Wow! I just finished this utterly fantastic read by author Eric Blehm published this year. If you liked "The Perfect Storm" or "Into the Wild" (both of which I read & loved), you will certainly want to to read this. It's a hybrid of "Into the Wild" meets "Grizzly Man". Written as a documentary, it's the story of backcountry seasonal ranger, Randy Morgenson, who spent 28 summer seasons patrolling the backcountry of the High Sierras (specifically, the Sequoia and Kings Canyons National Parks). It is a full-on nature themed book, yet at the same time it has rich character development as the reader learns so much detail on the life and tragic, lonely death of Randy. He and the Sierras are the main characters and he embraces those mountains, meadows, animals, etc. with all his heart. The backcountry is his life, his blood, his soul, his passion and his love. Ironically it is this very thing that unfortunately takes his life (along with combined factors such as depression, absent mindedness, perhaps, which we assume may have been a factor in his "carelessness" while on patrol the final day of his life).
Teamwork/team effort come to play as the entire Nat'l Park service in this area plans an intense search in a huge area of 80 square miles. But to no avail, as the outcome is tragic. A search & rescue dog was just yards away where Randy met his death; the dog slipped into icy water, was injured and there was never any follow up on that area. So much postulating, theorizing, analyzing, on a scientific level, about what could have happened to Randy.
Familiar places to me are in this book: the High Sierras, Yosemite, John Muir Trail, Sedona. It's philosophical; Randy was a philosopher in his own right. He philosophizes in his copious logbook accounts on life, nature, animals, the wind.... He was an artist (photographed the Sierra country), a loner (even though he was married) who was happiest during those summers when he was alone with "his mountains". The book has a moral which Randy proselytizes: Don't rush through life. Stop and smell the flowers. See the forest through the trees (or the trees through the forest). Tread lightly. Leave no imprints. Randy became so much more in death than in life, to the point where the term "Morgensonia" was coined among his fellow rangers and park service people. His death remains a mystery to this day (he died 10 years ago) and we can only speculate as to what actually happened.
This book is heartbreaking, but so much more. Randy was a true fighter in the preservation, and restoration of the backcountry land.
Glenn & Eric should read this. I have to give this 5 stars because it really deserves it.
