The Hard Way: Stories of Danger, Survival, and the Soul of Adventure

In a world increasingly vicarious and secondhand, we all long to make decisions that matter, decisions of consequence. This is precisely what the outdoor life still requires. Make the wrong decision, and you can pay with your life. The element of risk is what makes the outdoor life so rich, so intense, and sometimes so terrifying.Adventure writer Mark Jenkins journeyed around the world, crossing wild country, probing the hinterlands, getting arrested over a dozen times. Mark Jenkins has made a life out of doing things the hard way. His travels are to places where arrival is uncertain and an intact return is never guaranteed. But the risk conjures in him unrealized qualities -- focus, faith, and determination -- and teaches him about the sort of people we are when life is in the balance.The result is a book that dives headfirst into experience. Jenkins transports the reader with him as he climbs the ice-rimed Italian Ridge of the Matterhorn, sea kayaks from battlefield to battlefield along the Turkish coast of Gallipoli, sneaks across Tibet to reach Buddhism's holiest lake deep in the Himalaya, descends unexplored canyons in Australia, and crosses the war-torn Simen Mountains of northern Ethiopia.If you've ever dreamed of escaping, lighting out for the unknown, read this book. Within these pages are spare, profound tales that will inspire you to buy a plane ticket, hop on a bus, get out of Dodge. Ajourney into the soul as well as a trek through the world's unknown geography, "The Hard Way" is a book about doing, not watchng, about leaping before you look.