An On-Going Hiker's Journal.. (beginning) July 2009

January 27, 2012, Lakewood, CO

08:21:19, hours MST

...continued hiker’s journal… 

Reading list:

• Roald Amundsen - My Life as an Explorer; Roald Amundsen.
• Mountaineers: Great Tales of Bravery and Conquest; written by Ed Douglas; additional writing, Richard Gilbert, Philip Parker, Alasdair Macleod].
• Conquering The Impossible: My 12,000-mile Journey Around the Arctic Circle; Mike Horn, with Jean-Philippe Chatrier; translated by Antony Shugaar.
• The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World; Daniel Yergin.
• Interlock Enhancement Counseling:  A Provider’s Guide; Timken, David S., Anjali Nandi, Paul Marquez.
• Meditations from the Mat; Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison.

I share this with the long- distance hiker in mind, the two books by Farley Mowat pertaining to the demise of the Inuit Culture of the inland Eskimos of the Barrens of Canada are recommended as well as Mike Horn’s translated narrative.

Some explorers have the drive and tenacity to experience survival at its human limit. This limit is starvation, loss of survival gear, fire in the tent, frost bite leading to amputation and witnessing the starvation of a Culture. Mowat traveled to the Barrens in the 1940’s and 1950’s and Horn more recent from the 2000’s to present period. Both bring alive the fabric of clinging to life in a manner that is both visceral, regular and consciousness raising.

See:

• The Desperate People / Farley Mowat, with woodcuts by Rosemary Kilbourn.
• People of the Deer: / Farley Mowat; with drawings by Samuel Bryant.