The Great Outdoors: A User's Guide: Everything You Need to Know Before Heading into the Wild (and How to Get Back in One Piece)


Brendan Leonard - 2017
    With 400 strategies for engaging in the outdoors, and expert tips and tricks, The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide makes Mother Nature easier to understand than ever before. Brendan Leonard, writer, filmmaker, and outdoor adventurer, shows the reader how rewarding it can be to live life away from the computer and get outside. From mountain climbing, to skiing, sledding, and sailing, Leonard shows that you don’t need to be a risk taker to enjoy the outdoors. And if the reader does find himself at the point of man vs. nature, Leonard shares survival skills from how to bandage a wound and read a topographical map, to how to drive on sand and remove a tick from your skin—all organized thematically and written in short takeaway entries with helpful line drawings. Bound in a uniquely rugged (and waterproof!) PVC cover material, The Great Outdoors: A User’s Guide is a friendly way into the outdoor lifestyle, whether you're looking to dabble or go all in.

Five Months In A Leaky Boat


Ben Kozel - 2003
    But not fearless adventurer Ben Kozel, author of the bestselling Three Men in a Raft. When he returned home after risking life an limb in South America, the question uppermost in his mind was 'where to next?' Ben found the answer in the Yenisey River, which, while it is the fifth longest on the planet, remains one of the world's least-known waterways. So with three companions, Ben embarked on a five month, 5540-kilometre odyssey.They would cross the Mongolian Steppe, traverse the vast boreal forests of Siberia, and enter the realm of tundra high above the Arctic Circle, rowing a leaking and formerly-derelict wooden dory, painstakingly rebuilt by them on a shoe-string budget. Risking rivers in flood, the treacherous and mysterious Lake Baikal, deadly tick-born diseases, Siberian mobsters, radioactive contamination and the onset of the Arctic winter, Ben proved once and for all that he is one of Australia's most gifted and intrepid travel writers - or, as his friends prefer to call him, ;a very lucky bastard'.Filled with hair raising exploits and vivid description, Five Months in a Leaky Boat is both a riveting adventure story, and an intimate look at the beauty and complexity of an almost unknown part of the world.

Highs and Lows on the John Muir Trail


Inga Aksamit - 2015
    It is a must-read for those who plan to hike the trail or anyone interested in the trail. Written in journal style, the author’s description of the majestic scenery, camaraderie of trail friends and challenges of the terrain are engaging and informative. Along the way, trekkers will see how she and her husband met challenges head-on, lightened their load, planned meals and managed daily logistics for more than three weeks on the trail. The John Muir Trail traces an undulating path along the crest of the High Sierra with legendary elevation gains and losses of more 84,000 feet, topping out at 14,505 feet on the summit of Mt. Whitney. Updated to include a northbound section from Horseshoe Meadows to Onion Valley. Full-color photographs are included in the Kindle version only.