The
spirit of the wilderness is an elusive quarry. William Sullivan's
quest for it took him on a 1,361-mile solo backpacking trek across
his native Oregon. His remarkable route traversed four mountain
ranges and eighteen designated Wilderness Areas. It led through
fogbound rain forests, windswept glacial cirques, and sunbaked desert
canyons--from Oregon's western shore at Cape Blanco to the state's
easternmost point at the bottome of Hells Canyon.
Listening for Coyote is Sullivan's classic account of his
two-month journey. Along the way he encountered blizzards, poisonous
mushrooms, and marauding bears, but Sullivan's book is more than
just an outdoor adventure story. He spices his journal with the
observations of a talented naturalist, notes on history and geology,
demonstrations of survival skills, and encounters with some unforgettable
people.
These last include a political scientist who leaves his classrooms
to protect Bald Mountain from the Forest Service, a braided and
earringed forest ranger who takes up chewing tobacco as a political
move, a camouflaged elk hunter who uses only a bow and hopes to
be reincarnated as a stag elk, and an ancient widow who farms alone
from a remote and rickety miner's cabin.
What all of these people share, and what the whole book illustrates,
is a deep connection to the wilderness itself, that place we must
preserve where humans still do not control things. Written in a
soft-spoken but powerful style, Sullivan's book illustrates with
living examples just why we are right to work to save such places.
"An
endearing, engaging writer.....[His work has] the energy, the
wonder and sometimes the humor of Mark Twain's Roughing It." --The
New York Times
"This
is a wonderful story of the search for a new Oregon Trail. Nature
lovers, active and passive, will find Sullivan's walk a vicarious
pleasure." --Publishers Weekly
"This
fascinating account of a contemporary wilderness journey should
become an American classic." --Alison Lurie
About the Author
William L. Sullivan is the author of eight books about Oregon, including
Hiking Oregon's History, Exploring Oregon's Wild Areas, and
four detailed guidebooks in his popular 100 Hikes series.
His most recent book, A Deeper Wild, is a historical novel
based on the life of Joaquin Miller, the "Poet of the Sierras."
He lives in Eugene, Oregon.
