I just finished reading The Country Northward by Daniel Ford, and it's a fabulous read for those that enjoy the outdoors, and is mandatory reading for anyone partial to New Hampshire's White Mountains. Written in 1975, it has been updated this summer (new entries, such as the loss of The Old Man Of The Mountain, is in brackets and well-demarcated from the original text) and remains a well-written piece about the author's two week, one hundred mile journey across the peaks of the White Mtns by backpacking. Anyone going backpacking in the Whites must read this book, as the descriptions of the views, the AMC huts and locations, are timeless.
What impressed me most about Mr. Ford's book are: the excellent prose, and the interesting side stories.
Daniel Ford is clearly a writer. I have read many fiction and non-fiction books that are fouled by the author's inability to communicate in writing. It makes for a rough ride. Mr. Ford, conversely, is eloquent yet efficient with his writing, and places the reader within the piney boughs and rocky outcroppings that open along the singletrack trails. Strength in writing moves the hiking adventure along at a full and enjoyable pace and allows us, the reader, to share the maple leaf dappled sunshine, menacing storm clouds and babbling brooks experienced during this hike.
Daniel does not stay only with his personal experiences---the overcrowded AMC huts, eating pemmican, the hikes up and down the mountains---but has plenty of stories about the founding trailblazers of the Whites, the climbers wanting to conquer the 4000 foot peaks (and who scoff at peaks any smaller), the ski races down Tuckerman's Ravine, and dozens of other tales of lore from the Whites. These are an education unto themselves and make the book worthwhile.
In the closing chapters, the 100 mile long hike winds down and Mr. Ford describes his sense of accomplishment, and the physical and mental fortitude that the hike has given him. He, then, has the most profound writing in the entire book: He describes the balance between man's need to have solitude and be in the wilderness--and man's desire for structure and regulation, even in the wilderness. As more seek solitude, more use our park system, and regulations follow. A chance meeting with the author/hiker and a father and son on dirt motorcycles is very enchanting and thought-provoking in the final pages.
A strong book, much better than I had even imagined. I am so pleased at having picked up a copy on Amazon. I appreciate that Mr. Ford did not entertain us with wrestling bears or other theatrics; he simply brings us along through the bountiful Northeast and shows us the balance of man and nature.
I had wanted to read about the richness of New England, and instead I received a whole lot more from The Country Northward by Daniel Ford. Highly Recommended.
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