Tom Walker

Tom Walker, the author of over a dozen books centered on Alaska, has lived in Alaska for 54 years. "Alaska has been the greatest gift of my life and I would live nowhere else." He has been a wildlife conservation officer, wilderness guide, loghome builder, wildlife and nature photographer, photo workshop leader, lecturer, and freelance writer. In his early years, "before the anesthesia of youth wore off," he briefly followed the rodeo circuit. After a stint as a horse packer in the eastern High Sierras in his natal state of California, he joined the military. Walker today lives in a log house on the very edge of Denali National Park, and despite the sometimes extreme winter weather - down to -50f in winter - he finds the rural life fulfilling. "If it weren't for the long, dark and cold winter, I probably would not be a writer because I would always be out somewhere in the woods or on the tundra." He has won awards for both his photography and his volunteer work with Alaska wildlife issues. His two volume history of McKinley Park (1902-1930 era), now renamed Denali National Park, took almost 30 years to complete the interviews, research, and multiple rewrites. "A labor of love, I guess, but I wonder if I would have continued had I known what I was getting into at the outset. The fabulous, truelife stories uncovered, worthy of Robert Service and Jack London, kept me going." In January 2013, Mountaineers Books published, The Seventymile Kid, a biography of Harry Karstens, which includes the first "true" story of the first ascent of Mt. McKinley. "Karstens was larger than one of those Jack London characters and an honor to bring his story to life." The book won the Alaska Historian of the Year award in 2013. Walker's next book was a departure from the history books that he had been working on and a return to his outdoor roots. That title is Alaska Wildlife: Through the Seasons, a pictorial of Alaska's wildlife treasures, the culmination of decades studying and photographing Alaska wildlife, everything from polar bears to tiny boreal chickadees. These photos, both from digital files and film stock, are a work of love. He spends every spare moment watching wildlife and striving for unique photos. The book has informative sections of natural history as well as detailed captions. His latest book, 2019, is a memoir of 54 years spent in the Alaska wild, entitled Wild Shots: A Photographer's Life in Alaska. With 55 color photos, this book records many extraordinary wildlife events, sightings and incidents, along with the unique people with whom he has shared the outdoors. These two books together are a great combination.