Kayaking Alone: Nine Hundred Miles from Idaho's Mountains to the Pacific Ocean (Outdoor Lives) - Softcover

Barenti, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803265182 ISBN 13: 9780803265189

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2014

Synopsis

The Columbia and its tributaries are rivers of conflict. Amid pitched battles over the economy, the environment, and breaching dams on the lower Snake River, the salmon that have always quickened these rivers are disappearing. On a warm day in late May, Mike Barenti entered the heart of this conflict when he slid a whitewater kayak into the headwaters of central Idaho’s Salmon River and started paddling toward the Pacific Ocean. This account of his two-month, nine-hundred-mile solo journey into the world of the Columbia Basin plunges us into the adventure of navigating these troubled waterways.

 

Kayaking Alone is a narrative of man and nature, one-on-one, but also of man and nature writ large. In the stories of the river guides and rangers, biologists and ranchers, American Indians and dam workers he meets along the way, the rich and complicated life of the river emerges in a striking, often painfully clear panorama. Through his journey, the ecology, history, and politics of Pacific salmon unfold in fascinating detail, and with this firsthand knowledge and experience the reader gains a new and personal sense of the nature that unites and divides us.

About this title

About the Author

Mike Barenti is a writer and journalist who has worked as a reporter for the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Idaho Falls Post Register and has taught English and creative writing at various colleges. He has published work in such journals as River Teeth and Ascent.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803265182
• ISBN 13: 9780803265189
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248