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5.0 out of 5 stars
An Introspective 100 Mile Walk: I Learned From This Book., October 11, 2010
I just finished reading The Country Northward by Daniel Ford, and it's a fabulous read for those that enjoy the outdoors, and is mandatory reading for anyone partial to New Hampshire's White Mountains. Written in 1975, it has been updated this summer (new entries, such as the loss of The Old Man Of The Mountain, is in brackets and well-demarcated from the original text) and remains a well-written piece about the author's two week, one hundred mile journey across the peaks of the White Mtns by backpacking. Anyone going backpacking in the Whites must read this book, as the descriptions of the views, the AMC huts and locations, are timeless.
What impressed me most about Mr. Ford's book are: the excellent prose, and the interesting side stories.
Daniel Ford is clearly a writer. I have read many fiction and non-fiction books that are fouled by the author's inability to communicate in writing. It makes for a rough ride. Mr. Ford, conversely, is eloquent yet efficient with his writing, and places the reader within the piney boughs and rocky outcroppings that open along the singletrack trails. Strength in writing moves the hiking adventure along at a full and enjoyable pace and allows us, the reader, to share the subtle sunshine, menacing storm clounds and babbling brooks experienced during this hike.
Daniel does not stay only with his personal experiences---the overcrowded AMC huts, eating pemmican, the hikes up and down the mountains---but has plenty of stories about the founding trailblazers of the Whites, the climbers wanting to conquer the 4000 foot peaks (and who scoff at peaks any smaller), the ski races down Tuckerman's Ravine, and dozens of other tales of lore from the Whites. These are an education unto themselves, and make the book worthwhile.
In the closing chapters, the 100 mile long hike winds down and Mr. Ford explains his sense of accomplishment, and the physical and mental fortitude that the hike has given him. He then has the most profound writing in the entire book, describing the balance between man's need to have solitude and share the wild, and man's desire for structure and regulation, even in the wilderness. As more seek solitude, more use our park system, and more regulations follow. A chance meeting with the author/hiker and a father and son on dirt motorcycles is very enchanting and thought-provoking in the final pages.
A strong book, much better than I had even imagined. I appreciate that Mr. Ford did not entertain us with wrestling bears or other theatrics; he simply brings us along through the bountiful Northweast and shows us the balance of man and nature. I had wanted to read about the richness of New England, and instead I received a whole lot more from The Country Northward by Daniel Ford. Highly Recommended.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
at last, an excellent and updated reprint!, June 22, 2010
This review is from: The Country Northward: A Hiker's Journal. On the Trail in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (Kindle Edition)
Thirty-five years on, I still delight in this account of my hike through the White Mountains in July 1975. Now here's an updated and revised version from Createspace, Amazon's publishing program. It lacks the photographs of the original, but the text is crisp and clear, and as entertaining as ever.
Here's the paperback edition. And
here it is as an inexpensive e-book for Amazon's Kindle device (which with the right app works on your iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, or Windows or Mac computer). Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
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