Travels in the Greater Yellowstone - by Jack Turner (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Award-winning nature writer Jack Turner directs his attention to one of America's greatest natural treasures: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In a series of essays, Turner explores this wonderland, venturing on twelve separate trips in all seasons using various modes of travel. He treks down the Teton Range, picks up the Oregon Trail in the Red Desert, and floats the South Fork of the Snake River. Along the way he encounters a variety of wildlife: moose, elk, trout, and wolves. From the treacherous mountains in the dead of winter to lush river valleys in the height of fishing season, his words and steps trace one of the most American of experiences--exploring the West.

Turner--who has lived in Grand Teton for three decades--designates the Greater Yellowstone as ground zero for the country's conflict between preservation and development, and his accounts of the area's conflicts with alien species, logging, real estate, oil, and gas development are alarming.

A mixture of adventure, nostalgia, and Americana, Turner's rare experiences and evocative writing transform the sights and sounds of Greater Yellowstone into an intimate narrative of travel through America's most beloved lands.

Review Quotes

"There have been legendary Indians, mountain men, and mystics, but the West has never been loved by a greater poet-warrior than Jack Turner. In Travels in the Greater Yellowstone, he reveals treasures and threats to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem while taking us on the most intimate and informative tour of America's wildest lands." --John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA

"The essays are controversial, but part observation, part history, part rant, they all are worth reading." --The Denver Post

"Turner climbs the highest peaks and ventures out into the loneliest, most bear-haunted valleys to get a good look at Yellowstone before it well, not exactly disappears, but becomes something other than what it is. . . . Champions of Yellowstone and the truly wild West already know Turner's work. This one merits a wide audience, particularly in the Department of the Interior." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Jack Turner is the president of Exum Mountain Guides and School of American Mountaineering in Grand Teton National Park. He has led treks in India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Tibet, Bhutan, and Peru. His first book was a collection of environmental essays, The Abstract Wild; it was followed by a memoir, Teewinot: A Year in the Teton Range. He is a visiting scholar at the University of Utah and has been honored with a 2007 Whiting Foundation Writer's Award. He lives in Grand Teton National Park with his wife, Dana, and their dog, Rio.