“Western road maps are full of old trails: the Lewis
and Clark Trail, the Oregon Trail, the Sante Fe Trail, the Outlaw
Trail, and the Nez Perce Trail. Their vague lines connect the West
that was to the West that is. They may even stretch to the West we
imagine will be. But underneath them, there is a real West. A place
as real as barbed wire, as actual as a pickup truck stuck in a
winter ditch.” – from Benjamin Long’s Backtracking: By
Foot, Canoe, and Subaru on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Almost two centuries after Lewis and Clark
traveled across the West, Benjamin Long and his wife, Karen, sold
their home and possessions and quit their jobs to explore the rough
American wilderness that Long had dreamed of as a child. The result
is a 256-page book that takes the reader through sun-baked plains
in search of prairie dogs, up a trail criss-crossed with fallen
trees – almost 200 in one mile – to see a moose, and down the
Missouri River to find bison.
But this is not a
guidebook. Long weaves tales of Lewis and Clark’s exploration with
facts about the West’s wildlife and his own stories of encounters
with wild animals – and the wild animals he didn’t
see.
Backtracking: By Foot, Canoe, and
Subaru on the Lewis and Clark Trail is $23.95 from
Sasquatch Books (800/775-0817) or
www.SasquatchBooks.com.
Copyright 2000 HCN and Beth Wohlberg
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Backtracking.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
