This chronicle of the author's kayaking trip down the length of the Yellowstone River combines a stirring portrait of Montana and its people with a powerful vision of what an unspoiled America might look and feel like. First serial to New York Times Sunday travel section and the San Francisco Examiner Chronicle.
After ten years of urban life in San Francisco, Chapple, a writer, returned to Montana to rediscover his roots. Along with his wife and two young children, he decided to kayak down the Yellowstone River, the last unspoiled and undammed river in the United States. Their journey of discovery began at Gardiner, Montana, and ended, 671 miles later, at old Fort Buford. Vignettes about family history, Montana characters (such as John "Jack" Horner and the Spider Lady), and Montana history are sprinkled among brief paragraphs about roughing it down the Yellowstone. Unfortunately, readers learn more about Chapple's family history than about having a white - water adventure, and the confusing narrative will leave them annoyed and frustrated. Recommended for large river and Montana collections only.