz as it will go; fries bacon in a pan on the fire for a meal; sleeps under the stars then climbs the mountain on a breakfast of bacon the next day. What's not to love about a guy that lives on bacon, sleeps in bear country smelling like bacon, and does it all to get away from people and into nature?


I'm reading "The Fools Progress" now where Abbey recounts an incident at Arches where he drunkenly wrecks a NPS truck. True story? It's interesting to draw the parallels between Fool's and his earlier works.

The author that first engaged me in man's epic struggle with (and love for) nature was Jack London. Klondike Tales stands out as my favorite work of his.

Funny I had missed this before. Great thread.

Roughing It - Mark Twain.

 

[clikrf8]

Ditto Abbey's "Desert Solitaire". I read it way back when then again on the plane to Vegas to meet a fellow photographer for a Winter photo shoot in Zion.

Another book on Oregon is "Oregon's Dry Side: Exploring East of the Cascade Crest" by Alan D. St John packed with history, geology, the people and small settlements still there of the area east of the Cascades.

And, for photographers, I highly recommend the series by Laurent Martres:

"Photographing the Southwest: Volume 1--Southern Utah"

"Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2--Arizona"

"Photographing the Southwest: Volume 3--Colorado/New Mexico"

The one on Oregon isn't as thorough and not as good in my opinion but it wasn't written by Martres. There are others to come out soon including different areas of California.

We were in Escalante at the tail end of Everett Ruess days last September. A very fascinating young man and talented artist whose disappearance is yet unsolved. Had he lived longer he would have had many more adventures. Sad he died so young. But, he left a lasting mark with his art.

 

[ski3pin]

I must bring this thread back to life....................

I received The California Deserts as a holiday gift and am really enjoying it. For those of you who have traveled Dedeckera Canyon and the Steel Pass route, the introduction will capture your interest.

I recommend this book.

 

[generubin]

I must bring this thread back to life....................

I received The California Deserts as a holiday gift and am really enjoying it. For those of you who have traveled Dedeckera Canyon and the Steel Pass route, the introduction will capture your interest.

I recommend this book.



Thanks for the recommendation, I just ordered it.

 

[MarkBC]

I received The California Deserts as a holiday gift and am really enjoying it. For those of you who have traveled Dedeckera Canyon and the Steel Pass route, the introduction will capture your interest.
I recommend this book.

Thanks for the tip, ski3pin -- seems like something I should have...
I tend to buy natural history books like this one (such as "Sierra East: Edge of the Great Basin" and "A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert" and "The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin" -- all very-recommended!)...but I don't have this one and it covers an area I'm interested in...I'm sold!

 

[Smokecreek1]

Books, just about my favorite subject: Lots of good books have been mentioned so far. This book came out in 93 and not many people heard of it but once disco0vered, was soon adapted and read by the whole resource staff of our BLM office; it pushed me into trying to do more of what is called environmental or holistic archaeology. The Desert's Past ,A Natural Prehistory of the Great Basin, by Don Grayson (Smithsonian Institution, 1993). . The guy is a real good writer (unlike allot of geologists/archaeologists) and makes science interesting and understandable to the layman. For example, Chapter 11 is called, Cougers, Cheatgrass, and the Natural landscape -now who couldn't resist reading that? Or try, J. Goldsbourgh Bruff's Gold Rush, the journals, drawing and other papers , Columbia,NY, 1949. A journey complete with drawings of the trip west from Wash.DC to California in 1849-came through Susanville and ended up on the Mendoceno coast-even found some of the places he described and drew-fun to read and brought out again for the California hundred year celebration. Time to go find more book titles to add to the list!

Smoke

 

[Smokecreek1]

I'll 2x all of the above except Sierra East, which I have not read. McPhee's book on Alaska in the 1970s, Coming into the Country, is also a good read.


Sure was-my old girl friend gave it to me to read in 1979-she was a rafter babe, we always talked about rafting the Kybuck(sp) River like he did-but alas we never did!

Smoke