Reviews for Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

The average rating for Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-15 00:00:00 Jeffrey Lamela "I cannot describe my feelings on this ride, produced by the utter loneliness, the silence and dumbness of all things, the snow falling quietly without wind, the obliterated mountains, the darkness, the intense cold, and the unusual and appalling aspect of nature. All life was in a shroud, all work and travel suspended. There was not a foot-mark or wheel-mark. There was nothing to be afraid of; and though I can't exactly say that I enjoyed the ride, yet there was the pleasant feeling of gaining health every hour." My idea of 'roughing it' is sleeping in a tent in a state park with a shared bathroom a bothersome five minute walk away by flashlight in the dark. It's waking up to the disagreeable chirping of a songbird in the early hours of the morning after a night of tossing and turning in a sleeping bag set atop an inflatable mattress. It's cooking Kraft macaroni and cheese over a propane stove and hot dogs over a campfire. It's showering in a public bathroom with an alarming number of spiders lurking in the corners. All this of course happens to be in the middle of summer with no threat of snow or freezing temperatures. Isabella Bird put me to shame. Her 1873 adventure into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is nothing short of admirable. Her story is shared here in a series of letters written to her sister at home in England. What is even more remarkable is that she was in her early forties at the time, and had been traveling as a means to improve her health. Jumping on the back of a horse and riding through snow and wind with the mountains hemming one in on all sides is not my idea of restorative healing, but apparently it did a world of good for this gutsy lady. I couldn't help but think about the cursed Donner party while reading of Ms. Bird's exploits. How the heck did she come out of this alive? The descriptions of the landscape are stunning; and if ever you wish to imagine the beauty of a place before it was settled, before tourist attractions became permanent fixtures, then this book will take you right there. I've not been to the Rocky Mountains but I felt a part of this experience for a short time. I loved her depiction of Long's Peak - she endowed it with a character all its own: "It is one of the noblest of mountains, but in one's imagination it grows to be much more than a mountain. It becomes invested with a personality. In its caverns and abysses one comes to fancy that it generates and chains the strong winds, to let them loose in its fury. The thunder becomes its voice, and the lightnings do it homage." An adventure into the western Territories would not be complete without some colorful individuals, and we sure do meet a few along the journey with Ms. Bird. My favorite was "Rocky Mountain Jim" (or "Mountain Jim"), probably known only to his mother as plain old Jim Nugent. A trapper and hunter living a solitary life in Estes Park, Mountain Jim was a desperado with a handsome face scarred by a bear encounter. His story is both fascinating and a bit mysterious - he deserves a book all his own! A man with perhaps two sides, much like his ravaged face, Mountain Jim was a legend of his time. "He has pathos, poetry, and humor, an intense love of nature, strong vanity in certain directions, an obvious desire to act and speak in character, and sustain his reputation as a desperado, a considerable acquaintance with literature, a wonderful verbal memory, opinions on every person and subject, a chivalrous respect for women in his manner, which makes it all the more amusing when he suddenly turns round upon one with some graceful raillery, a great power of fascination, and a singular love of children." Is it possible that Ms. Bird may have had a bit of a schoolgirl crush on this guy?! It's certainly hard to tell, given the very matter-of-fact nature of her writing. Maybe she didn't want to reveal all to sister Henrietta in these letters. After all, Mountain Jim did have quite a reputation and mothers were said to threaten their naughty children with a visit from this most infamous of men. I really enjoyed my little jaunt to the Rockies. Ms. Bird was not much of one to show emotion in her writing, but she sure did share much of the excitement of the adventure itself! A bit wordy here and there, but overall a very satisfying and informative read.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-10-06 00:00:00 John Dobson This fascinating book, a series of letters written in 1873 by Isabella L. Bird to her sister, documents the amazing adventure of a resourceful and daring Victorian woman. Its lush descriptions of the natural world (sunrises and sunsets, plant life, landscapes, animals, and all varieties of weather) and of domestic life (buildings, living conditions, relationships, gardening, cooking and cleaning) are captivating and entertaining. In the autumn and early winter of 1873, on her return to England from the Sandwich Islands, the author travelled from San Francisco by train through the Sierra Nevadas. After a couple of days exploring the area near Truckee on a hired horse, she continued by train through to Cheyenne, Wyoming (which she described as "a God-forsaken, God-forgotten place" which existed solely as a railway depot for the distribution of essential goods to settlers within a 300-mile radius). While continuing her journey by train and wagon south to Fort Collins, Colorado, the author was smitten by her first glimpse of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. She writes (still 25 miles from the mountains) "they are gradually gaining possession of me." The mountains had captured her heart and she was determined to find someone to guide her through the Front Range into beautiful Estes Park, nestled in the hollow between the Front Range and the Long's Peak Massif. The Park, apparently inhabited by native tribes thousands of years ago, was first "discovered" by Europeans when fur trader Rufus B. Sage visited in 1843. In 1859, gold-digger Joel Estes settled there with his family for six years, eking out a living by ranching and hunting. The tallest of the peaks which surround Estes Park, Long's Peak, was named for early explorer Major Stephen H. Long who, while exploring the plains, noticed the high mountain on the horizon. Long's was first climbed in 1868, and mapped extensively in 1871. In early September 1873, the first woman to ascend Long's Peak was among the party of the Hayden Survey, a government expedition. One can only suppose that this event spurred the author's interest in visiting Estes Park and climbing Long's Peak herself. After several unsuccessful attempts, the author finally reached Estes Park, where she lived with one of the two families settled there, and made the acquaintance of the famous desperado, "Rocky Mountain Jim" Nugent, with whom she explored the local area and summited Long's Peak. Estes Park became her home base during her sometimes pastoral, sometimes hair-raising solitary horseback explorations. She was well-known among the local population, and her reputation as a hard worker, a keen explorer, and a superior horsewoman preceded her wherever she went. It was with a heavy heart that, in December 1873, Isabella Bird left her mountain home to return to England. I listened to a superb recording of this book by the Librivox volunteer, Laura Caldwell. The experience was, for me, like a multi-media installation consisting of a variety of vivid word pictures, which both informed me and spurred me on to further research. I found many websites with interesting information, maps, and photographs about the people, the history, and the geography of the places that the author visited. The couple of weeks that I spent with this book was time well spent. In fact, I would do it again!