Gratitude goes to many people in far-flung places who helped shape this book. Thanks to the editors at Outside magazine who published my initial response to an outdated feature. In Cambridge, thanks to Robert Macfarlane for stirring early interest in that response. In the Lake District, thanks to James Rebanks for leading me to Dorothy Wordsworth, and to Poppy Garrett at Dove Cottage for research assistance. At Lancaster University, thanks to Simon Bainbridge for insights into early female mountaineering history. In New York, thanks to Jennifer Griffiths at Fenimore Art Museum, Hugh MacDougall with the James Fenimore Cooper Society, and Jessie Ravage for a summertime ramble and paddle around Cooperstown. In Idaho, thanks to Rochelle Johnson for insights into Susan Fenimore Cooper. In Indiana, thanks to Terri Gorney with Friends of the Limberlost and to Curt Burnette with the Limberlost State Historic Site for your generosity of time.
In California, thanks to Matthew Hengst of the Southern California Mountaineers Association. In Scotland, thanks to Steven McColl, for without your eye-catching cobalt suit, a path would never have opened on the Cairngorms and walking with James Littlejohn, to whom I owe great thanks as well. Thanks also to Erlend Clouston for the personal stories of Nan Shepherd. In Suffolk, thanks to Charlotte Peacock for cheerleading my angle on Nan Shepherd. In Devon, warm thanks to Terrie Windling for wisdom and recommendations, and to caped crusader Heather Sheppard for persevering with permissions. In Wales, thanks to Paul Dodgson for discussions of creative nonfiction and initial feedback. In France, thanks to Bridget Holding for early reading.
In Oregon at Timber Press, thanks to Andrew Beckman for championing this project and giving me the freedom to follow my instincts. Special thanks to Jacoba Lawson for sensitive editing and keeping an eagle eye for infelicities. In Germany, warmest thanks to Gisela Goppel for such evocative author illustrations.
Thanks to my supportive family—with love to Rolf Aalto for appreciating the space I need to explore and write. Heartfelt appreciation especially to our mostly grown children, August, Tess, and Stellan Aalto, for sensitive feedback on these essays.
To Reginald Lewis, teacher, gardener and hunter, who passed away during the writing of this book, infinite gratitude from a daughter to her father—for the green eyes, green thumb, and good guidance that instilled a lifelong appreciation for seeing this rare and beautiful world.
To all the trailblazing writers in these pages, thank you for having the courage to put pen to paper, even in challenging times. Some of you have long felt like friends, even if you lived in a different century. Many of you are new friends, whose future essays and books I look forward to reading. It has been my honor and pleasure celebrating your lives, literature, and legacies.