James P. Jackson has slept on the ground in all types of weather, indulging in his love of real outdoor camping. As he puts it, "camping without wheels" allows people to enjoy close encounters with the natural world: trees, birdsong, wildflowers, large and small wild creatures, and a feeling of kinship with all forms of natural life.
In Chronicles from a True Camper, James eloquently describes some of the many adventures he's had while camping:
- Hitchhiking from East St. Louis to the wilds of Minnesota with a teenaged pal, spending days exploring in a canoe on the eve of them serving in World War II.
- Sleeping under the stars in a Utah desert during a summer break from college.
- Buying his first canoe, an aluminum-skinned version that helped him to perfect the J stroke.
- Gazing at the Milky Way from the shoreline of a lovely stream
in the Ozarks.
- Tackling whitewater rafting in Utah's Green River and following up with rafting into roiling waters of the Grand Canyon.
- Backpacking in the wilds of Wyoming with high school students during summer adventure trips sponsored with fellow teachers from Washington, Missouri.
- During a final wilderness adventure at the age of 77,
canoeing with a friend in a borrowed canoe on the Boundary Waters of northeastern Minnesota.
- Naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts will revel in this ode to the beauty of the natural world and the recreational pleasures of true camping.
AUTHOR BIO
James P. Jackson grew up shortly after the Great Depression and during the time of interstate development initiated by President Dwight Eisenhower. As a city kid, he grew to be a naturalist during summers he spent at a YMCA camp for boys. Jackson is the author of four earlier books: The Biography of a Tree (1979), Pulse of the Forest (1980), Passages of a Stream--A chronicle of the Meramec (1984), and Views From the Back Forty (2007).
