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Desperate Steps: Life, Death, and Choices Made in the Mountains of the Northeast
In the backcountry, a single piece of gear could mean the difference between a comfortable night under the stars and a harrowing tale to tell once you're home. Or it could mean that you don't make it home at all.
In this all-new collection from the publisher of Not Without Peril and No Limits But the Sky, author Peter W. Kick recounts twenty true tales of backcountry misadventure and misfortune, including incidents along the famed Appalachian Trail, and seeks the lessons learned in each. From close-calls to unsolved mysteries, these stories illuminate the realities faced by outdoorspeople across the Northeast. Weather is unpredictable. The best laid plans go awry. And in the worst of times, even the best decision may not be enough to turn the tides.
In the tradition of Appalachia journal's renowned "Accidents" section, Kick reports on the facts as they were known on the ground―with the help of first-hand accounts of victims, families, witnesses, and Search-and-Rescue professionals. As each story unfolds, Kick and his sources in the SAR community offer a retrospective analysis to help readers discover for themselves what went wrong and how disasters, big and small, might be averted in the future. Route maps and photos further bring each misadventure to life. Readers who immerse themselves in these near misses, methodical searches, and the gut-wrenching clarity of hindsight will be better prepared for whatever the wilderness brings.
In this all-new collection from the publisher of Not Without Peril and No Limits But the Sky, author Peter W. Kick recounts twenty true tales of backcountry misadventure and misfortune, including incidents along the famed Appalachian Trail, and seeks the lessons learned in each. From close-calls to unsolved mysteries, these stories illuminate the realities faced by outdoorspeople across the Northeast. Weather is unpredictable. The best laid plans go awry. And in the worst of times, even the best decision may not be enough to turn the tides.
In the tradition of Appalachia journal's renowned "Accidents" section, Kick reports on the facts as they were known on the ground―with the help of first-hand accounts of victims, families, witnesses, and Search-and-Rescue professionals. As each story unfolds, Kick and his sources in the SAR community offer a retrospective analysis to help readers discover for themselves what went wrong and how disasters, big and small, might be averted in the future. Route maps and photos further bring each misadventure to life. Readers who immerse themselves in these near misses, methodical searches, and the gut-wrenching clarity of hindsight will be better prepared for whatever the wilderness brings.
- GenresNonfictionAdventure
240 pages, Paperback
First published February 7, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 18, 2017
Stories of accidents in the Adirondacks, Whites, and Katahdin. Yes, even stories of people being struck and killed by lightning on the trail. Probably not the best book for me to have read... haha.
March 11, 2023
An interesting book about people getting lost or killed in the mountains of the northeastern US. Some of these are rescue stories, some were recovery stories. Some were about people acting recklessly or foolishly, others were just freak accidents. All included important lessons to remember while in the backcountry.
One thing about the style of this book that I didn't like was that a map of each victim's track was included near the beginning of their chapter, often spoiling the outcome. A note pinpointing "body recovered here" tells the reader immediately that that person didn't make it, and likewise a notation of "rescued here" tells us that they did. I feel like these maps should have been put at the end of the chapter, after the reader has learned the outcome of the story. Maintain the suspense. Sure, maybe you already knew the story from other sources (for example, I've already read When You Find My Body: The Disappearance of Geraldine Largay on the Appalachian Trail) but for most readers most of these stories would be new. Kind of kills the intrigue when you learn in the first page whether or not they lived or died. I found myself covering the maps with a post-it so that I wouldn't accidentally spoil the chapter.
Despite that, this was definitely worth the read. I found myself googling names and places frequently while reading this book, intrigued to learn more about each story.
One thing about the style of this book that I didn't like was that a map of each victim's track was included near the beginning of their chapter, often spoiling the outcome. A note pinpointing "body recovered here" tells the reader immediately that that person didn't make it, and likewise a notation of "rescued here" tells us that they did. I feel like these maps should have been put at the end of the chapter, after the reader has learned the outcome of the story. Maintain the suspense. Sure, maybe you already knew the story from other sources (for example, I've already read When You Find My Body: The Disappearance of Geraldine Largay on the Appalachian Trail) but for most readers most of these stories would be new. Kind of kills the intrigue when you learn in the first page whether or not they lived or died. I found myself covering the maps with a post-it so that I wouldn't accidentally spoil the chapter.
Despite that, this was definitely worth the read. I found myself googling names and places frequently while reading this book, intrigued to learn more about each story.
March 28, 2018
Another book similar to Not Without Peril: 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire dealing with injuries and deaths in the mountains of NY, VT, NH & ME.
Some are really heartbreaking. People who died because of one miss-step or one bad decision or sometimes just being in the wrong place at the wrong time and there's nothing you can do. It makes me think back to all the times I put myself at risk when I was younger and not so younger, alone in the mountains. And I've been in every single place mentioned in NH in the book; Tuckerman's ravine, Huntington ravine, Great Gulf Wilderness, and even the Skookumchuck Trail. So I can picture these places and remember my experiences there. Luckily, I was never in the wrong place at the wrong time. I never even had to spend one unplanned night in the woods. Of course there was that one time in May 2004 when I broke my fibular on top of Mt Jackson and had to be assisted back down to the road and the awaiting ambulance and eventually had to have 3 screws put in my left leg. But thankfully, I didn't make it into this book. But it makes you realize how different things could have been with one miss-step or one silly decision.
Some are really heartbreaking. People who died because of one miss-step or one bad decision or sometimes just being in the wrong place at the wrong time and there's nothing you can do. It makes me think back to all the times I put myself at risk when I was younger and not so younger, alone in the mountains. And I've been in every single place mentioned in NH in the book; Tuckerman's ravine, Huntington ravine, Great Gulf Wilderness, and even the Skookumchuck Trail. So I can picture these places and remember my experiences there. Luckily, I was never in the wrong place at the wrong time. I never even had to spend one unplanned night in the woods. Of course there was that one time in May 2004 when I broke my fibular on top of Mt Jackson and had to be assisted back down to the road and the awaiting ambulance and eventually had to have 3 screws put in my left leg. But thankfully, I didn't make it into this book. But it makes you realize how different things could have been with one miss-step or one silly decision.
March 17, 2018
Great selection of survival (or not) stories, skewing more recent (post-2000). The choice of subjects and the presentation make it a lot harder to point out any "obvious" errors, giving a sobering uncertainty about what might have been done for a better outcome.
The writing though needs some work. Each chapter has a sentence or two that gets away from the author and occasional paragraphs loop around for awhile without leading anywhere. In the areas I know, the book is riddled with minor geographic errors: confusing the Base Road with Jefferson Notch, labeling the upper Tuckerman Ravine trail as the Boott Spur link, labeling Maine state highways as county roads, forgetting the existence of major peaks on Katahdin, etc. Maybe it's better in the Catskills (where the author is based) but I wouldn't know, and it makes for a jarring read and some doubt in the work's trustworthiness
The writing though needs some work. Each chapter has a sentence or two that gets away from the author and occasional paragraphs loop around for awhile without leading anywhere. In the areas I know, the book is riddled with minor geographic errors: confusing the Base Road with Jefferson Notch, labeling the upper Tuckerman Ravine trail as the Boott Spur link, labeling Maine state highways as county roads, forgetting the existence of major peaks on Katahdin, etc. Maybe it's better in the Catskills (where the author is based) but I wouldn't know, and it makes for a jarring read and some doubt in the work's trustworthiness
June 23, 2023
Finding a copy of this book took months on a waiting list & would not have been worth the $100+ price tag some go for based solely on supply and demand. That being said, I paid $10 over cover price and it was another worthwhile hiking book read. I was most interested in the stories involving lightning strikes - which I’d never really given much consideration. Yay, a new thing to fear in the woods! haha
October 28, 2017
A must-read for the backcountry adventurer. Contains a lot of useful information about the dangers of enjoying the wilds of Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. I found the stories about lightning strikes especially fascinating and frightening. Read the book, stay alive. Don't take unnecessary risks!
May 10, 2020
Northeastern mountaineering has never quite enjoyed the reputation it deserves.
This excellent collection of short accounts may do much to repair this egregious injustice.
From Mount Katahdin to the White Mountains, Peter Kick demonstrates once and for all that the mountains of the northeast pack one hell of a punch.
This excellent collection of short accounts may do much to repair this egregious injustice.
From Mount Katahdin to the White Mountains, Peter Kick demonstrates once and for all that the mountains of the northeast pack one hell of a punch.
January 13, 2021
A series of stories on how unforgiving nature can be. A must read for any outdoor enthusiast. It is well written, and gives some great advice on how not to end up in like the people in this book. Educational, and gripping.
December 10, 2023
Although I’ve read many similar books of incidents in the north east mountains, this shared new insights and perspective. The challenge being how to provide enough but not too much or too little. In some regards, the book succeeded and missed the mark. Overall a good read.
January 15, 2020
Cautionary tales well told. We too often let ourselves into danger's way with hubris and poor planning. Carry the 3lbs of grey matter on all hiking adventures.
March 20, 2017
Desperate Steps is the late 2015 book release from the Appalachian Mountain Club. The subtitle is “Life, Death, and Choices made in the Mountains of the Northeast”. I just finished my second close reading.The book is a sobering account of twenty hiker, swimmer, canoeist, and camper tragedies. The earliest dates to 1963, when the first of 22 known fatalities was recorded in Baxter State Park.
When I was a young man, and an active member of the University of Massachusetts Outing Club during 1967-197, I faithfully read accounts and critiques about the latest mountaineering and caving tragedies in the pages of Appalachia, a twice-yearly magazine published by the AMC. The magazine continues a regular feature - “Accidents: Analysis of Incidents in the White Mountains”. In the Accidents section, experts dissect the actual sequence of events that led to rescues, and frequent death. I read those stories in order to learn from the mistakes of others in the hope that I would not become an updated statistic.
This book follows that same successful format. The first part of each story includes photos and annotated maps of the actual events. Each account concludes with an Aftermath, where the author, Peter W. Kick, deconstructs, analyzes, and examines the details. Most of the individuals that survived their ordeals were willing to be interviewed for the book.
Being from Maine, I paid particular attention the four reports of deaths in Baxter State Park.
The publication of this book was timely for me.
In the depths of winter, sitting by the wood stove, I like to read adventure stories that outdoor folks post online. In fact, it is often difficult to read between the lines and see who is smart, and who is just spouting dumb.
For example, this past winter, I was on a quest to put together the perfectly outfitted day pack. I wanted be ready for most any accident or emergency, even the possibility of having to spend the night outdoors. This book’s Appendix features an updated list of the Ten Essentials, the proven, must-have items for safe back country travel. My own day pack’s final contents were guided by this list. However, not everyone who ventures into the outdoor’s world of mysteries and pitfalls believes in carrying a well-stocked day pack.
There is a subset of wilderness adventurers who have taken the concept of going fast and light to extremes. Andrew Skurka came out with the term “stupid light” to describe the practice of sacrificing crucial survival items and comfort levels to shave some weight. Skurka has been named “Adventurer of the Year” by both Outside and National Geographic Adventure, as well as “Person of the Year” by Backpacker. Here's Skurka's original article: Stupid Light.
I was stunned to read some of the reader comments that I encountered in my research about a proper winter day pack. Here’s one of the most misguided statements, “ I know a lot of people who go out to travel in the wilderness. Not one of them has even had any serious problem. You don’t need all that stuff if you know what your are doing out there.”
History permeates the book. The earliest fatalities occurred before many of modern supports were in place, before there were any organized search and rescue (SAR) organizations, when hurricane forecasting was just starting, and when communications were much more limited than today.
One story from 2003 was about the first private person in the USA to buy and activate a personal locator beacon (PLB). Despite his good intentions, the protagonist ended up requiring not one, but two helicopter rescues out of Adirondack Park in November, while deer hunting out of a canoe. He ended up spending $10,000 after his arrest and imprisonment for two counts of falsely reporting an incident.
The book is grouped into 4 chapters: Unprepared, Know the Route, Taking Risks, and Unexpected.
The final chapter is about Inchworm’s mysterious death 3,000 feet off the AT near Sugarloaf Mountain. An editor’s note from Oct. 15, 2015 brings the reader to date on locating her skeletal remains, found in a tent within 100 yards of where cadaver scent-trained dogs searched previously.
What’s the take from this book? Fatigue reigns high. Baxter’s records indicate that most exhaustion cases occur while descending, with the majority of fatalities resulting from medical emergencies. The age group most requiring Search and Rescue is 60 and above.
The book was required reading for this Maine Guide, and should be studied by any person who puts a pack on their back or in their canoe and ventures out into the wilds of the Northeastern USA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. It's a series of 'reports' about tragedies in the mountains of the Northeast. All of the stories are very interesting, but a few are just outstanding and just left me devastated. Definitely a lot of lessons to be learned here. Risk has to me measured differently when in wilderness situations and this book brings that to light in a very real way. The summary lessons after groupings of stories are helpful as reflections and thought provoking. I am a wilderness educator and have used and will continue to use some of these stories when teaching. Well done Peter Kick.
June 30, 2023
They go into the woods, they go into the wild—and if all goes well, they make it out in one piece.
Desperate Steps is about times when things don't go to plan. A slip, a fall, a shift in the weather—some of the people profiled in these chapters make it out okay, but some of them don't. Either way, there are always questions: what could they have done differently? Was someone at fault? What lessons can readers take from this experience in order to increase the chances of all going well?
I love books about wilderness rescue, and just the wilderness in general, so I find this sort of thing straight-up fascinating. Unfortunately, I found this particular book a bit frustrating—in particular, the maps, which should have added substantially to the reading experience, detracted badly. They typically came relatively early on in the chapter—but often contained information about the outcome (body found here, so-and-so rescued there) that hadn't been reached by that point in the chapter. Petty though it feels when real lives were on the line in the events of these stories, if I'm going to be reading about mishaps in the woods, I'd like the suspense to be maintained until the appropriate point in the story. Even more frustrating, though: the maps often had information about different trails than the ones described in the narration. They're interesting maps (often with topographical information), but many of the details included in the maps are completely irrelevant to the stories, and many of the relevant details (trails, turn-offs) are omitted from the maps. The lack of attention to detail in the maps makes me wonder what other details don't line up, which is not a great feeling when reading nonfiction.
Interesting enough look at rescue stories, but not one I'd put high on any priority lists.
Desperate Steps is about times when things don't go to plan. A slip, a fall, a shift in the weather—some of the people profiled in these chapters make it out okay, but some of them don't. Either way, there are always questions: what could they have done differently? Was someone at fault? What lessons can readers take from this experience in order to increase the chances of all going well?
I love books about wilderness rescue, and just the wilderness in general, so I find this sort of thing straight-up fascinating. Unfortunately, I found this particular book a bit frustrating—in particular, the maps, which should have added substantially to the reading experience, detracted badly. They typically came relatively early on in the chapter—but often contained information about the outcome (body found here, so-and-so rescued there) that hadn't been reached by that point in the chapter. Petty though it feels when real lives were on the line in the events of these stories, if I'm going to be reading about mishaps in the woods, I'd like the suspense to be maintained until the appropriate point in the story. Even more frustrating, though: the maps often had information about different trails than the ones described in the narration. They're interesting maps (often with topographical information), but many of the details included in the maps are completely irrelevant to the stories, and many of the relevant details (trails, turn-offs) are omitted from the maps. The lack of attention to detail in the maps makes me wonder what other details don't line up, which is not a great feeling when reading nonfiction.
Interesting enough look at rescue stories, but not one I'd put high on any priority lists.
March 9, 2016
It is very sobering to read these accounts of tragedy in the mountains. I found myself unable to stop reading individual stories until I knew the outcome.
It certainly caused me to reflect on my own hikes and risks and poor decisions I too have made. Fortunately all my misadventures had happy beings.
It certainly caused me to reflect on my own hikes and risks and poor decisions I too have made. Fortunately all my misadventures had happy beings.
March 1, 2016
Not as good as some of the other books detailing the hazards, sometimes fateful, of hiking the Northeast's highest peaks. Interesting to see what actions were taken by the government, park and forest services and local town emergency systems following each incident.
March 16, 2016
Fascinating stories of people hiking, rafting, and doing outdoor wayfinding with tragic results. I love this type of stuff even though I feel for the people involved.
August 29, 2019
I loved this book. It lets us know there is always a risk in all things.
April 16, 2018
This is a good book. It describes choices that were taken by climbers and hikers. Some made mistakes that could have been prevented. Others took every precaution they could have. Nature always has challenges. It's a good book to read for those who climb the mountains. It gives good advice so that you can make plans.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews