In Switchbacks, Sid Marty draws on his own memories and those of friends and former colleagues in relating a series of true mountain tales. Among his subjects are: the old guide who built a staircase up a cliff; the stranded snowshoer who was rescued between rounds of beer in a Banff tavern; the man who catered to hungry grizzlies; an opinionated packrat with a gift for larceny; and a horse named Candy whose heart was as big as a stove.Along the way, Marty tries to answer the kind of questions that all of us must face some day. Do we really have to “grow up” and abandon adventure as well as youthful ideals? Can the mountains draw old friends back together, when politics and life styles have set them apart?Sid Marty writes gracefully of the land he loves and lampoons a few bureaucrats whose policies sometimes threaten its integrity. His portraits of the people – and creatures – that make their lives in the mountains are affectionate and respectful. But, above all, this is a collection of engaging, surprising, funny, and superbly told true stories by a gifted writer.

One of the world's premier wilderness areas, Glacier Bay is known for its large, contiguous, intact ecosystems, still dominated by natural processes. This beautifully illustrated guide, produced with the assistance of Alaska Geographic, highlights over 140 familiar and unique species of mammals, birds, fishes, seashore creatures, trees, shrubs and wildflowers and includes a regional map. Laminated for durability, this lightweight, pocket-sized folding guide is an excellent source of portable information and ideal for field use by visitors and residents alike. Created in collaboration with Alaska Geographic. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this guide goes to support the important work of Alaska Geographic. Made in the USA.

To outsiders, Canada is synonymous with a vision of wilderness, glaciers, mountains and forests. Distance and space define Canada, but so do large modern cities, an extraordinarily diverse population (30 million plus) and advanced social systems that won it recognition from the United Nations as the most desirable country on earth in which to live. Canada's story begins with the arrival of the first immigrants over 15,000 years ago who travelled across a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. Starting around 1000AD with the Vikings, European settlers arrived, bringing with them their cultures, languages and societies. By 1700 Canada was divided between the French and British. The next century was spent in wars to determine who should rule in North America. The French lost, but left behind a vigorous colony that evolved into modern Quebec, and 6-million French-speakers scattered across modern Canada. Unlike the rest of the Americas, Canada long maintained a close connection with Europe, actively participating in two world wars and in the Cold War that followed. The impact of these events and its relationship with its neighbor, the USA, are discussed. The book is brought fully up to date with a profile of modern Canada, its successes, present difficulties and a prognosis for the future.

BY Dempsey, Hugh Aylmer ( Author ) [{ The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt: And Other Blackfoot Stories By Dempsey, Hugh Aylmer ( Author ) Mar - 15- 1996 ( Paperback ) } ]

First published in 1997, this hilarious book launched satirist Will Ferguson's career. Challenging the notion that Canadians are “nice,” the book asks, “Do we as Canadians deserve a country so great?” Tackling subjects from Canada's favorite inbred royals to the mighty beaver as national icon, from sex in a canoe to all-Canadian "superhero" Captain Canuck, Ferguson rampages across the cultural landscape. The book also provides a fast-paced, opinionated overview of telling moments in Canadian history, including its run-amok Mounties and “fun-loving days” of the country's (unacknowledged) slave trade.

Traveling Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road is an experience like no other. Laborers toiled for nearly 20 years to complete the 50-mile road that winds an impossible route through the heart of Glacier. One of the most scenic highways in the world, this marvel of engineering set the standard for all national parks. C. W. Guthrie tells the intriguing tale of the history and the construction of the epic Going-to-the-Sun Road. Includes more than 60 black-and-white historic and color photographs, maps.AWARDS: First Place, Association of Partners for Public Lands, 2006

In these pages you will come to fall in love with a ruggedly diverse and strikingly beautiful state, a land that takes hold and won’t let go. Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome is widely recognized as a classic history and delightful ode to the idiosyncratic personalities, restless landscape, unforgettable peoples, and lively history of the Treasure State. William Kittredge provides a new introduction for this edition.

A New York Times Editors’ Choice BookSpanning almost thirty years and settings that range from big cities to small towns and farmsteads of rural Canada, this magnificent collection brings together twenty-eight stories by a writer of unparalleled wit, generosity, and emotional power. In A Wilderness Station: Selected Stories, 1968–1994, Alice Munro makes lives that seem small unfold until they are revealed to be as spacious as prairies and locates the moments of love and betrayal, desire and forgiveness, that change those lives forever.   A traveling salesman during the Depression takes his children with him on an impromptu visit to a former girlfriend. A poor girl steels herself to marry a rich fiancé she can’t quite manage to love. An abandoned woman tries to choose between the opposing pleasures of seduction and solitude. To read these stories is to succumb to the spell of a true narrative sorcerer, a writer who enchants her readers utterly even as she restores them to their truest selves.

J. W. Schultz (1859–1947) was an author, explorer, and historian known for his historical writings of the Blackfoot Indians in the late 1800s, when he lived among them as a fur trader. In 1907, Schultz published My Life as an Indian, the first of many future writings about the Blackfeet that he would produce over the next thirty years. Schultz lived in Browning, Montana. "Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park" is by the Plains veteran, J. W. Shultz, and is “real stuff,” vivid and exciting, with the value that comes from firsthand knowledge. Schultz is most noted for his 37 books, most about Blackfoot life, and for his contributions to the naming of prominent features in Glacier National Park. In the mid-1880s, Schultz began to spend more time in the Two Medicine and Saint Mary Lakes region of what is now Glacier National Park guiding and outfitting local hunters. Thus began decades of Schultz naming features in the Glacier regions for clients and friends, and to honor traditional Indian names. In his 1916 book "Blackfeet Tales" Schultz writes: "AFTER an absence of many years, I have returned to visit for a time my Blackfeet relatives and friends, and we are camping along the mountain trails where, in the long ago, we hunted buffalo, and elk, and moose, and all the other game peculiar to this region." Also during this reunion with his Blackfeet relatives, Schultz takes the time to record the many Blackfeet legends and stories told around the campfire. Schultz also relates his conversations with the Blackfeet over land rights issues, as in the following exchange: "At the upper east side and head of this beautiful lake rises a pyramidal mountain of great height and grandeur. A frowse of pine timber on its lower front slope, and its ever-narrowing side slopes above, give it a certain resemblance to a buffalo bull. Upon looking at a recent map of the country I found that it had been named "Mount Rockwell." So, turning to Yellow Wolf, I said: "The whites have given that mountain yonder the name of a white man. It is so marked upon this paper." The old man, half blind and quite feeble, roused up when he heard that, and cried out: "Is it so? Not satisfied with taking our mountains, the whites even take away the ancient names we have given them! They shall not do it! You tell them so! That mountain yonder is Rising Bull Mountain, and by that name it must ever be called! Rising Bull was one of our great chiefs: what more fitting than that the mountain should always bear his name?" Contents: I. Two Medicine II. Pu-nak-ik-si (cutbank) III. Ki-nuk -si Is-si-sak'-ta (little River) IV. Puht-o-muk-si-kim-iks (The Lakes Inside) St. Mary's Lakes V. Iks-i'-kwo-yi-a-tuk-tai (Swift Current River) VI. Ni-na Us-tak-wi (chief Mountain)

Discover the amazing natural world of the Rocky Mountains in this engaging, in-depth guide that covers animals, plants and natural features including geography and geology. The Rocky Mountains are an immense 10,000 mile-long assemblage of mountain ranges stretching all the way from Alaska through South America. This informative book encompasses the northern and central Rockies from southern British Columbia down through Idaho, Montana, and into Utah and Colorado. This introductory book with maps, line illustrations and index gives the student, tourist and new residents of this area an excellent introduction to the most famous mountain region in the western parts of the United States and Canada.

See those animal signs on the trail? Was that footprint left by a fox or a wolf? Was that pile of droppings deposited by a moose, a mouse, or a marten? Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains will help you determine which mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians have passed your way and could still be nearby. Clearly written descriptions and illustrations of scats, tracks, and gait patterns will help you recognize seventy Rocky Mountain species. An identification key, a glossary of tracking terms, and detailed instructions on how to document your finds are also included here. Easy-to-use scat and track measurements appear on each page, making this book especially field friendly and letting you know if a white tailed ptarmigan, a red fox, or even a black bear has been your way.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Banff National Park spans three eco-regions and is home to 56 mammal species and over 275 bird species. Visitors to Banff National Park Wildlife will appreciate this pocket-sized, folding guide. Beautifully detailed illustrations highlight over 130 familiar species of birds, mammals, trees and wildflower. This guide also features an area map of the park for quick reference. Laminated for durability, it is the ideal guide to enhance your Banff National Park experience. Researched in collaboration with the Friends of the Banff National Park, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this guide support the work of this important organization.

Author Daniel Mathews provides in-depth scientific information on the natural world found between Grand Teton, Wyoming, and Jasper, Alberta. From conifers to lichens, grizzly bears to salamanders, and cutthroat trout to pine beetles this guidebooks provides a thorough reference for hikers, backpackers, and armchair naturalists. Beautifully illustrated with color photographs and line drawings, Mathews covers a thousand species of plants, animals, fish, birds, and insects found in the northern Rocky Mountains.

The fascinating story of how a harsh terrain that resembled modern Antarctica has been transformed gradually into the forests, grasslands, and wetlands we know today."One of the best scientific books published in the last ten years."—Ottowa Journal"A valuable new synthesis of facts and ideas about climate, geography, and life during the past 20,000 years. More important, the book conveys an intimate appreciation of the rich variety of nature through time."—S. David Webb,Science

The Rocky Mountains are one of the Earth's most spectacular geological features, containing vast stretches that remain wild and untamed. Hikers on mountain trails often see the wilderness just as Lewis and Clark saw it almost 200 years ago. The diversity of life found along the Rockies' 2,000-mile range is so varied that the mountains are divided into three regions: the Northern, Central, and Southern Rocky Mountains. Scott A. Elias discusses the unique features of each region in his comprehensive natural history of "the backbone of the continent." Elias examines the physical environment of each of the three regions, looking at geology, important land forms, climatology, soils, water resources, and paleontology. Equally detailed chapters examine botany, invertebrate zoology, native fishes of the plains and mountains, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Elias also includes a history of the native peoples and a synthesis of activities since the Spanish colonial period in the Southern Rockies. Conservation topics are woven throughout the book and the final pages examine the problems of overuse and overcrowding in national and state parks. Elias offers recommendations to alleviate these problems and stresses that the Rockies are a national treasure and should be treated as such.