HikeArizona.COM

How about the standard Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, or Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey? These are 2 of my favorites. Some others that were interesting were John Wesley Powell's The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, and Helen Corbin's The Bible on the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine and Jacob Waltz."

All great books! Plus check out these three:

We Swam the Grand Canyon (A True Story of a Cheap Vacation that got little out of hand) by Bill Beer. Hard to find, but an outrageous adventure.

Beyond the Deep (The deadly descent into the World's Most Treacherous Cave) Bill Stone and Barbara am Ende. A hair-raising tale.

Sunk Without a Sound. Brad Dimock. The tragic honeymoon raft trip of Glen and Bessie Hyde. If anyone knows where I can find a hardcover of this title, please let me know!

( dead link removed )

A lot of good reads in these lists. One that I do not believed that was mentioned was The Last Season by Eric Blehm. Its about the disappearance of Randy Morgenson, a veteran backcountry ranger from Yosemite National Forest. Cool, cool read.

In response to joe bartels' reply:

Thanks Joe, I've been looking for that book for over a year on Alibris and Amazon. You just made my day!

North to the Night by Alvah Simon
Sails his 36ft boat up into the Arctic Circle to deliberately experience being trapped in winter ice and 'wintering over' in darkness. I found the account an interesting study of his mindset with some interesting facts on the local wildlife and inuit. An easy read, good descriptions.

Voyageur by Robert Twigger
Brit Robert Twigger and his party emulate a journey (the first to ever successfully copy this journey) made in the early 1800's by Scotsman Alexander McKenzie who travelled over the Canadian Rockies to the Pacific in a birchbark canoe - mainly against river currents, hauling and portaging. Well written page turner with some humour!

The Last Season by Eric Blehm
I've just received a copy of this from Eric, and will be taking it with me as a read on a pending 'long' hike - looks good and is of added interest as it's an area (Kings Canyon Nat Park) that I've been through - I'm finding it hard to keep my nose out of it in the meantime! :p

here is a good place to find some of those books.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

RedRoxx44 wrote:Anasazi America by David Stuart

I picked this up at the Kane Gulch ranger station and just finished it. I was pretty impressed by the analysis of the cultural impact of short-term, small-scale climatic trends, backed up by human and plant remains and site digs. That aspect of the story seems more nuanced and better understood than the descriptions I usually hear.

big_load wrote:

RedRoxx44 wrote:Anasazi America by David Stuart

I picked this up at the Kane Gulch ranger station and just finished it. I was pretty impressed by the analysis of the cultural impact of short-term, small-scale climatic trends, backed up by human and plant remains and site digs. That aspect of the story seems more nuanced and better understood than the descriptions I usually hear.

Sounds interesting! Thanks. Need some summer reading, although mostly I will be re-reading a lot of Grand Canyon river history so it will be fresh in my mind for the river trip.

i've been reading "fire season: field notes from a wilderness lookout" by philip connors. in light of the fire season we've been having, it's been a very interesting read. lots of history of forest fire fighting and such. and i've met phil - on hillsboro peak in the gila wilderness.

Been reading The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley about TR's monumental accomplishments in protecting America's wilderness.

I'm trying to read "The Southwest of John Horton Slaughter" by Allen A Erwin. He was a cattleman and sheriff in Cochise County. Not making great progress.

If you can get this book: Log of an Arizona Trailblazer, by John Rockfellow, it sure is interesting. I have a very old copy. Pub. 1933.

Here's a website about the topic, which is mostly in Cochise Stronghold area: ( dead link removed )

Here it is, one copy for sale on Amazon for $75, and one for $85. However, I think if you keep watching you might be able to find it cheaper than that: http://www.amazon.com/Arizona-trail-bla ... ikearizona