Erin McKittrick
Список книг автора Erin McKittrickMudflats & Fish Camps
Experiences of a family that opened its front door to walk 800 miles in the wilderness
Alaska holds a mythical place in the American imagination as our wildest, coldest, largest, and farthest frontier. It is also the home of writer Erin McKittrick, who lives in a yurt on the shore of Cook Inlet with her husband and two preschool-age children. Mudflats and Fish Camps chronicles McKittrick’s journey, along with her family, as they set out to hike and paddle the entire coastline of Cook Inlet, a distance of 800 miles. This is unconventional parenting in the extreme, bringing kids not just into the woods, but into quicksand, snow, and the realm of grizzlies! And while their story includes all the stubbornness, excitement, and sleet-in-the-eyes awfulness that comes from walking their way through the world, it also provides an intimate history of a wild and fascinating place and the people who call it home. While many adventure tales spring from the restless quest of someone seeking to find themselves—whether floundering in the possibilities of youth or in the throes of a midlife crisis—McKittrick’s story is about a person who has already found her purpose in life. It’s an adventure that happens right in the author’s backyard, providing her an unusual depth and connection. And it’s not a story of record-breaking speed, hopeless under-preparedness, or a radical transformation of the soul. Instead, it describes the journey of an ordinary family stepping into the wild outside their home. The wonder of the landscape, the exuberant joy of children outdoors, and the magic of exploration make Mudflats and Fish Camps an inspiring tale of choosing to walk—literally—a more adventurous path.
Small Feet, Big Land
CLICK HERE to download the first chapter from Small Feet, Big Land * Sequel to 2009’s top-selling A Long Trek Home: 400 Miles by Boot, Raft, and Ski * Unique narrative combination of thrilling adventure with the challenges of bringing small children along* An accessible window into life on America’s “Last Frontier” Small Feet, Big Land follows the expeditions and daily life of a family of four: Erin McKittrick and her husband, Hig, lifelong adventure trekkers, set out to explore the vast and remote wild corners of Alaska with their two young children in tow. After trekking thousands of miles through harsh and beautiful wilderness together, Erin and Hig must adjust to the short attention span — and short legs — of a toddler and the weight of a newborn baby, as they walk Alaska’s rapidly changing coastline. While visiting remote Arctic villages, touring a zinc mine, and exploring for two months on one of Alaska’s largest glaciers, Erin sees the dramatic effects of climate change on the landscape around her, and considers the very different world in which her children may live one day. Whether huddling in the pelting rain, facing a curious grizzly bear, eating whale blubber with new friends, or picking berries on the sunny tundra their unconventional adventures draw Erin’s family — and readers — closer together as they explore the intersection of wilderness and industry in America’s wildest state. Erin McKittrick and her husband, Hig, have walked over 7,000 miles through Alaska’s trackless wilderness. Their journey from Seattle to the Aleutians is chronicled in Erin’s first book, A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft, and Ski. In between expeditions, they are raising their children a stone’s throw from the wilderness in a yurt in Seldovia, Alaska. They are the founders of ground truth trekking, a nonprofit that uses science and adventure to further the conversation about Alaska environment issues: www.groundtruthtrekking.org/blog.
A Long Trek Home
CLICK HERE to download the first chapter from A Long Treak Home * Compelling adventure with an environmental focus* An informative natural and cultural history of one of our last wild coastlines* Author is a pioneer in «packrafting,» an emerging trend in backcountry travelIn June 2007, Erin McKittrick and her husband, Hig, embarked on a 4,000-mile expedition from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands, traveling solely by human power. This is the story of their unprecedented trek along the northwestern edge of the Pacific Ocean-a year-long journey through some of the most rugged terrain in the world- and their encounters with rain, wind, blizzards, bears, and their own emotional and spiritual demons.Erin and Hig set out from Seattle with a desire to raise awareness of natural resource and conservation issues along their route: clear-cut logging of rainforests; declining wild salmon populations; extraction of mineral resources; and effects of global climate change. By taking each mile step by step, they were able to intimately explore the coastal regions of Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, see the wilderness in its larger context, and provide a unique on-the-ground perspective. An entertaining and, at times, thrilling adventure, theirs is a journey of discovery and of insights about the tiny communities that dot this wild coast, as well as the individuals there whom they meet and inspire.