Primary List:  Authors & Outdoor Personalities to be Studied

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862).  Essayist and Poet.  Author of Walden

Mark Twain (1835-1910). Master of American Literature. Author of Roughing It

Edward Whymper (1840-1911). Early British Mountaineer. Author of Scrambles Amongst the Alps

John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). Western explorer & river runner. Author of The Exploration of the Colorado

Wallace Stegner (1909-)  Writer of the western experience and Powell's biographer. Author of Beyond the Hundredth Meridian

Isabella Bird (Writing from 1856-1900).  British writer, traveler and adventurer. Author of A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

John Muir (1838-1914). Wilderness spokesman and nature writer. Author of Steep Trails

Mary Kingsley (1862-1900).  British writer and African adventurer. Author of Travels in West Africa

Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912).  South Pole Explorer.  Journals of  Robert Falcon Scott

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928).  First explorer to reach the South Pole

Robert Service (1874-1958).  Canadian poet and author best known for his poetry of the Klondike gold rush.  Wrote: The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Call of the Wild

Jack London (1876-1916).  Sailor, gold seeker, novelist and short story writer. Author of the short story To Build a Fire

Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922).  British Antarctic explorer.

Roland Huntford (Writing from the 1970's to 2000's).  British adventure writer:  biographies of Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton. Author of Shackleton

George Mallory (1886-1924).  British mountaineer.  Disappeared in the mists of Mt. Everest in 1924.

Aldo Leopold (1886-1948).  Early ecologist, conservationist and nature writer. Author of Sand County Almanac

Sigurd Olson (1899-1982).  Biologist, conservationist and nature writer known for his works on the canoe country of Northern Minnesota and Canada.  Author of The Singing Wilderness

Edward Abbey (1927-1989).  Novelist and essayist best known for his works on desert and canyonland country of the Colorado Plateau. Author of Desert Solitaire.

Colin Fletcher (1922- ).  British-born, American writer best known for his works on backpacking.  Author of The Man Who Walked Through Time

Walt Blackadar (1922-1978).  Medical doctor from Salmon, Idaho.  One of the whitewater world's most famous personalities.  His life is chronicled in Never Turn Back.

Jon Krakauer (1954- ).  Climber and outdoor adventure writer. Author of Into Thin Air