From the Library: Norman Clyde, Legendary Mountaineer of California's Sierra Nevada

I know a lot of folks hang out here just waiting for the next From the Library post; it has been some time since the last one and, while there will be a new cycling one forthcoming in a couple weeks, I thought, maybe, I could satisfy a bit of the page turning curiosity of those folks now (and every so often in the future) with some non-cycling related books that might, never-the-less, be of interest. 

You all know that one of my reasons to ride is adventure, the ability that bicycling provides to get out and discover new things. I used to hike a lot more than I do now. I used to backpack a lot more than I do now. I still plan to do more of those things before I am finished. My favorite-place-in-all-the-world-that-I-have-only-been-to-once, is a place called Big Bird Lake, in the Sierra Nevada; further, the Sierra have been a special place since my very first visit to them. Therefore it should come as no surprise that many of the books in The Library deal with the Sierra, or the people who have traipsed the range's canyons, slopes, and peaks, forded its rivers, jumped across its streams, and perhaps even swam its lakes.

Norman Clyde (1885-1972) is one of those legendary figures of the mountains whose life spanned generations of mountain lovers. While I never had a calling to scale those vertical faces that Clyde did, Clyde's name has been a familiar one going back to the days of my youth. Clyde is credited with more than 130 first ascents across the mountains of western North America, hiking the forests and alpine meadows with a ninety-pound pack so frequently that many regard him as more knowledgeable than even John Muir. That knowledge was frequently put to practical use - beginning in the 1920s Clyde participated in, and led multiple rescue operations in the Sierra's.

This story of "the pack that walks like a man" will be of interest to anyone who, possesses a fascination of all things Sierra Nevada, or history of mountaineering; it will stoke the fires of adventure, so save a couple days of vacation time, you will need them for a run up to the mountains once you finish reading.

Pavlik, Robert C .  Norman Clyde: Legendary Mountaineer of California's Sierra Nevada   Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2008