3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Salmon Ascending...as a fine writer, July 9, 1998
This review is from: Gila Descending: A Southwestern Journey (Paperback)
This is a story about guy crazy enough to load himself, a dog and an errant tom-cat into a canoe and paddle down the New Mexico's Gila River. A well-told tale that includes near-fatal upsets, suspense, hilarity and terrific insight into the characters that live around one of America's last truly wild rivers. A good read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GILA DESCENDING/SOUL ASCENDING, May 14, 2008
This review is from: Gila Descending: A Southwestern Journey (Paperback)
"Gila Descending" by M.H. Salmon is as great a spiritual trip, as it is a river trip. Salmon's canoe route down the Gila along with his dog and..."tom cat" make for great adventure, and self-exploration.
Sometimes, the simplicity of things becomes more exciting than all the "special affects" or, "shock and awe" we usually like to inject into our lives. Author, M.H. Salmon understands this concept and imparts that knowledge to the reader through this delightful book.
A great, and simple read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Next best thing to being there, April 9, 2008
This review is from: Gila Descending: A Southwestern Journey (Paperback)
GILA DESCENDING is a relaxed and entertaining account of the author's three-week, 220-mile descent of the Gila River from near its source in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico to about 80 miles into Arizona. This stretch of the Gila is one of the longest undammed, free-running stretches of river in the lower 48 states. The trip was taken in 1983, during a spring run-off of unusually high water. Because the Gila has been spared from much development over the last quarter-century, the book is not badly outdated. (If anything, the Gila is now healthier, more natural, than it was in 1983.)
The author M.H. Salmon descended the river first by foot and then, for most of the journey, by canoe, accompanied by a hound and a tomcat. He and his "crew" encounter a number of entertaining mishaps and adventures. Interspersed throughout the account of the trip itself are digressions and ruminations on a number of subjects, such as conservation, hunting and fishing, the "Myth of the West", and the Apache Indians that once ruled the region.
As an example of these digressions, and the author's style, consider these comments in response to the charge that conservationists and wilderness buffs are more concerned about land, habitat, and animals than about people: "I think this is largely true. It is certainly true in my case. In an affluent society like ours, where abject poverty is, with rare exceptions, a thing of the past, most of the difficulties we accrue in our lives, from penury to abortive romances, are our own foolish fault. Options exist for our recovery and revival. Yet land, habitat, the creatures of the wild, these have only such options as we allow. People rule the natural world today and everywhere you look we've made a hash of it. A rare gem like the pristine Gila only serves to balance otherwise overzealous commercial interests. In juxtaposition, a free-flowing stream may be the most civilized item within our realm."
As this passage suggests, Salmon is somewhat of a maverick. Yet he is knowledgeable, he has a sense of self-deprecating humor, and he writes well enough. To be sure, GILA DESCENDING is not as well-written and lyrical as John Graves' "Goodbye to a River" (an obvious model, to which Salmon pays homage), but that probably is an unfair comparison. At least the Gila, unlike Graves' Brazos River in Texas, still runs free, and if you can't enjoy it in person, reading GILA DESCENDING is a mighty fine substitute.
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