Living on Wilderness TimeUniversity of Virginia Press, 2015 M03 6 - 320 pages Melissa Walker set out on a journey that many women of her generation have mapped only in their dreams. Like many American chroniclers before her who have surrendered to the aimless pleasures of the road, Walker had no geographical destination in mind, but she did have two definite goals—one personal, one political—for her journey. She was looking for the peace and solitude of the backcountry, certainly, but she also wanted to learn the dynamics of preserving wild places and to devote herself to that cause. In the Sky Islands of southern Arizona, on the banks of the Popo Agie River and the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming, in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, and Olympic National Park, in Gila and Glacier Peak Wilderness, she encountered the hazards of wild animals and extreme weather, and she began to reassess what parts of her life she could control. Living on Wilderness Time is a book for those who have visited wild places and want to return, and for others whose overcommitted urban lives make them long for land where time is measured differently and human beings are scarce. Above all it is a call to join those who, like Aldo Leopold, see wilderness as vital to the human community. Melissa Walker is vice president of National Wilderness Watch, chair of the Georgia chapter of Wilderness Watch, serves on the Southern Appalachian Council of the Wilderness Society, and is the author of Reading the Environment and Down from the Mountaintop. She has been Professor of English at the University of New Orleans and Mercer University and a fellow of Women’s Studies at Emory University. Walker lives with her husband in Atlanta, Georgia. |
From inside the book
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... walked toward the white truck , and I walked toward my car . Only slightly uneasy , I turned to look at him before opening the car door . " Is that a photojournalist vest you have on ? " When I answered " yes , " he explained that HURRY ...
... walked through was not difficult , and I was confident that I could use a compass and walk back to a road in less than half a day if for some reason he didn't come back . The biggest chance I'd taken was in trusting Gary , but trust him ...
... walked through . Whatever had gone splat in the night must be nearby . I hiked as far as I dared before turning back . The giant pine was long out of sight . Using the compass , I turned 180 de- grees and carefully retraced my steps ...
... walked the thin line between doing what is required of a southern lady and following the dictates of nature . My maternal grandmother taught me how . She loved the woods and swamps of rural Georgia . At Thanks- giving she would gather ...
... walked the land with him , listening as he talked about board feet , pine beetles , wire grass , fire , and the endangered red - cockaded woodpecker . On hot summer days the daunty often ended at a literal wa- tering hole , a cold - as ...
Contents
3 | |
14 | |
20 | |
33 | |
40 | |
Home on the Range | 52 |
Golden | 58 |
Lion | 69 |
Holden Village | 79 |
Bear Poachers and Mushroom Wars | 92 |
Canyons and Slickrock | 102 |
Death in the Navajo Nation | 115 |
This Is Texas | 121 |
Settling In | 135 |
Shopping | 141 |