Eric Blehm's The Last Season is a biography of seasonal ranger Randy Morgenson, a veteran of nearly three decades in the backcountry of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. A committed naturalist and environmentalist, he was drawn to the solitude of high peaks. He was also a talented photographer and budding but frustrated writer. One morning he didn't answer his regular radio check-in, leading to a huge search and rescue (SAR) effort and unanswered questions for his coworkers, friends, and long-suffering wife Judi.The author skilfully interweaves biographical segments, natural history, and accounts of the SAR. The pacing is just right--the SAR sections are edge-of-my-seat suspenseful, and the rest is alternately enlightening, educational, and pastoral. Blehm's extensive research gives him authority, whether he's recounting Morgenson's history, discussing SAR techniques, or describing the geography of the park.Blehm lets Morgenson speak frequently, quoting short and long passages from his logbooks and personal diaries. Morgenson's love of nature comes through very strongly; he clearly felt a distinct call to the Sierra Nevadas above all else, to the detriment of his marriage. He was a strong and distinct person, sometimes a curmudgeon, sometimes a son-of-a-bitch, and sometimes an inspired prophet, but always interesting.As a hiker, backpacker, and outdoorsman, The Last Season was a very meaningful read for me. It is written by an author who loves the wilderness about a man who loves the wilderness. Blehm's writing invites a feeling of kinship with both the author and the rangers of the parks. While the book does not gush with prose about the beauty of the locales, I know the emotions and feelings that these remarkable places inspire, and he evokes those emotions regularly. Morgenson's borderline obsession for environmental preservation will stay with me, over and above "Leave No Trace" ethics that I already practice--it's going to be damn hard to pass a piece of litter in the woods without thinking of his career-long haul of 21,000 pounds of litter removed from the backcountry, much less choose a campsite without considering the impact of my tenting location!I will also take from this book a stronger sense of enjoyment in the wilderness. It's safe to say that one of Morgenson's legacies is that the outdoors are full of things to be enjoyed, from the minute to the colossal in scale, wanting only patience and attention to be revealed--a very valuable lesson in a culture with a terminal obsession for the fastest. I will think of this book on many trails to come, I'm sure.
My first season with the Park Service, one of the more senior rangers told me I should read The Last Season. I hesitated for a while, not wanting to read about people in my line of work dying in my line of work, but finally read it after a co-worker put the book in my hands and sent me home.Finally getting around to reading this book was a good decision. I really liked it. I've been to a lot of the places Randy Morgenson spent time in. I've worked with or for various agencies referenced in the book, and I've spent time living in the Sierras. That being said, you don't have to have lived in the Sierras or have worked for the NPS to appreciate The Last Season. My experiences certainly enhanced my understanding of The Last Season, but Blehm was an NPS outsider when he wrote the book and that only adds to the depth of his writing. Blehm does a great job at balancing the intricacies of the Morgenson search with NPS and land management history. He explores the relatively untalked about world of life long seasonal workers who live and die doing a job that never offers them benefits. He also does a great job of introducing his readers to the often romanticized but little understood world the NPS and its dedicated but under appreciated seasonal workers. I recommend this book.
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This is a great read! It's an account of a backcountry forest ranger, Randy Morgenson, who knew the Sierra Nevadas like the back of his hand...and then in 1996 he disappeared without a trace. He'd done the job for 28 years and spent more time living in the middle of nowhere, all alone, patrolling the wilderness and rescuing injured and lost hikers.The book is about his life and it's fascinating. His parents were bankers in 1930 that longed to live another life and eventually they quit their jobs (which was unheard of in that time) and moved to Yosemite to live and work in the park. His father became a walking encyclopedia about Yosemite, Half Dome, all the animals, trails and plants in the park and Randy grew up with this same passion. He worked in the park as a teen, eventually left college for the Peace Corp where he lived in the Himalayas for two years and learned how to traverse mountains. He returned to become the backcountry ranger where he lived in a tent with all his supplies for the 3-6 month stints and a radio. That was it.The book was truly fascinating to read and the passion he had for the wilderness was romantic and enticing. The outcome was sad but overall it was a compelling read.
—Lisa Eirene
When I finished I leaned back in my chair and let out a deep breath of air which in itself held my deep felt love of Randy Morgenson and his life story. Though out this book were passages written during his 28 years as back country ranger which expressed such personal love, with his surroundings of the high sierras and their richness of natures most beautiful bounties. In reading this story you begin to reveal in your own experiences if you have ever hiked the back country of the high sierras. For Randy Morgensen, it was his whole life, everything he lived for and shared with others. A truly inspirational story though part mystery of a man and his love of the wilderness. Not a fast read for me as many of the passages (quotes) were so meanfull I needed reflection upon their message.
—Bill Currie
This book was a true wilderness mystery; an experienced backcountry NPS ranger goes missing in his assigned territory of the Sequoia/Kings National Park. The Last Season documents the life of Ranger Randy Morgenson and the massive search and rescue operation his disappearance triggered. Mr. Blehm had me turning the pages eagerly, swept up in the story, eager to learn more about Ranger Randy and anxious to piece together how he went missing.What Mr. Blehm, and Ranger Randy through his own journal entries, do best is make Ranger Randy so real and human that the reader can begin to imagine how Randy's absence and story affected those close to him and close to the wilderness he loved. Unlike an Agatha Christie mystery novel, The Last Season does not have a tidy ending; but part of the lesson I took from the book was that little about life is ever tidy, including how it ends.In many ways, The Last Season is reminiscent of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. However, I found Randy Morgenson to be a much more likable and sympathetic character than Chris McCandless; perhaps Morgenson is who McCandless would have mellowed and aged into had he survived.Mr. Blehm took a very emotional and difficult story and weaved it into a very emotional and gripping piece of writing. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
—Ellen
