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The Adventures of a Nature Guide

by Enos A. MILLS (1870 - 1922)

Winter Mountaineering

Enos Mills (1870-1922 ), naturalist and conservationist, was instrumental in the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park. Like his mentor John Muir, Mills was an intrepid solitary high country rambler, as well as an accomplished Colorado mountain guide. There are mountain tales aplenty in "Adventures of a Nature Guide." At one point, Mills climbs Long's Peak alone in a gale with winds topping 170 mph., "carried away with the wild, elemental eloquence of the storm." Near the summit, the wind is so fierce he cannot make headway, so he concludes to "reverse ends." "Putting a shoulder against a rock point, I allowed the wind to push my legs around. This . . . enabled me to brace effectively with my feet, and also to hang on more securely with my hands. . . There was no climbing; the wind sucked, dragged, pushed, and floated me ever upward." Summary by Sue Anderson.

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Listen next episodes of The Adventures of a Nature Guide:
A Day With a Nature Guide , Censored Natural History News , Children of My Trail School , Harriet--Little Mountain Climber , Landmarks , Lightening and Thunder , Naturalist Meets Prospector , Play and Pranks of Wild Folk , The Artic Zone of High Mountains , The Development of a Woman Guide , The Evolution of Nature Guiding , The White Cyclone , Trees at Timberline , Wind-Rapids on the Heights