3.5 thoughts soon.

My brother recommended this one to me. The life of a national park ranger is very interesting and I never gave it much thought before this story. I loved hearing about the descriptions of Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia. It was definitely worth the Audible credit.

“But ever since I was old enough to be cynical I have been visiting national parks, and they are a cure for cynicism, an exhilarating rest from the competitive avarice we call the American Way…. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst. —Wallace Stegner, 1983”
― Eric Blehm, The Last Season


“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of religiousness.”

Experiencing nature can be both mystical and terrifying. There's something wondrous about being totally alone. I have the memory of being in my car, driving down a completely empty road bordered by a vast expanse of wetlands just before dawn. The sky, the stillness, the feel of the air, the unfamiliar muted colors unfurling across a vast expanse were breathtaking. Contrast that with wandering off the barely discernible path in a forest with tree after tree forming a shadowed wall muffling all sound from the outside world. The human psyche is not accustomed to being dwarfed, stripped of agency. That has been the price of civilization.

Author Eric Blehm examines both aspects of nature through Randy Morgenson. Morgenson was a forest ranger — not the kind we might imagine at one of the tourist attractions like Yellowstone, the kind tasked with protecting the people from the forest. Morgenson was one of the less numerous and less visible backcountry rangers, tasked with protecting the park from the people. Blehm quotes liberally from Morgenson's patrol journals where he describes the beauty of what he saw, and his misanthropic protectiveness toward the pristine wilderness. However, he was also unfailingly kind and courteous to those who trekked or camped in the backcountry. He patiently explained the consequences of a careless campsite, trampled flora, and even the foraging of pack animals. Much of the book traces Morgenson's life and the problems his love of isolation created for him.

It was an exceptional life. He eschewed a college degree, much to the disappointment of his father, for real experience. A Peace Corp. posting in India was followed by mountain climbing in the Himalayas. He received pointers in photography from his father's friend Ansel Adams. Fellow nature enthusiast Wallace Stegner was kind enough to critique some of his essays. He was a mentor to scores of other backcountry rangers, and returned to the job of seasonal backcountry ranger year after year.

On July 21, 1996 Morgenson set out from his post in Kings Canyon for what should have been a routine patrol lasting 3-4 days. When no one heard from him, a search and rescue (SAR) plan was deployed. This was the ost dramatic part of Blehm's narrative. An assembly of experienced colleagues pored over topographical maps and Morgenson's most recent logs, and pooled information about his trail habits. They established a search area. It covered some 80 square miles. A technique called the Mattson Consensus was used to prioritize parts of the grid, assigning probabilities to each area (POA). A computer program helped allocate which resources to use where: airplanes, hiking teams, dog tracking. An Incident Command System Protocol (ICS) organized the search and the information gathering exchange of the many teams.. Helicopters newly outfitted with night vision and thermal heat sensors were called in. Despite all these resources, the search failed to find Morgenson.

Blehm describes the problems confronting the searchers. He notes that a B-24 Liberator bomber crashed in similar rugged terrain in 1943. The wreckage was not discovered until 1960, despite numerous attempts made by the father of one of the crew members. Boulders, ravines, mud and brush that could easily hide a body are not visible on a topographical map. Moreover, the terrain itself is like a living thing. Avalanches, mudslides, and rock slides add to the dynamic of rainfall, snow melts, and flash floods. River beds recede and even change course. The snow melt even in July is ice cold. Shifting winds create drifts and disguise underlying hazards.

Blehm attempts to convey the rugged beauty of the high Sierras to those of us who are not avid backpackers. However, this book will be of greatest interest to those familiar with some of the backcountry trails in the area. For the rest of us, we can only regard with new appreciation the dedicated underpaid people who share that attraction to the wilderness that captivated Randy Morgenson.

Enjoyed reading this one. Author did a great job of painting the picture of morgenson’s life. The descriptions of the search and rescue operations and the high country was extremely fascinating.

The writer drew me in with his description and awe of the Sierra Nevada. He also showed a great respect and reverence for Mr Morgenson in telling his story. He portrayed the people who knew and loved Randy with depth and empathy. I appreciated getting to know all of these people. I enjoyed learning of Randy’s upbringing and learning about his parents. Parts of the book got weighed down in descriptions and there was a lot of repetition (I.e. Rangers clean up trash). At the same time this book did ignite in me a desire to protect our forests.

This is the best book that I’ve read this summer. It’s a mystery but also gives a glimpse into King’s Canyon National Park and working as a backcountry ranger. An artistic, poetic, lover of the high Sierras, Randy Morgenson’s life was a passionate dedication to the wild backcountry.

I was familiar with the story of Randy Morgenson's disappearance from the TV show Disappeared. Because of already seeing the show I knew the ending so it wasn't a surprise for me, but Blehm gives a LOT more detail about Randy's life, the difficulties of the two years leading up to his disappearance, and the actual search for him by his fellow rangers. Randy had an incredible childhood and parents who really encouraged his love of nature, photography, and wilderness. While his parents chose to work "real" jobs and spend time in wilderness in their downtime, Randy was determined to make his living (and adjust his standard of living) in the wilderness. He worked as a seasonal back country park ranger every summer for 28 years and found other seasonal work to make ends meet during the winters. His wife Judi, who was an artist, seemed to feel the same way and their life together seemed to work for them. But, the two years leading up to his disappearance were filled with hard times - both Randy's parents died, his relationship with his brother was strained, Judi's mother died, and Randy had an affair. Going into his last season as a back country ranger Judi had filed for divorce so that was heavy on Randy's mind. When Randy went missing after barely a month at work everyone assumed he was injured because Randy would never get lost. But, when day after day goes by with no sign of Randy it's a mystery that no one can figure out. When Randy's body is found five years after he goes missing the mystery is finally solved.

While I did enjoy the book, it is VERY detailed and it is kind of a long read. Some of the detail is interesting, but some of it feels repetitive and unnecessary. But, already being familiar with the story I did enjoy the more detailed account. I also thought it was pretty crazy that Judi had a dream about Randy's death that was eerily accurate to what actually happened to him: "'I was driving down this mountain road and came to a clearing and there was this lake with granite along the shoreline,' she says. 'Big trees were hanging over the surface kind of like the bayou, and I looked into the water and it was crystal clear and there was a man with a backpack floating at the bottom of the lake.'" (p. 215)

The Last Season by Eric Blehm is a tribute to all the people who hike the High Sierras, to back country rangers, and to Randy Morgenson, a back country ranger who disappeared in July 1996. His belonging and body parts were found five years later. How he died is a mystery.

Randy was in his 28th year as a back country ranger at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. He was seen as the expert senior ranger of the High Sierras who knew more about the wilderness than anyone else in the Park service. He grew up in Yosemite National Park with a father who became famous for his camera walks throughout the park. Randy was passionate about the way the wilderness should be treated and he tried to influence as many people as possible about how to respect it. He too was a photographer and as a young man assisted Ansel Adams by lugging around his large-format tripod. From him he learned a great deal about photographing. He was stationed in India while in the Peace Corps and learned high-altitude mountaineering from skilled Sherpas. He was also a writer who spent a lot of time journaling and writing about nature. Some of his descriptions were vivid and inspiring at the same time.

I learned a lot from reading this book about the High Sierras, hiking, climbing, surviving, and the beauty of the wilderness as well as the hazards. The weaknesses of the National Park Service were clearly brought out, and it made me wonder if anything has changed in this bureaucratic system since the time of Randy’s disappearance. The book is both a biography and a mystery written in skillful journalistic style. Sometimes the details and descriptions overpowered me, and I wished it could have been trimmed down. It is not a book that I “couldn’t down,” yet I persevered because I needed to know what happened to Randy Morgensen. I appreciate all the research that the author did to write the book, and I wonder how he accomplished it with the mountains of information made available to him. Avid hikers and climbers and perhaps naturalists would certainly appreciate this book. All others might find it too heavy with details.

Excellent book. Can't help but thinking it would make an amazing movie (if done well).

“The Last Season” by Eric Blehm examines the life and death of National Park Ranger Randy Morgenson. During his 28 years as a park ranger, Morgenson was stationed as a back country ranger in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon mountain range. Morgenson mysteriously disappeared in 1996; his body was not found until 2001.

Blehm examines the life of Morgenson and reveals a contradictory figure. He could be considered a dedicated naturalist or an environmental zealot. Apparently, by all accounts, Blehm indicates Morgenson conducted himself with complete professionalism in his encounters with visitors to the park system, and he risked his life to assist loss or missing park visitors. The book provides a good description of what the life of a back country ranger is all about on a daily basis.

Blehm reveals that at the time of Morgenson’s disappearance he was at a crossroads in his personal life. He was in the middle of a divorce, had an affair with a female ranger and had become fatalistic about his life. Blehm explores the various theories as to what happened to the ranger. The official report is accidental death.

The book is well written and thoroughly researched. The book is part biography and part detective story. Blehm provides some great descriptions of the Sierra Nevada back country. Jonathan Davis does an excellent job narrating the story. The book is moderately long at almost thirteen hours.

This true story is so well researched, I feel like I was a part of the search and rescue crew, I could picture and feel the scree under my feet, the snow bridge ahead that I must decide how to navigate. At the same time, I also knew I wasn't there, that I am missing a rich experience by not having met and walked with Randy Morgenson, legendary and lost seasonal ranger. I highly recommend this book. I will be buying copies of it to give my wilderness loving friends.

Reading this felt like climbing a mountain but I got through it. He seemed like an insufferable asshole and I wasn’t too invested at all in the fine details of ranger life or his search and rescue. Once I got to the part near the end where they found his body I really tuned out and just coasted through to the end.