J. R. Harris

Back in the 1950’s, as a street-smart kid growing up in a New York City housing project, I got my first exposure to the natural world at a Boy Scout summer camp in the Catskill Mountains. I was immersed in a totally different environment than the one I was used to back home, and the experience was transformative. Years later, as a young college graduate, I journeyed to Alaska alone and entered a much larger wilderness, which instilled in me a deep passion to travel and explore. Since then I've trekked in some of the most remote regions of the planet: Alaska, Tasmania, Peru, Lapland, the Rocky Mountains, the Australian Outback, northern Canada and many others, mostly alone and on foot. Now in my seventies, I am an active and enthusiastic trekker who can look back at a life full of adventure and exciting moments. Many of them became the stories told in "Way Out There." I hope that those of you who read it will enjoy the stories as much as I enjoyed living them. In addition, I hope that these stories will inspire people, particularly urban dwellers, to get outdoors to experience nature and all the benefits and life lessons it teaches. And if you go out there, consider bringing a kid, maybe a city kid like I was, with you. They can learn skills that will help them feel self-sufficient and capable in the natural world, as well as more confident and well-rounded back home. For more about the book, please click on the cover. For a summary of each chapter, I invite you to check out my website (JRintheWilderness.com). Thank you.