In fact Morgenson was friends with Ansel Adams, who advised him on one of his passions. Blehm looks at this very interesting fellow, no simple mountain man. In his 28th summer in a dismally paid, and little appreciated job, Morgenson, the nearest thing to John Muir in his neck of the National Park Service, vanished. And I apologize for my harsh critique of Randy's behavior I just wanted to give my honest review of this book.īlehm looks at the uber backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson. My heart goes out to Randy's friends and colleagues, and especially his wife. I'm glad I stuck with it because the end of the book was fantastic I never saw it coming! Eric Blehm is a great author and I'm looking forward to more of his work. I had to force myself to put aside my feelings for Randy so that I could give the book and its author a chance. But I found myself disliking him so much that it actually ruined the book for me. He just seemed (to me) to be an insufferable maladjusted misanthrope.ĭespite these harsh words it's not my intention to judge Randy and I know it isn't the author's intention for this book. He could not accept the rules and norms of society, even the ones he intentionally submitted himself to (like his marriage vows). He had a privileged childhood but could not live up to his potential as an adult.

While we're all flawed to some degree (no one is perfect), the more I read about Randy's behavior towards his wife, friends, and colleagues, the more I grew to dislike him as a person. However the book was about a missing backcountry ranger whom I found to be a deeply flawed human being. I loved the descriptions of the Sierra Nevada backcountry.

I thought this was a great book and very well-written.

The last season blehm