Robert Marshall, Alaska Wilderness: Exploring the Central Brooks Range (Berkeley: University of California Press, Third Edition, 2005)

With my imagination going full steam ahead thinking of a trip to Alaska, I’ve been reading a lot of books about that part of the world. Having read Bob Marshall’s Arctic Wilderness last year, Alaska Wilderness was a great follow-up book. Bob Marshall is a real folk hero in my home state of Montana and I would be inclined to enjoy anything that he wrote. The fact that these excerpts from his journal were published after his death by his brother adds a great deal to the mystique of the book. A forward by Rick Bass is another treat.

What shines through after all these years is Marshall’s love of being outdoors in the wild places, his ability to survive when hundreds of miles away from other humans, his skill at working with partners both human and animal, and his respect for the land. The book is a treat from beginning to end. His joy radiates from his vivid descriptions of the places he has visited.

The book only makes me more eager to plan a trip to Alaska. And it reminds me that I won’t have seen the state until I get out of the car and walk out of sight of the places most tourists visit.