A Year in Paradise [Paperback]

Floyd Schmoe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1999

A poetic, delightful look at Mount Rainier in the early part of this century-now in paperback.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

In the centennial year of Mount Rainier National Park, The Mountaineers Books is pleased to bring this classic memoir back into print. Originally published in 1959, A Year in Paradise is author Floyd Schmoe's portrait of Mount Rainier through the seasons of 1920.

Schmoe's love affair with Rainier began during the winter he and his new bride spent caretaking Paradise Lodge, which was completely buried under the snow until the Fourth of July. His knowledge of natural history, his photographic talent, and his graceful writing combine to create a rich portrait of this beloved mountain.

With 20 b&w photos and 30 illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: The Mountaineers Books; 2 edition (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898866537
• ISBN-13: 978-0898866537
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Washington
  • #11 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Mountains

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mt. Rainier like your Grandpa would tell it..., September 4, 2007

By 

Kathryn C. Stevens (Tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Year in Paradise (Paperback)

I wish I could have lived even a day of the life Floyd Schmoe describes in this colorful and humble account of life on Mt. Rainier. As a relatively new resident to Western Washington, I bought this book as an attempt to acquaint myself with one of the regions best-known and best-loved landmarks. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was intrigued.

In this four-seasons look at the life of a couple who lived year-round on an active volcano during the early 1900's (ie: 1920 and beyond), I was struck by how honestly every detail was described. This certainly is not a scientific book, nor is it an all-inclusive documentation of Mt. Rainer National Park, but it is a realistic one, one you might imagine your Grandfather sitting down to tell you over several weeks at the dinner table.

Schmoe uses all of his resources to describe life on the mountain; he tells it through his own eyes, his wife's eyes, and the eyes of the visitors who crowded into the Inn every summer. He retells suspenseful stories of lost climbers and park staff, close encounters with bears and cougars, firsthand accounts of hiking the mountain, and large-scale bouts of inclement weather.

But it's not all adventure and action. In fact, many of the most memorable parts of A Year in Paradise are those when Schmoe writes of being overcome by the beauty of wildflowers breaking through snow in spring or the determination of Rainier's smaller wildlife to survive over winter. He also writes about the sometimes-laughable domestic situations that can arise when humans try to play house on a real-life mountain.

When all is said and done, you'll feel not only like you've read a book about the great outdoors, but about the inhabitants (humans, animals, and plants alike) that make it worthy of the name Paradise. Oh yes- and some added bonuses are the home photos and nature sketches throughout.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book about a Wonderful Place, December 9, 2010

By 

A. Courie "Treb" (Freedom's Fortress) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Year in Paradise (Paperback)

Floyd Schmoe's memoir "A Year in Paradise" is a wonderful little book chronicling a year living on Mount Rainier. Schmoe was a recently discharged WWI vet, newly-married, broke, and a forestry student at the University of Washington when he took a job as the winter caretaker for the Paradise Inn - one of the snowiest places on earth.

His job started with a 7-mile hike for him and his wife up to the Paradise Inn, which was buried in snow. They spent the winter there, with Schmoe occasionally hiking back down the mountain for supplies and contact with the NPS Rangers.

Paradise Valley on Mount Rainier is a unique place - climatically and ecologically. Schmoe describes their long, cold winter as caretakers at the inn, and then how winter slowly slide into spring as the animal and plant life awakened. Summer on the mountain is short (Schmoe writes, "As spring lengthened into mid-July") and beautiful with meadows full of wildflowers and a brief flurry of human activity. The fall that Shmoe writes about was a few years later when he, his wife, and their young son (conceived during that cold, lonely winter as caretaker of the inn!) hiked/rode the 100-mile trail that circles the mountain.

Shmoe's love for this beautiful place shines in this book. Those who have visited Rainier will gain a new appreciation for it, and those who have never visited will long to visit after reading this. As a forestry major, Schmoe writes at length on the flora and faunae he encounters, a bit too much for my taste, but not enough to detract from the book.

This is just a wonderful book about a wonderful place.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Year in Paradise, December 23, 2011

By 

swampydave - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Year in Paradise (Paperback)

Floyd Schmoe writes so well, you can feel the Chinook Wind in the spring and the aches in your legs snowshoeing from Longmire to Paradise Inn. He makes you feel like you are walking with him tramping along the Wonderland Trail or making a rock climb.
It is made up of short chapters so it is easy to fit into a busy schedule but is is also hard to put down.. It makes a nice gift for anyone who likes the outdoors, especially Mt. Rainier.