Five Adventure Filled Books For Outdoor Lovers

I remember the first time I ever went to Yosemite. As my vehicle made its way through the long tunnel and exited at Tunnel View I can remember in an instant the awe that overcame me as I looked through Yosemite Valley. With El Capitan on the left, Half Dome center, and the plunging Brideveil Fall to the right, this is an experience many people can relate to when visiting Yosemite. Kate Ogden’s Yosemite takes a thoughough lens to Yosemite’s rich history. Ogden takes readers through the geological formation, rich cultural history, early European exploration, and famous figures such as John Muir and  Ansel Adams.

Wild Rescue’s by Kevin Grange is a compliation of self-told stories during separate stents in Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. Working as a new EMT in the City of Los Angeles, Grange struggled to find a career footing and was becoming burnt out as an urban emergency responder. In order to find a new spark and seek new experiences, Grange enlisted himself as a paramedic through the National Park Service. Wild Rescue’s is full of dramatic stories and the experiences that were gained responding to emergencies in America’s most  scenic and dangerous places. This book was definitely one that was hard to put down.

By the three-time Newburry Honor Author, Gary Paulsen, Hatchet is a book a that’s great for children to adults. Nominated by PBS as one of America’s best-loved novels, Hatchet is a classic story about survival in the wilderness. While traveling to visit his father for the first time since his parent’s divorce, a thirteen year old boy finds himself alone after the single-engine plane he was on crashed in the Canadian wilderness. With the pilot dead and his only posession a hatchet, the young boy is forced to learn how to survive alone in the wild until his rescue almost two months later.

Ever wonder what it was like to have been some of the first settlers traveling through some of this nation’s National Park’s? You’re not alone. Edited by Susan M. Neider are twenty-five compositions detailing the early years of European travel through Yosemite National Park. Authors include Mark Twain, John Muir, Clarence King, and Theodore Roosevelt. This book was my first introduction to John Muir’s writings on Yosemite. I had no idea eloquent and fluid a writer Muir was. This book not only brought a whole new perspective on the early years of Yosemite Valley but also an appreciation for the works of John Muir.