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Bitterroot - A Memoir: Echoes of Beauty & Loss
Using the letters of the 19th-century explorer Pierre Jean De Smet, Steven Faulkner and his eighteen-year-old son, Alex, follow De Smet across the High Plains to the fur trappers rendezvous on the Green River, then on to the Lewis and Clark Trail. Lewis and Clark take them over the Rockies (a part of their journey that almost killed the explorers) into the homeland of the Nez Perce whose fate (recorded by a young warrior named White Thunder) is strangely tied to these emissaries from the east.
By road, foot, mountain bike, and canoe, Steven and Alex experience the vast landscape and try to capture an understanding of the Wild Northwest, an understanding supported by many chance encounters with modern residents: Bubba, the LA gangster taking refuge in Idaho s mountains; Jean, the retired school teacher who has a visceral hatred of the EPA; Mary the dog trainer who fought the Forest Service for ten years and won losing $100,000 in the process; the Knife Lady who is raising nine kids in a blue school bus; the combative waitress who misinforms us about the Chinese Massacre of Rock Springs; the drug-addicted boy whose search for his father finds an unexpected ending."
By road, foot, mountain bike, and canoe, Steven and Alex experience the vast landscape and try to capture an understanding of the Wild Northwest, an understanding supported by many chance encounters with modern residents: Bubba, the LA gangster taking refuge in Idaho s mountains; Jean, the retired school teacher who has a visceral hatred of the EPA; Mary the dog trainer who fought the Forest Service for ten years and won losing $100,000 in the process; the Knife Lady who is raising nine kids in a blue school bus; the combative waitress who misinforms us about the Chinese Massacre of Rock Springs; the drug-addicted boy whose search for his father finds an unexpected ending."
377 pages, Hardcover
Published August 15, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 1, 2016
60-year-old father Steven and son Alex, just about to start college, spend a summer on an adventure together in the northern Rocky Mountains: driving from Kansas, they also intend to hike, canoe, and mountain bike some of their route. It is an epic father and son trip, with Steven well versed in the history and words of Lewis & Clark and missionary Pierre De Smet. They intend of retrace some of these pioneering white guys' trail, and also understand some of the tragic history of the Nez Perce Indians. Young Alex sleeps his way across most of the road trip, then gets a sore throat, and they both are worn down by the trail through the Bitterroot Mountains. Skill and luck save them on the canoe portion of the trip, but the water also brings misadventures. Bicycle mechanical problems and winter deadfall are barriers when they try their cycling luck. But along the way they have great adventures, meet some colorful characters, and rely on the kindness of strangers, which Faulkner describes well, along with his retelling stories of their heroes. I'm somewhat familiar with the historical stories, as these people are some of my own historical heroes, so I appreciate Faulkner's fresh take on their experiences in juxtaposition to his own. This would have been a 4 star book for me if Faulkner had included a very basic bibliography of the sources he uses and quotes, along with an index, because the book really is more than just his personal experience.
January 15, 2020
Steven Faulkner and his two sons undertake a voyage to discover... just how ill-prepared for the backcountry they are? Faulkner tells stories of poor planning, making stupid mistakes, and taking unnecessary risks with his two sons, on foot, by canoe, and on mountain bikes, as they follow Lewis and Clark, Father de Smet, and the Nez Perce around the West.
"We're moving too fast for safety on gravel," he says, "but the thrill seems worth the risk. I brake hard and turn in a tight circle, and then I unceremoniously tip slowly over and slam down on my side into the gravel. It's a hard hit to ribs I'd cracked three weeks before, but what can you do?"
Even after nearly drowning - twice - they still don't think to put on their life jackets. Apt that their canoe is named Clueless. Actually, one of his sons, Justin, almost drowns a third time, and Steven and his other son Alex just stand there watching without trying to help him.
The recounting of historical events was interesting, but as soon as the story turned back to the present day, I kept wishing for a narrator with a little bit more common sense.
"We're moving too fast for safety on gravel," he says, "but the thrill seems worth the risk. I brake hard and turn in a tight circle, and then I unceremoniously tip slowly over and slam down on my side into the gravel. It's a hard hit to ribs I'd cracked three weeks before, but what can you do?"
Even after nearly drowning - twice - they still don't think to put on their life jackets. Apt that their canoe is named Clueless. Actually, one of his sons, Justin, almost drowns a third time, and Steven and his other son Alex just stand there watching without trying to help him.
The recounting of historical events was interesting, but as soon as the story turned back to the present day, I kept wishing for a narrator with a little bit more common sense.
February 9, 2026
Interesting retelling of the Lewis & Clark saga … and I wasn’t familiar with Father De Smet’s efforts to represent native interests. I’m astonished at the author’s offhand attitude to his sons’ safety … wonder if it’s a “guy thing,” wanting to partake (unnecessarily to my mind) in some of the risks of earlier explorers.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews