Reading an outdoor book beside a fireplace may not subtitute for a real summer outdoor experience, but it’s one way to keep your adventurous spirit and that of your loved ones alive during the cold winter months. The book in the photo, “The Rogue: Portrait of a River,” has 150 photographs by Portland photographer and writer Roger Dorband and 50 pages of essays that track the river’s flow from its source near Crater Lake to its mouth at Gold Beach. The foreword is written by former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber. For a more complete description of the book, see Page 1B in Wednesday’s Mail Tribune. The book sells for $45.Mountain trails are buried under snow, cold rain pounds on the windows, and memories of last summer's outings are fading fast ...
Wouldn't this be a good time to sit down with a book and think pleasant thoughts about getting outside again?
If your Christmas shopping list has an outdoorsy guy or gal on it, consider a book that connects them with their favorite pastime. These days there's at least one title for every flavor of outdoor recreation. There's bound to be something that will make your favorite adventurer smile. Here are some ideas:
When you can't look at wildflowers up close, the next best thing may be planning next spring's first hike. "Oregon's Best Wildflower Hikes Southwest Region," by Elizabeth Horn ($19.95) includes 50 hikes in the region bounded by Klamath Falls, Brookings, Florence and Bend, and at least two-thirds of them are easy day trips from Medford.
Along with basic information such as trail elevation, distance and road directions, Horn includes the peak bloom time and the flowers you're most likely to see. Each trail description also includes a photo of a flower that she found during the peak bloom season. So you get 50 trail descriptions along with profiles of 50 commonly seen flowers.
Advertisement | |
The guide describes many of the hawks and owls, woodpeckers and wrens, thrushes and wood warblers, as well as a variety of finches and sparrows. There are range maps to help you key in on the right species, as well as illustrations by Stephen R. Whitney and Elizabeth Briars Hart. Martyn Stewart, who has recorded birds in the wild for more than 35 years, collected the recordings.
With portable CD players now inexpensive and lightweight, there's no reason you couldn't take this disc with you in the field.
"Probably" is a word people try to avoid when identifying wild mushrooms. Some of the most succulent fungi look remarkably like some of the most deadly specimens, so it's important to know exactly what you've got before you cook up a batch and serve them proudly to unsuspecting guests.
"Simon and Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms" ($17) will help the amateur mycologist on your Christmas list take the guesswork out of identifying wild mushrooms. This is a translation of "Funghi," by Giovanni Pacioni, published in Italy in 1980. There are color photographs of more than 400 species, along with graphics that explain each species' edibility and habitat requirements.
There's also a color code for each species' spores. Mushroom hunters use spore color to identify many similar-looking species, and obtain "spore prints" by placing unknown species gills down on a sheet of paper overnight.
The guide also includes a glossary and basic diagrams that will help newcomers learn the difference between a volva and a basal bulb.
Anyone who has an interest in trees will appreciate "A Field Guide to Western Trees," ($20) by George and Olivia Petrides (George's daughter).
The guide includes information about nearly 400 species found in the West, from the Arctic to northern Mexico. There are precise line drawings of leaves and needles as well as photographs of species in their native environment along with range maps. The drawings highlight the subtleties that differentiate similar species (such as the arrangement of the scale-like leaves of cedars) and the photographs give a sense of what the trees actually look like in the field.
There are also range maps and descriptions of foliage, bark, leaves, fruit, and other identifying characteristics.
Backcountry skiers and snowboarders will learn more about avalanches than they ever wanted to know in "The Avalanche Handbook," ($19.95) by David McClung and Peter Schaerer.
The authors explain how and why avalanches happen with near-scientific precision. Photographs and diagrams are used to show how instability develops when snow accumulates in layers of different densities over the course of a winter. They also provide updates on the latest thinking in rescue techniques, and offer helpful suggestions for how to evaluate conditions on the ground to decide whether a particular slope is safe on any given day.
They give special attention to the mind-set of the skiers and snowboarders who venture into avalanche country. The vast majority of avalanche deaths occur because the people triggered the avalanche. Their perception of the safety risk did not match the reality.
Some of the smallest creatures in the forest are the most spectacular visually — consider the colorful insects that inhabit the forest floor and the spectacular moths and butterflies that flit around on summer breezes.
Southern Oregon's Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument has one of the most diverse butterfly populations in the United States. "Insects of the Pacific Northwest," ($24.95) by Peter and Judy Haggard includes photographs of dozens of butterflies and moths, along with pictures of many of them in larval (caterpillar) form. Many of the larvae are as interesting to look at as the brilliantly colored butterflies they become.
All of these books were available at Barnes & Noble in Medford at midweek. There were also plenty of other guides to the region's trails, geology, birds and rivers.
Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492 or e-mail:bkettler@mailtribune.com
