The Last Season - by Eric Blehm (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"As Jon Krakauer did with Into the Wild, Blehm turns a missing-man riddle into an insightful meditation on wilderness and the personal demons and angels that propel us into it alone." -- Outside magazine

Destined to become a classic of adventure literature, The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary National Park Service backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada--mountains as perilous as they are beautiful. In this compelling true story, Eric Blehm's masterful work is a gripping detective story interwoven with the riveting biography of a complicated, original, and wholly fascinating man.

What happened to the most experienced ranger in the Sierra Nevada?

• A Gripping Detective Story: Follow the clues of a real-life search and rescue operation for a man who knew the wilderness better than the map, and whose disappearance baffled his own colleagues.
• A Riveting Biography: Discover the complicated life of Randy Morgenson, a legendary ranger whose passion for the mountains was matched only by the personal demons that haunted him.
• Wilderness and Solitude: A profound meditation on the allure and peril of the American wilderness, and the kind of person who seeks to lose himself within its vast, unforgiving beauty.
• For Fans of Into the Wild: If you were captivated by Jon Krakauer's chronicle of Chris McCandless, you won't be able to put down this masterful investigation into another man's journey to the edge.

From the Back Cover

Destined to become a classic of adventure literature, The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada--mountains as perilous as they are beautiful. Eric Blehm's masterful work is a gripping detective story interwoven with the riveting biography of a complicated, original, and wholly fascinating man.

Review Quotes

"A legendary tale of wilderness devotion." - Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"As Jon Krakauer did with Into the Wild, Blehm turns a missing-man riddle into an insightful meditation on wilderness and the personal demons and angels that propel us into it alone." - Outside magazine

"A good story, well told. . . . Blehm unwinds the mystery in a professional style. . . . An ode to Morganson's beloved Sierras." - Wichita Eagle

"Just try to put down The Last Season, Eric Blehm's gripping detective story about the disappearance of Sierra super-ranger Randy Morgenson. We couldn't." - Backpacker

"Some considered Morganson the Park Service's best backcountry ranger, and when he went missing while on patrol in the summer of 1996, his friends were at first astonished, then suspicious. . . . Blehm ably evokes the world of seasonal backcountry rangers, whom the Park Service slights even as they put in long days protecting the land they manage and coming to the aid of backpackers in trouble." - Washington Post Book World

"A first-rate detective story but an even better love story--an account of the love for wild places." - Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature

"A gripping account. . . . I couldn't put it down." - Jordan Fisher Smith, author of Nature Noir

"[A] compelling picture . . . of the pristine backcountry and the lonely, bittersweet lives of those charged with protecting it. . . . Well reported, and like the country in which it is set, it glows in serene places." - Chicago Tribune

"Blehm recounts the search for Morgenson with a thriller's pacing. . . . A potent testament to the enduring power and allure of wild spaces. - Men's Journal

"Blehm, a snowboarder and journalist, deftly interweaves the story of Morgenson's lifelong devotion to wilderness with a riveting account of the hunt for him." - National Geographic Adventure Magazine

"This is a hell of a story, a tale of lost souls and human frailty and very real sadness, but it's also a one-of-a-kind look into a truly rarefied American subculture, the specialized world of elite backcountry rangers." - Daniel Duane, author of Caught Inside and El Capitan

"Part detective story, part sensitive biography and part Park Service procedural, Blehm's book probes the mystery of Morgenson's disappearance. . . . Blehm blends his love of the mountains (he was a competitive snowboarder and winter sports writer for years) with serious journalism skills to produce a deeply layered, meticulously researched, greatly entertaining read." - San Francisco Chronicle

"A deeply layered, meticulously researched, greatly entertaining read." - San Francisco Chronicle

"This is a hell of a story, a tale of lost souls and human frailty and very real sadness, but it's also a one-of-a-kind look into a truly rarefied American subculture, the specialized world of elite backcountry rangers--their ethics, their techniques, even the motivations that keep them deep in the woods, as the years turn into decades and life flows on by. I have a feeling Eric Blehm's The Last Season is going to be around for a long time, earning a place in every home library devoted to the California wilderness experience." - Daniel Duane, author of Caught Inside and El Capitan

"A mesmerizing tale of one man's struggle for fidelity--to the woman with whom he enjoined his life, and to the wild world of which he was steward. How many of us have felt in our bones that pull between worlds and the passions they inspire; Blehm sinks our teeth right into the marrow of that conflict." - Amy Irvine McHarg, wilderness activist and author

"Impeccably researched and compassionately told, The Last Season is a compelling story of one man's passion and pain." - Jennifer Jordan, author of Savage Summit: The True Stories of the First Five Women Who Climbed K2, the World's Most Feared Mountain