Customer Reviews

A Year in Paradise

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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.

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.

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.

This chronicle takes place some 90 years ago. It narrates all four seasons the author and his new bride spent in Paradise, Mt.Rainier National Park's most popular destination (and aptly named). For those of us that have visited and love this mountain, this book just feels right. If you have never been there, just read it to fall in love with the place. This is a winter book to read with hot cocoa on hand. As a previous reviewer stated; it's like listening to grandpa.

Note: The author, Floyd W. Schmoe (September 21, 1895 - April 20, 2001) wrote this book in 1959; the events took place in 1920 (40 years earlier!!!).

This is a great book that I read years ago and enjoyed. I wanted a copy for my library to read again. It was just as good the second time through.

I bought this book for a friend that loved Mount Rainier. She really enjoyed the book.