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The Last Season
Destined to become a classic of adventure literature, The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada—mountains as perilous as they are beautiful. Eric Blehm's masterful work is a gripping detective story interwoven with the riveting biography of a complicated, original, and wholly fascinating man.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2006
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About the author
Eric Blehm
19 books349 followersEric Blehm is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers Fearless and The Only Thing Worth Dying For. His book The Last Season won the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award and was named by Outside magazine as one of the “greatest adventure biographies ever written.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,033 reviews
January 25, 2018
While it had its moments, Eric Blehm's The Last Season misses the mark. Blehm's story focuses on the search for National Park Service Ranger, Randy Morgenson (who after 28 seasons as a ranger has gone missing in the Sierra Nevada backcountry). The Last Season, I think, tries to do too much. Blehm documents Morgenson's early life (the formative influence of Ansel Adams as well as his attraction to the outdoors) along with a detailed history of backcountry rangers (and their miserable pay). Blehm also pieces together Morgenson's failed marriage and an affair he was involved in when he disappeared. Undoubtedly, Blehm was drawn to the wild and majestic Sierra Nevadas, but lots of the story seemed like a distraction and I didn't feel the connection as strongly as I wanted.
April 25, 2012
I thought this was a great book and very well-written. I loved the descriptions of the Sierra Nevada backcountry. However the book was about a missing backcountry ranger whom I found to be a deeply flawed human being. While we're all flawed to some degree (no one is perfect), the more I read about Randy's behavior towards his wife, friends, and colleagues, the more I grew to dislike him as a person. He had a privileged childhood but could not live up to his potential as an adult. He could not accept the rules and norms of society, even the ones he intentionally submitted himself to (like his marriage vows). He just seemed (to me) to be an insufferable maladjusted misanthrope.
Despite these harsh words it's not my intention to judge Randy and I know it isn't the author's intention for this book. But I found myself disliking him so much that it actually ruined the book for me. I had to force myself to put aside my feelings for Randy so that I could give the book and its author a chance. I'm glad I stuck with it because the end of the book was fantastic; I never saw it coming! Eric Blehm is a great author and I'm looking forward to more of his work. My heart goes out to Randy's friends and colleagues, and especially his wife. And I apologize for my harsh critique of Randy's behavior; I just wanted to give my honest review of this book.
Despite these harsh words it's not my intention to judge Randy and I know it isn't the author's intention for this book. But I found myself disliking him so much that it actually ruined the book for me. I had to force myself to put aside my feelings for Randy so that I could give the book and its author a chance. I'm glad I stuck with it because the end of the book was fantastic; I never saw it coming! Eric Blehm is a great author and I'm looking forward to more of his work. My heart goes out to Randy's friends and colleagues, and especially his wife. And I apologize for my harsh critique of Randy's behavior; I just wanted to give my honest review of this book.
August 30, 2024
Yes, yet another book about someone who has gone missing in the wilderness. Each of the books I've read in the past few years with this theme has been different from the others. The Last Season is my preferred style, with a balanced focus on the individuals who disappeared and the efforts to find them.
In this case, the missing individual is not a hiker passing through, but Randy Morgenson, one of the most experienced wilderness rangers in the Sequoia/King's Canyon National Parks. He has spent 28 summers living mostly on his own in remote locations in this dual park system, sharing his love of the area with visitors and encouraging them to tread lightly. His appreciation of the natural world extends equally to the dramatic granite peaks and the tiniest wildflowers. The backcountry is where he feels most alive; away from the crowds, blacktop and technology.
But his personal life is in turmoil, his infidelity and self-absorption having driven his wife to file for divorce. He is in the midst of one of the world's great mid-life crises; he's even begun questioning to his fellow rangers the value of all those summers he's spent protecting people from the wilderness and the wilderness from people.
And one day in the middle of this "last season", he leaves the tent-cabin that is his home for the summer on what is to be a normal 2-3 day tour of his section of the 1,300+ square miles of the parks. He's never heard from again.
Questions abound. Is he injured and waiting for rescue? Is he somewhere in the Park, but not wanting to be found? Has he left the park entirely? Is he even alive? And regardless of what has happened to him - did he bring it on himself intentionally?
The timeline splices into the details of the search to find him the story of his formative years, courtship and marriage, various artistic endeavors, and efforts to get the Park Service to work harder at protecting the park's meadows from being used as grazing grounds. What emergences are two vivid pictures: one of a breathtakingly beautiful but highly dangerous park, and one of a highly troubled man no longer sure of his place in the world.
The story of the search is skillfully told. It is an opportunity for the Blehm to demonstrate his own appreciation of the stunning, treacherous environment, while at the same time having the reader puzzle over red herrings just as the search teams do. None of those questions above are answered until the very end.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys this kind of thing.
In this case, the missing individual is not a hiker passing through, but Randy Morgenson, one of the most experienced wilderness rangers in the Sequoia/King's Canyon National Parks. He has spent 28 summers living mostly on his own in remote locations in this dual park system, sharing his love of the area with visitors and encouraging them to tread lightly. His appreciation of the natural world extends equally to the dramatic granite peaks and the tiniest wildflowers. The backcountry is where he feels most alive; away from the crowds, blacktop and technology.
But his personal life is in turmoil, his infidelity and self-absorption having driven his wife to file for divorce. He is in the midst of one of the world's great mid-life crises; he's even begun questioning to his fellow rangers the value of all those summers he's spent protecting people from the wilderness and the wilderness from people.
And one day in the middle of this "last season", he leaves the tent-cabin that is his home for the summer on what is to be a normal 2-3 day tour of his section of the 1,300+ square miles of the parks. He's never heard from again.
Questions abound. Is he injured and waiting for rescue? Is he somewhere in the Park, but not wanting to be found? Has he left the park entirely? Is he even alive? And regardless of what has happened to him - did he bring it on himself intentionally?
The timeline splices into the details of the search to find him the story of his formative years, courtship and marriage, various artistic endeavors, and efforts to get the Park Service to work harder at protecting the park's meadows from being used as grazing grounds. What emergences are two vivid pictures: one of a breathtakingly beautiful but highly dangerous park, and one of a highly troubled man no longer sure of his place in the world.
The story of the search is skillfully told. It is an opportunity for the Blehm to demonstrate his own appreciation of the stunning, treacherous environment, while at the same time having the reader puzzle over red herrings just as the search teams do. None of those questions above are answered until the very end.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys this kind of thing.
October 6, 2008
Blehm looks at the uber backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson. In his 28th summer in a dismally paid, and little appreciated job, Morgenson, the nearest thing to John Muir in his neck of the National Park Service, vanished. Blehm looks at this very interesting fellow, no simple mountain man. In fact Morgenson was friends with Ansel Adams, who advised him on one of his passions. Guess which? He was also friends with Wallace Stegner, who offered his wisdom on Morgenson’s writing. Blehm looks not only at Randy’s personal relationships, his failing marriage, his affair, his friendships, his love of the outdoors, the beauty to be found there, but at the role of rangers and how society supports, or does not support them. We also learn much about the ranger life, the parks in which Randy worked, the challenges rangers and park visitors face. This is a pretty good book for those interested in the outdoors, mountaineering, living close to nature. It might not do much for those who do not have an interest in that genre.
November 9, 2020
‘’Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter’’
John Muir
‘’The last Season’’, is at its core, a book about celebration of nature and the national parks. It centers around Randy Morgenson, a National Park Service ranger in The Sequoia King Canyon National Parks. Randy is a conservationist and a mystic in the mold of Muir and Thoreau, a passion he inherited from his father. ‘’Protect the people from the park and the park from the people’’ was his mantra. Even more than that he is, a poet, a photography enthusiast, and an amateur botanist. His mastery of the Sierra Nevada always left anybody who met him in awe. When he went missing in July, 1996 few days after reporting for his 28th season at the parks, a complicated rescue operation ensues to find him in the vast mountainous wilderness of the Sierra.
I think this book excels at relating the reverence for nature that Randy often shows, along with the universal sense of oneness we are ominously losing with the environment. A log book entry from Randy on September 12, 1978 cited in the book is a perfect example:
‘’ Love for the world and its creatures comes easily here [in the mountains]. I have loved a thousand mountain meadows and alpine peaks. To be aware each day that I am alive, to be deeply sensitive to the world I inhibit and the world that I am, not to roam roughshod over the broad surface of this planet for achievement but to know where I step, and to tread lightly.’’
One look at the Instagram page of The Sequoia King canyon national parks, gives us a glimpse of the beauty that he was so infectiously infatuated with. In the Author’s Note section of the book a further visual resource is provided at www.robiningraham.com ,where the magnificence of the parks is there for everyone to see. But it is only a glimpse. Nothing probably comes as close to actually being there. Blehm does a great work in this book of highlighting the vastness and the absolute wilderness of the terrain having himself hiked through it since 1992.
The rescue operation that the team goes through to locate Randy, was so well laid out and thrilling. Sure, there were some side stories that were a bit underdeveloped in my opinion. Overall though, the book has accomplished what it set out to do. There is enough mystery and intrigue to make the reader care. Although, I suspect between trying to be a page turner and a book about nature, the author might have stretched himself a bit too thin. When I read a non-fiction book, the level of research that goes into the book is the primary criteria. It is clear that the research work done for the book was thorough and sensitive towards the people involved. On the other hand, I feel the book has some fillers at times here and there and it could have been a bit shorter and concise.
John Muir
‘’The last Season’’, is at its core, a book about celebration of nature and the national parks. It centers around Randy Morgenson, a National Park Service ranger in The Sequoia King Canyon National Parks. Randy is a conservationist and a mystic in the mold of Muir and Thoreau, a passion he inherited from his father. ‘’Protect the people from the park and the park from the people’’ was his mantra. Even more than that he is, a poet, a photography enthusiast, and an amateur botanist. His mastery of the Sierra Nevada always left anybody who met him in awe. When he went missing in July, 1996 few days after reporting for his 28th season at the parks, a complicated rescue operation ensues to find him in the vast mountainous wilderness of the Sierra.
I think this book excels at relating the reverence for nature that Randy often shows, along with the universal sense of oneness we are ominously losing with the environment. A log book entry from Randy on September 12, 1978 cited in the book is a perfect example:
‘’ Love for the world and its creatures comes easily here [in the mountains]. I have loved a thousand mountain meadows and alpine peaks. To be aware each day that I am alive, to be deeply sensitive to the world I inhibit and the world that I am, not to roam roughshod over the broad surface of this planet for achievement but to know where I step, and to tread lightly.’’
One look at the Instagram page of The Sequoia King canyon national parks, gives us a glimpse of the beauty that he was so infectiously infatuated with. In the Author’s Note section of the book a further visual resource is provided at www.robiningraham.com ,where the magnificence of the parks is there for everyone to see. But it is only a glimpse. Nothing probably comes as close to actually being there. Blehm does a great work in this book of highlighting the vastness and the absolute wilderness of the terrain having himself hiked through it since 1992.
The rescue operation that the team goes through to locate Randy, was so well laid out and thrilling. Sure, there were some side stories that were a bit underdeveloped in my opinion. Overall though, the book has accomplished what it set out to do. There is enough mystery and intrigue to make the reader care. Although, I suspect between trying to be a page turner and a book about nature, the author might have stretched himself a bit too thin. When I read a non-fiction book, the level of research that goes into the book is the primary criteria. It is clear that the research work done for the book was thorough and sensitive towards the people involved. On the other hand, I feel the book has some fillers at times here and there and it could have been a bit shorter and concise.
January 30, 2008
What a great, great book. Tells the story of Randy Morganson who is a back-country ranger in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is a man who has lived the majority of his life in the mountains and is clearly one of the finest in his rare and seriously neglected profession. In 1996 (it's been a month since I read it, so I may have the dates off) he disappears early in the season. Because of the turbulence in his life that lead up to the hiking season, there is plenty of speculation as to what really happened to him. The story flips back and forth between his life prior to his disappearance and the efforts to find him.
Randy leads a compelling life, with friendships including Wallace Stegner and Ansel Adams. He is always searching for meaning in his life, and always comes back to the mountains, where he is most comfortable.
I rarely read "outdoor" books and am not at all an outdoors kind of person, but this book moved me in ways I didn't expect. I look forward to my first hiking trip as an adult sometime in the near future.
Randy leads a compelling life, with friendships including Wallace Stegner and Ansel Adams. He is always searching for meaning in his life, and always comes back to the mountains, where he is most comfortable.
I rarely read "outdoor" books and am not at all an outdoors kind of person, but this book moved me in ways I didn't expect. I look forward to my first hiking trip as an adult sometime in the near future.
April 13, 2017
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.
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.
May 25, 2016
Ranger Randy was a flawed man, torn between a profound dedication to the life in and conservation of the high Sierras, a floundering marriage, and an ending affair. He had a desperate need to protect the earth, and was an embittered employee in a park system that did not listen, nor thank in any meaningful way the seasonal backcountry rangers that are basically the elite guard and special forces rescue team of our national parks. His love for art had been slipping from him as his personal life became uncontrollable, he was depressed, and he was in the throes of a middle life crisis, having to realize that being a backcountry ranger is a young man’s game, and while he had TWENTY-EIGHT years in the backcountry, eventually he would have to do something else.
In the midst of all this, he disappeared one day. Every one wondered, had he committed suicide, skipped town to start a new life, or had a terrible accident? Where was he.
This was a pretty brilliant biography if you ask me. Luckily for Blehm, Randy was a prolific writer (the man was friends with Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner) and most of his friends and family are still alive, so Blehm had an absolute abundance of resources to paint a very full portrait of Randy. Can we ever really know someone through a biography? Probably not, but they can still speak to us. Randy spoke to me through this biography, at one point he questions of one of his friends why we are all so obsessed with ‘est’s: richest, fastest, strongest. When we travel at that pace, when ‘est is our focus, we lose sight of the small things that truly make life. We miss sight of the wildflowers in the meadow that were Randy’s forte, we miss sight of small exchanges between friends and family, the dappling of sunlight, the call of a bird. Randy’s story is a call to slow down, and enjoy it. Listen to nature around you. I can get behind that message. I love the echos in mountains, the scratching and trickle of sand in the desert, the whispering of prairie grasses, the conversations of forests. Blehm really brought Randy forth despite his personal flaws. I know that the next time I am in a park, that I will be even more wary of leave no trace. Randy wouldn’t even light fires because it took away wood from the forest- and decaying wood in a forest is a limited natural resource. It will make me reconsider my interactions with the wild.
More than that, while Blehm told Randy’s story wonderfully, he also took the time to highlight causes that were important to Randy- most notably the abysmal services from the NPS and government that seasonal backcountry rangers receive for their labor. Unrecognized formally for their years in service because they are “seasonal”, unpaid in overtime for their many hours spent on Search and Rescue and sheltering and aiding hikers, and cleaning CONSTANTLY the trash left even in the backcountry by visitors, and denied even the most obvious of comforts like retirement and insurance, our backcountry rangers have given their lives for ours, and get so very little in return.
We have so few mountain men left. Then again, we never really had them, the mountains have them, and the mountains keep their own.
In the midst of all this, he disappeared one day. Every one wondered, had he committed suicide, skipped town to start a new life, or had a terrible accident? Where was he.
This was a pretty brilliant biography if you ask me. Luckily for Blehm, Randy was a prolific writer (the man was friends with Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner) and most of his friends and family are still alive, so Blehm had an absolute abundance of resources to paint a very full portrait of Randy. Can we ever really know someone through a biography? Probably not, but they can still speak to us. Randy spoke to me through this biography, at one point he questions of one of his friends why we are all so obsessed with ‘est’s: richest, fastest, strongest. When we travel at that pace, when ‘est is our focus, we lose sight of the small things that truly make life. We miss sight of the wildflowers in the meadow that were Randy’s forte, we miss sight of small exchanges between friends and family, the dappling of sunlight, the call of a bird. Randy’s story is a call to slow down, and enjoy it. Listen to nature around you. I can get behind that message. I love the echos in mountains, the scratching and trickle of sand in the desert, the whispering of prairie grasses, the conversations of forests. Blehm really brought Randy forth despite his personal flaws. I know that the next time I am in a park, that I will be even more wary of leave no trace. Randy wouldn’t even light fires because it took away wood from the forest- and decaying wood in a forest is a limited natural resource. It will make me reconsider my interactions with the wild.
More than that, while Blehm told Randy’s story wonderfully, he also took the time to highlight causes that were important to Randy- most notably the abysmal services from the NPS and government that seasonal backcountry rangers receive for their labor. Unrecognized formally for their years in service because they are “seasonal”, unpaid in overtime for their many hours spent on Search and Rescue and sheltering and aiding hikers, and cleaning CONSTANTLY the trash left even in the backcountry by visitors, and denied even the most obvious of comforts like retirement and insurance, our backcountry rangers have given their lives for ours, and get so very little in return.
We have so few mountain men left. Then again, we never really had them, the mountains have them, and the mountains keep their own.
December 19, 2020
3.5 thoughts soon.
November 28, 2010
This is a story about a park ranger, Randy Morgenstern...The one they always turn to for help with search and rescue when someone is lost or hurt. Everyone considers him one of the best. An expert on the land and an expert in wilderness survival. And then he goes missing himself. I couldn't believe how the author kept me on the edge of my seat! Reading detailed descriptions of Morgenstern's life and personality had me wondering if he could have made a fatal error in judgement that cost him his life? Could he have finally gotten so "done" with society and his own personal problems that he could have ended his life? Could he have been cruel enough to disappear in to the wilderness? He was a somewhat sympathetic character, I couldn't help but admire his philosophy; "Be quiet and still and the mountains will reveal their secrets", however I spent much of my time reading about him alternately not trusting him or really disliking him.
I save five stars for life-changing books. This one hit close enough to home to give me nightmares. Five stars for that.
I liked the part where he and Judi were able to reconcile their individual needs and come up with a lifestyle that suited them both, but it seemed to me that as the years went on, Randy became more and more unable and unwilling to compromise his own ideals for her. If he had left her for the mountains forever, that would have been one thing; finally choosing his one true love. But his affair with Lo seems unforgivable to me. He keeps wanting Judi to join him in the mountains, becoming more and more hermit-like as the years go by. He seems selfish and unbalanced and those things scare me.
I loved the way that these characters love their country. Having spent some time in the Sierra-Nevadas, I had a good mental picture of the granite mountains, the meadows and the foliage described in the book. From journals of several of the people involved came some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful place descriptions that I have ever read. The people who live there and care for them really capture the magic and the mystery of the mountains.
I save five stars for life-changing books. This one hit close enough to home to give me nightmares. Five stars for that.
I liked the part where he and Judi were able to reconcile their individual needs and come up with a lifestyle that suited them both, but it seemed to me that as the years went on, Randy became more and more unable and unwilling to compromise his own ideals for her. If he had left her for the mountains forever, that would have been one thing; finally choosing his one true love. But his affair with Lo seems unforgivable to me. He keeps wanting Judi to join him in the mountains, becoming more and more hermit-like as the years go by. He seems selfish and unbalanced and those things scare me.
I loved the way that these characters love their country. Having spent some time in the Sierra-Nevadas, I had a good mental picture of the granite mountains, the meadows and the foliage described in the book. From journals of several of the people involved came some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful place descriptions that I have ever read. The people who live there and care for them really capture the magic and the mystery of the mountains.
April 24, 2024
I'm a city-dweller who loves Big Wild Nature from afar. I grew up bookish but also loving the woods, and there was a stage of my life, when I was healthy, relatively young, and relatively fit, when I made an honest effort to be a bona fide “outdoorsy” sort of person. I kayaked. I hiked. I even took up rock climbing for a few years. But even at my fittest, experience forced me to admit I wasn't really cut out for it, and “bookish” was more what I was meant to be.
First, there's my size. At 4'11”, I was pretty much always the smallest person (or one of the smallest) on any given kayaking trip, hiking trip, or climbing trip, and simply keeping up, schlepping my stuff, and reaching the next hold was always an issue. I always got hurt, and I have a seemingly genetic predisposition to joint problems. I always got sunburned and failed to tan, and I suffered easily from heat exhaustion in the brutal Texas summers. I got hypoglycemic headaches when my meals weren't on time. Mosquitoes left me covered in puffy, itchy red welts, and as I got older, I began to develop increasingly severe allergies to practically everything in the air of Texas.
So. Small. Bookish. Pale. Indoorsy. Popping allergy meds. That's who I was born to be.
So a book like The Last Season, even more so than it might be for other people, is for me a truly poignant look into another world filled with people so different from me they might as well be an alien species. 50-year-old backcountry veteran Sandy Graven, the tall, powerfully built woman who can leave men half her age in the dust on the trail, isn't a “there but for circumstance” version of me – she's someone I could never have been even in my best life. And my chest ached because there's a part of me – and not a small part – that would love to be that person. Because I long to be able to hike deep into the backcountry alone, confident in my own strength and skills, and to gaze on the majestic vistas of untouched wilderness in my own splendid isolation. But because I'm small, bookish, pale, and indoorsy (and increasingly fat and out of shape), I have to settle for the mediated wilderness experiences money and guides can provide.
The Last Season is a good book to vread along with Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. They're both award-winning non-fiction about surviving the great outdoors. They each tell the story of a man who hiked into the wilderness one day in the 1990s and was never seen alive again. But Chris McCandless, the subject of Into the Wild, and Randy Morganson, the subject of The Last Season, couldn't be more different. Where McCandless was a young, idealistic hotshot with his head stuffed full of romantic notions about sucking the marrow out of life, Morganson was a veteran backcountry ranger in some of the wildest and least traveled parts of the national park system, Sequoia & King's Canyon Parks in California's Sierra Nevada. Chris and Randy had one big thing in common, though: they both believed life is most truly and deeply lived when you leave the marked trails behind, find your own way into the wilderness, and write your own wilderness story in the proverbial “blank spot on the map.” But they came from vastly different backgrounds, and guided by such different formative experiences, went at realizing that principle in very different ways.
Morganson was renowned for his experience, backcountry skills, and knowledge of every aspect of the local terrain. In his 28-year career, he assisted hundreds of backcountry visitors when they got in trouble, and recovered bodies when they were beyond help. So the idea that he himself might one day need rescuing was nearly unthinkable to his colleagues. I say nearly because no one knew better than his fellow rangers how quickly an unexpected storm, a sudden rock shift, or even a moment of inattention can spell disaster for even the fittest and most experienced hiker or climber in the unforgiving terrain of the deep Sierra Nevadas.
Unlike Into the Wild, where you know Chris McCandless's fate going in, The Last Season plays very coy with the ultimate outcome, and makes you wait until nearly the very end to find out what actually happened to Randy. Did he have an accident? Did he commit suicide? (Clues about his state of mind supported the idea that he might have been suicidal.) Did he pull a disappearing act, and is he really in Mexico by now? (As crazy as this last sounds, it has happened before.) The tension mounts to nearly intolerable levels as the search drags on day after day without a single clue of Randy's whereabouts, or even the route the expert, ultra-low-impact woodsman had taken. The meta-message is clear: If the not-knowing is tough for you, the reader, imagine how tough it was for his fellow rangers to live it.
In the final 20% of the story, we finally learn .
Ultimately, Randy's disappearance was ruled , but personally, I still have my doubts.
Here's the really freaky part: During the search, two different women, neither of them psychics-for-hire, had vivid dreams, or what you might even call visions, of .
My heart nearly burst when the opening chapter mentioned William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, an outstanding book that captures that same desire to find one's own path completely alone on the back roads of the nation. Other books that it might lead you to include Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang, Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Margaret Craven's I Heard the Owl Call My Name, and Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty.
First, there's my size. At 4'11”, I was pretty much always the smallest person (or one of the smallest) on any given kayaking trip, hiking trip, or climbing trip, and simply keeping up, schlepping my stuff, and reaching the next hold was always an issue. I always got hurt, and I have a seemingly genetic predisposition to joint problems. I always got sunburned and failed to tan, and I suffered easily from heat exhaustion in the brutal Texas summers. I got hypoglycemic headaches when my meals weren't on time. Mosquitoes left me covered in puffy, itchy red welts, and as I got older, I began to develop increasingly severe allergies to practically everything in the air of Texas.
So. Small. Bookish. Pale. Indoorsy. Popping allergy meds. That's who I was born to be.
So a book like The Last Season, even more so than it might be for other people, is for me a truly poignant look into another world filled with people so different from me they might as well be an alien species. 50-year-old backcountry veteran Sandy Graven, the tall, powerfully built woman who can leave men half her age in the dust on the trail, isn't a “there but for circumstance” version of me – she's someone I could never have been even in my best life. And my chest ached because there's a part of me – and not a small part – that would love to be that person. Because I long to be able to hike deep into the backcountry alone, confident in my own strength and skills, and to gaze on the majestic vistas of untouched wilderness in my own splendid isolation. But because I'm small, bookish, pale, and indoorsy (and increasingly fat and out of shape), I have to settle for the mediated wilderness experiences money and guides can provide.
The Last Season is a good book to vread along with Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. They're both award-winning non-fiction about surviving the great outdoors. They each tell the story of a man who hiked into the wilderness one day in the 1990s and was never seen alive again. But Chris McCandless, the subject of Into the Wild, and Randy Morganson, the subject of The Last Season, couldn't be more different. Where McCandless was a young, idealistic hotshot with his head stuffed full of romantic notions about sucking the marrow out of life, Morganson was a veteran backcountry ranger in some of the wildest and least traveled parts of the national park system, Sequoia & King's Canyon Parks in California's Sierra Nevada. Chris and Randy had one big thing in common, though: they both believed life is most truly and deeply lived when you leave the marked trails behind, find your own way into the wilderness, and write your own wilderness story in the proverbial “blank spot on the map.” But they came from vastly different backgrounds, and guided by such different formative experiences, went at realizing that principle in very different ways.
Morganson was renowned for his experience, backcountry skills, and knowledge of every aspect of the local terrain. In his 28-year career, he assisted hundreds of backcountry visitors when they got in trouble, and recovered bodies when they were beyond help. So the idea that he himself might one day need rescuing was nearly unthinkable to his colleagues. I say nearly because no one knew better than his fellow rangers how quickly an unexpected storm, a sudden rock shift, or even a moment of inattention can spell disaster for even the fittest and most experienced hiker or climber in the unforgiving terrain of the deep Sierra Nevadas.
Unlike Into the Wild, where you know Chris McCandless's fate going in, The Last Season plays very coy with the ultimate outcome, and makes you wait until nearly the very end to find out what actually happened to Randy. Did he have an accident? Did he commit suicide? (Clues about his state of mind supported the idea that he might have been suicidal.) Did he pull a disappearing act, and is he really in Mexico by now? (As crazy as this last sounds, it has happened before.) The tension mounts to nearly intolerable levels as the search drags on day after day without a single clue of Randy's whereabouts, or even the route the expert, ultra-low-impact woodsman had taken. The meta-message is clear: If the not-knowing is tough for you, the reader, imagine how tough it was for his fellow rangers to live it.
In the final 20% of the story, we finally learn .
Ultimately, Randy's disappearance was ruled , but personally, I still have my doubts.
Here's the really freaky part: During the search, two different women, neither of them psychics-for-hire, had vivid dreams, or what you might even call visions, of .
My heart nearly burst when the opening chapter mentioned William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways, an outstanding book that captures that same desire to find one's own path completely alone on the back roads of the nation. Other books that it might lead you to include Edward Abbey's The Monkey Wrench Gang, Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Margaret Craven's I Heard the Owl Call My Name, and Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty.
May 23, 2018
Is this a non-fiction mystery book? Is this is a poetical appreciation of nature book ala Abbey or Thoreau? Or is it trying to be both yet accomplishing neither. The story of Randy Morgenson combined with a small slice of the the National Park Service was interesting. I never knew anything about backcountry rangers even though I have spent a large part of my life in the mountains of Colorado. Blehm also, at times, was able to thread the needle between purple prose and mundane descriptions to bring Kings Canyon National Park alive. However, there probably wasn't enough content in the story to make a whole book of it, lots of repetitive filler and Blehm isn't Edward Abbey whose spare, razor sharp descriptions made you want to go wander in the desert.
One of the many 3 stars where I don't feel like I wasted my time but it is hard to recommend and I would refer people to Desert Solitaire instead.
One of the many 3 stars where I don't feel like I wasted my time but it is hard to recommend and I would refer people to Desert Solitaire instead.
July 13, 2007
I'm a sucker for biographies and suspense novels -- and this one delivers both. The story is fascinating and includes Yosemite National Park as a key character. The book tracks the life and disappearance of Randy Morgenson, a long-time back woods ranger in Yosemite. Morgenson literally grew up in Yosemite ... his father worked in the administrative offices and the family had a home in Yosemite Valley. The story of the family is well developed and includes accounts of their unlikely friendships with Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner.
Blehm does drag the story out a bit as he is most comfortable as a magazine story writer and seems to add a few pages toward the end to give the book more length. The first 2/3rds of the novel make up for the "fluff" and are an excellently research biography and mystery.
Blehm does drag the story out a bit as he is most comfortable as a magazine story writer and seems to add a few pages toward the end to give the book more length. The first 2/3rds of the novel make up for the "fluff" and are an excellently research biography and mystery.
February 16, 2018
The audio book is really good, there is a bit too much repetition but Blehm's look at a the story of a missing ranger is a thumping good read.
March 8, 2016
“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.
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.
July 16, 2014
Blehm took me so deeply into the back country that Randy Morgenson loved that I felt the sweat collecting under my backpack and my muscles burning with exquisite exertion. Despite, knowing the outcome of The Last Season, this book is predicated on tension that propelled me through the book with curiosity. I read long past when I should have turned out the light because I could not stop at the section breaks. I just had to read what happened next. I'm a fan of Jon Krakauer, and Blehm writes in a similar vein. The book is beautifully researched, covers multiple points of view and opinions, and lets you ultimately decide for yourself what you think of Randy Morgenson, his life and his choices. The book is structured with chapters which alternate between a biography of Morgenson and traveling step by step through the Morgenson SAR. The chapters resonate with one another, clarifying and elucidating in quite lovely prose, with just the right amount of quoting, science, and beautiful description for me. This was a terrific summer read. Can't imagine why I didn't find it sooner, but so glad it landed in my hands at last.
July 1, 2011
Wow. Amazing, amazing book. The writing was superb and I learned a LOT. I picked this book up prior to my first trip to Yosemite National Park in California (US) - even though it mainly takes place in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, it involves Yosemite as well.
The book is about a backcountry ranger, Randy Morgenson, who went missing in 1996 but it's about so much more than that. It's about nature and wilderness, being free, about the parks... It talks about his family, who knew Ansel Adams - which, as a photographer, I thought was SO COOL. I think in the Author's Note at the end of the book, he says it best when he talks about Morgenson's wife who said that you couldn't tell the story of Randy Morgenson without telling the story of the Sierras.
This book has left me with goosebumps, left me with a lot to think about. Really really glad I picked it up.
The book is about a backcountry ranger, Randy Morgenson, who went missing in 1996 but it's about so much more than that. It's about nature and wilderness, being free, about the parks... It talks about his family, who knew Ansel Adams - which, as a photographer, I thought was SO COOL. I think in the Author's Note at the end of the book, he says it best when he talks about Morgenson's wife who said that you couldn't tell the story of Randy Morgenson without telling the story of the Sierras.
This book has left me with goosebumps, left me with a lot to think about. Really really glad I picked it up.
April 26, 2012
Eric Blehm, from North County and a SDSU journalism and recreation major, was told to solo the John Muir trail for background and he did.
The life of Randy Morgenson was one of idealism and love for his beloved Sierra as a seasonal back country ranger. This hardy breed of outdoorsman and woman "safeguard the Sierra from people and the people from the Sierra. Patient educators, first aid and body recovery, they do it all with virtually no benefits and low pay.
Randy grew up in the beauty of Yosemite and traveled to the high worlds of Nepal to sample the vast steepness of the vertical world in which he was comfortable. When he turns up missing after some mid life dead ends, most thought that it was suicide. The story unfolds almost as a mystery, with a surprise ending. Great read.
The life of Randy Morgenson was one of idealism and love for his beloved Sierra as a seasonal back country ranger. This hardy breed of outdoorsman and woman "safeguard the Sierra from people and the people from the Sierra. Patient educators, first aid and body recovery, they do it all with virtually no benefits and low pay.
Randy grew up in the beauty of Yosemite and traveled to the high worlds of Nepal to sample the vast steepness of the vertical world in which he was comfortable. When he turns up missing after some mid life dead ends, most thought that it was suicide. The story unfolds almost as a mystery, with a surprise ending. Great read.
August 23, 2024
When Randy Morganson disappeared, he had been a volunteer backcountry ranger in a national park for almost 30 years. Mainly based in the Sierra Nevada, he grew up feeling that the wilderness was his real home & where he was truly happy & his job was always more of a vocation than a career.
When he went missing whilst patrolling his allotted area, Randy had been having some troubles in his personal life & those he worked with were unsure if he had just walked away or was out there somewhere injured & waiting for help. This is the story of Randy's life & the search for him in an area which had hidden the wreckage of a plane crash for almost 20 years. It was the proverbial 'needle in a haystack' situation. Can they find him & will it be in time?
This is an intriguing read. What could have happened? After setting the scene of his disappearance, the narrative goes back in time to consider Randy's childhood & we return to his past at several junctures throughout the book. Randy had plenty of good points in his love of nature & wish to conserve the wilderness for future generations, but he was also a complicated man & made some decisions which were rather selfish.
It was really interesting even if the reader has a looming sense of sadness as there wasn't much doubt that there wouldn't be a happy resolution to this one. I was expecting it to remain open-ended but there is sort of an ending even if it is mainly conjecture at this point.
When he went missing whilst patrolling his allotted area, Randy had been having some troubles in his personal life & those he worked with were unsure if he had just walked away or was out there somewhere injured & waiting for help. This is the story of Randy's life & the search for him in an area which had hidden the wreckage of a plane crash for almost 20 years. It was the proverbial 'needle in a haystack' situation. Can they find him & will it be in time?
This is an intriguing read. What could have happened? After setting the scene of his disappearance, the narrative goes back in time to consider Randy's childhood & we return to his past at several junctures throughout the book. Randy had plenty of good points in his love of nature & wish to conserve the wilderness for future generations, but he was also a complicated man & made some decisions which were rather selfish.
It was really interesting even if the reader has a looming sense of sadness as there wasn't much doubt that there wouldn't be a happy resolution to this one. I was expecting it to remain open-ended but there is sort of an ending even if it is mainly conjecture at this point.
December 12, 2025
The Last Season tells the true story of the life and disappearance of Randy Morgenson, a backcountry National Park Ranger, who spent almost 30 years working in the High Sierra in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. In July 1996, Morgenson failed to make contact for several days, and an intensive search and rescue began. Blehm recounts Morgenson's biography through journals, letters, and interviews. The book describes Morgenson’s commitment to wilderness protection as well as the turmoil of his personal life. It is told in alternating chapters between the rescue operation and Morgenson's life story. I am always interested in reading about the mountains of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. It is an area I have visited many times, and it is a beautiful part of the western United States. I particularly enjoyed learning more about the (underappreciated) seasonal backcountry rangers. It will appeal to those interested in adventure-oriented biographies.
February 1, 2023
When a ranger, experienced in finding people in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevada disappears himself, There is a lot of question as to what actually happened to him.
I found it a bit creepy.
I found it a bit creepy.
April 27, 2014
I absolutely devoured this book. Eric Blehm tells the fascinating story of National Park Service ranger Randy Morgenson, who, after 28 seasons as a backcountry ranger in the Sierra Nevada, disappeared one day on a routine patrol. Blehm covers not only the extensive search the NPS performed, but also Morgenson’s entire life leading up to his mysterious disappearance. We get to know the kid who learned from his father to love the outdoors and capture its splendor with photography. We watch as the twenty-something fails to commit to college but returns summer after summer to work as a ranger in the isolated backcountry of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We see Morgenson meet his wife, Judi, and struggle to negotiate relationships with both her and the wilderness. We observe as Morgenson engages in an extramarital affair with another ranger, which leads to confusion, depression, and eventually divorce papers from Judi.
The mystery of Morgenson’s vanishing was enthralling. Did he commit suicide as a result of his depression over his failing marriage? Did he encounter some trouble or injure himself accidentally while on his routine patrol? And how in the world do you go about finding someone who prides himself on the ability to camp without leaving a trace of his presence behind?
Morgenson was a profound thinker, prolific writer, and dedicated conservationist, as evidenced by his journals and log books, heavily referenced by Blehm. Because he left so many of his own words behind, and thanks to Blehm’s exhaustive interviews with his family, friends, and fellow rangers, we have a unique window into Randy Morgenson’s mind and heart. This book made me feel like I knew him—and it made me want to visit the Sierra, to understand its beauty and wildness firsthand. As long as there’s a hotel room and a hot shower waiting for me at the end of the day, of course.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
The mystery of Morgenson’s vanishing was enthralling. Did he commit suicide as a result of his depression over his failing marriage? Did he encounter some trouble or injure himself accidentally while on his routine patrol? And how in the world do you go about finding someone who prides himself on the ability to camp without leaving a trace of his presence behind?
Morgenson was a profound thinker, prolific writer, and dedicated conservationist, as evidenced by his journals and log books, heavily referenced by Blehm. Because he left so many of his own words behind, and thanks to Blehm’s exhaustive interviews with his family, friends, and fellow rangers, we have a unique window into Randy Morgenson’s mind and heart. This book made me feel like I knew him—and it made me want to visit the Sierra, to understand its beauty and wildness firsthand. As long as there’s a hotel room and a hot shower waiting for me at the end of the day, of course.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
May 5, 2008
This book was a true wilderness mystery; an experienced backcountry NPS ranger goes missing in his assigned territory of the Sequoia/Kings National Park. The Last Season documents the life of Ranger Randy Morgenson and the massive search and rescue operation his disappearance triggered. Mr. Blehm had me turning the pages eagerly, swept up in the story, eager to learn more about Ranger Randy and anxious to piece together how he went missing.
What Mr. Blehm, and Ranger Randy through his own journal entries, do best is make Ranger Randy so real and human that the reader can begin to imagine how Randy's absence and story affected those close to him and close to the wilderness he loved. Unlike an Agatha Christie mystery novel, The Last Season does not have a tidy ending; but part of the lesson I took from the book was that little about life is ever tidy, including how it ends.
In many ways, The Last Season is reminiscent of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. However, I found Randy Morgenson to be a much more likable and sympathetic character than Chris McCandless; perhaps Morgenson is who McCandless would have mellowed and aged into had he survived.
Mr. Blehm took a very emotional and difficult story and weaved it into a very emotional and gripping piece of writing. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
What Mr. Blehm, and Ranger Randy through his own journal entries, do best is make Ranger Randy so real and human that the reader can begin to imagine how Randy's absence and story affected those close to him and close to the wilderness he loved. Unlike an Agatha Christie mystery novel, The Last Season does not have a tidy ending; but part of the lesson I took from the book was that little about life is ever tidy, including how it ends.
In many ways, The Last Season is reminiscent of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. However, I found Randy Morgenson to be a much more likable and sympathetic character than Chris McCandless; perhaps Morgenson is who McCandless would have mellowed and aged into had he survived.
Mr. Blehm took a very emotional and difficult story and weaved it into a very emotional and gripping piece of writing. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
January 2, 2011
The Last Season is about the life and death (in 1996) of Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger in the Sierra Nevada's for 25+ years. The author, Eric Blehm, did an outstanding job researching, and writing, this book. The descriptions of the mountains was really interesting and his descriptions of Morgenson and how he became what he was were well done.
The book reads like fiction but isn't. Morgenson was a truly unique individual, he was absolutely dedicated to the wilderness, was friends with some very interesting people (Ansel Adams and his own father), but also was flawed. His death in the wilderness continues to stir debate as to its cause and circumstances and I thought Blehm did a great job covering all of them.
Morgenson seemed to view nature as his religion. Anything that promoted that view he was great at. He was constantly noted for his kindness to nature and the park visitors. In many of his personal relationships however, (his wife and some other rangers) I felt he was very selfish and hypocritical. His spiritual views therefore seem incomplete and empty, really just worshipping the created rather than the creator.
The biggest take away from the book for me was Morgenson's comment that "Nature always wins". That is true. I have read many books about adventurers and moutaineers and it seems that all ultimately die in their adventures.
The book reads like fiction but isn't. Morgenson was a truly unique individual, he was absolutely dedicated to the wilderness, was friends with some very interesting people (Ansel Adams and his own father), but also was flawed. His death in the wilderness continues to stir debate as to its cause and circumstances and I thought Blehm did a great job covering all of them.
Morgenson seemed to view nature as his religion. Anything that promoted that view he was great at. He was constantly noted for his kindness to nature and the park visitors. In many of his personal relationships however, (his wife and some other rangers) I felt he was very selfish and hypocritical. His spiritual views therefore seem incomplete and empty, really just worshipping the created rather than the creator.
The biggest take away from the book for me was Morgenson's comment that "Nature always wins". That is true. I have read many books about adventurers and moutaineers and it seems that all ultimately die in their adventures.
May 28, 2008
If you liked "Into the Wild", you'll love this book. Randy Morgenson is a backcountry ranger in the Sierra Nevada and Kings Canyon national parks.
Randy never really got people, but he really understood nature and being isolated in it. Growing up with family friends like Ansel Adams set the tone for his view on the world.
In much the same vein as "Into the Wild", Randy goes missing early in the book and the author takes you on a recount of his life and what might have happened to him via interviews with co-workers, his ex-wife, supervisors, and the countless hikers whom were aided by the backcountry ranger.
Randy never really got people, but he really understood nature and being isolated in it. Growing up with family friends like Ansel Adams set the tone for his view on the world.
In much the same vein as "Into the Wild", Randy goes missing early in the book and the author takes you on a recount of his life and what might have happened to him via interviews with co-workers, his ex-wife, supervisors, and the countless hikers whom were aided by the backcountry ranger.
January 10, 2021
My initial impression had been a bit meh...the author starts into the story of the missing Ranger (Morgensen) and then spends three quarters of the book telling you his life story before you finally find out what happened. Having said that, now that I've had some time to reflect I did come to appreciate the details in this story. While the main character was obviously deeply flawed, who isn't? If you love the outdoors mixed with a bit of mystery and don't mind taking the scenic route you should check out this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2017
Even though most people who pick up this book will know something of the story, Blehm manages to preserve the much of the mystery involving Randy Morgenson's disappearance. Blehm creates suspense, and he delivers. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew what happened. I was, also, impressed by not only the amount of research that Blehm did but, moreover, how he used it to paint a compelling portrait of Randy. The Last Season met all of my expectations. I would highly recommend it.
September 18, 2024
I’ll be truthful that I didn’t have high hopes at the start of the book as I’m generally not a fan of nonfiction books. That said, I liked it more than I had anticipated. I believe it’s mostly due to the relation of Randy Morgenson’s ranger job and his relation to the national parks, which hold a special place in my heart. I could relate to many of his sentiments of keeping the “wild” parts of the parks as such and to avoid having people (and overdevelopment) destroy these wondrous places.
Now, that is being said with the knowledge that Randy seemed to come off as pretentious and curmudgeonly, and that he was not a faithful partner in his marriage. I didn’t particularly enjoy certain aspects of his marriage that seemed to hint at things being Judi’s fault. I understand they had a more “unconventional” marriage and relationship, but it didn’t excuse anything he did with his affair or he handled dealing with the repercussions. So in certain times it made it harder to be sympathetic that he was not doing well mentally. However, it was the 90s and I assume there was many great resources for him to get mental health help.
I think some of my larger problems with the book was how it was formatted. It made sense to start in the “present day” of when Randy’s search and rescue (SAR as the book states) began, and of course the continuation of the SAR had to be spread through the book. But sometimes when we would get many chapters of Randy’s life growing up and then the SAR chapter, it could feel jarring. I could see how the author would tie Randy’s past into the chapters of the SAR progress. But again, some of it was confusing and disjointed. I felt like I was getting a good picture of who Randy was and then, bam, back to a chapter of a ranger and dog team searching.
I think the author did a good job though with his descriptions of everything. I could feel the love that Randy’s dad had for the flora of Yosemite, and the appreciation Randy had for the mountains. Having been to Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks the landscape is truly breathtaking, and I can only imagine what it was like in decades past when there were likely less people going to them. Also, those mountains are no joke. I didn’t get even remotely close to climbing any, and never will (I’m not that adventurous and I know my limit). But having seen those mountains in person, and then reading the descriptions of the altitudes the backcountry ranges are at was dizzying. Altitude sickness and I are not friends.
Anyways, as mentioned most of my critique of the book is related to the jumping back and forth timelines and how they were inconsistent. Randy wasn’t always an amazing person but clearly the people around him felt he did a lot for a government division that didn’t do much for its workers. I wavered between giving this 3 or 4 stars and I really wish this site would introduce half stars 🙄. But I think giving it a 3 with it being more of a 3.5/5 rating if I could. Perhaps upon a later time I might bump it up a star.
Now, that is being said with the knowledge that Randy seemed to come off as pretentious and curmudgeonly, and that he was not a faithful partner in his marriage. I didn’t particularly enjoy certain aspects of his marriage that seemed to hint at things being Judi’s fault. I understand they had a more “unconventional” marriage and relationship, but it didn’t excuse anything he did with his affair or he handled dealing with the repercussions. So in certain times it made it harder to be sympathetic that he was not doing well mentally. However, it was the 90s and I assume there was many great resources for him to get mental health help.
I think some of my larger problems with the book was how it was formatted. It made sense to start in the “present day” of when Randy’s search and rescue (SAR as the book states) began, and of course the continuation of the SAR had to be spread through the book. But sometimes when we would get many chapters of Randy’s life growing up and then the SAR chapter, it could feel jarring. I could see how the author would tie Randy’s past into the chapters of the SAR progress. But again, some of it was confusing and disjointed. I felt like I was getting a good picture of who Randy was and then, bam, back to a chapter of a ranger and dog team searching.
I think the author did a good job though with his descriptions of everything. I could feel the love that Randy’s dad had for the flora of Yosemite, and the appreciation Randy had for the mountains. Having been to Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks the landscape is truly breathtaking, and I can only imagine what it was like in decades past when there were likely less people going to them. Also, those mountains are no joke. I didn’t get even remotely close to climbing any, and never will (I’m not that adventurous and I know my limit). But having seen those mountains in person, and then reading the descriptions of the altitudes the backcountry ranges are at was dizzying. Altitude sickness and I are not friends.
Anyways, as mentioned most of my critique of the book is related to the jumping back and forth timelines and how they were inconsistent. Randy wasn’t always an amazing person but clearly the people around him felt he did a lot for a government division that didn’t do much for its workers. I wavered between giving this 3 or 4 stars and I really wish this site would introduce half stars 🙄. But I think giving it a 3 with it being more of a 3.5/5 rating if I could. Perhaps upon a later time I might bump it up a star.
October 27, 2024
Ironically, I started this book on an airplane on the way to California to visit Sequoia and Kings Canton National Parks. I was happy to be reading about someone raised to love and appreciate the beauty of nature and who spent their life dedicated to the parks. I got about halfway through before losing enthusiasm for the character and the book in general.
I understand starting the book with the premise that Randy went missing, then going backwards to introduce his life and what lead him to be a veteran ranger in the parks. I did not like that it kept going back and forth to different parts of his life and the search. I had a hard time connecting the rangers in his history to the rangers in the SAR. I could tell that each relationship was meant to be meaningful, but I couldn’t keep track and they all kind of blurred together.
I enjoyed learning about the parks, I found the different stories of SAR interesting, and I appreciate the honest admiration both the author and Randy showed for nature. I love visiting National Parks, and loved my visit to these two parks. I did not do any backpacking and only visited sites and trails accessible by a day hike. I am scared to take the leap to the multi-day hiking, with the logistics of lodging and food being too intimidating. I imagine the kind of dedication Randy had to spending time in the “back country” and I know my love of the outdoors does not compare to his.
That being said, this book was much too long for me. If I enjoyed the first part of the book, I could barely convince myself to pick it up for the second half. I had lost interest in the intricacies of the SAR and I just wanted to know if and when he had been found. I likewise grew tired of Randy, his treatment of Judi, and his self pity. If I had been able to finish this book relatively quickly it might have gotten a higher rating, but given the first half I enjoyed more was done over a month ago and I’ve been spending the last several weeks trying to push through 100 pages, that’s the impression that sticks. Also worth noting I’m not a huge nonfiction fan to begin with, so once it started to drag, it really started to drag. Maybe nonfiction lovers would feel differently!
I understand starting the book with the premise that Randy went missing, then going backwards to introduce his life and what lead him to be a veteran ranger in the parks. I did not like that it kept going back and forth to different parts of his life and the search. I had a hard time connecting the rangers in his history to the rangers in the SAR. I could tell that each relationship was meant to be meaningful, but I couldn’t keep track and they all kind of blurred together.
I enjoyed learning about the parks, I found the different stories of SAR interesting, and I appreciate the honest admiration both the author and Randy showed for nature. I love visiting National Parks, and loved my visit to these two parks. I did not do any backpacking and only visited sites and trails accessible by a day hike. I am scared to take the leap to the multi-day hiking, with the logistics of lodging and food being too intimidating. I imagine the kind of dedication Randy had to spending time in the “back country” and I know my love of the outdoors does not compare to his.
That being said, this book was much too long for me. If I enjoyed the first part of the book, I could barely convince myself to pick it up for the second half. I had lost interest in the intricacies of the SAR and I just wanted to know if and when he had been found. I likewise grew tired of Randy, his treatment of Judi, and his self pity. If I had been able to finish this book relatively quickly it might have gotten a higher rating, but given the first half I enjoyed more was done over a month ago and I’ve been spending the last several weeks trying to push through 100 pages, that’s the impression that sticks. Also worth noting I’m not a huge nonfiction fan to begin with, so once it started to drag, it really started to drag. Maybe nonfiction lovers would feel differently!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2025
"How can I claim to a greater importance than these alpine flowers, than anything that lives here, or even than the very rocks which eventually become the nourishing soil from which it all has to start? The existence of souls in men? And who can tell me the souls do not take up residence in plants and animals, and even these waters and rocky peaks? A higher evolution for the souls in men? So does that make us more important? Everything has its place, everything supports everything else, everything is important to itself- to its own development- and to that which it supports. I wish only to be alive and to experience this living to the fullest, to feel deeply about my days, to feel the goodness of life and the beauty of my world … this is my preference. I am human, and experience the emotions of humanity: elation, frustration, loneliness, love. And the greatest of these is love. Love for the world and its creatures. Love for life. It comes easily here. I have loved a thousand alpine meadows and mountain peaks. To be thoroughly aware each day that I am alive, to be deeply sensitive to the world I inhabit and the world that I am, not to roam rough shot of the surface of this planet for achievement but to know where I step and to tread lightly. I would rather my footsteps never be seen and the sound of my voice only be heard by those near and never echo, than leave in my wake the fame of those whom we commonly call great."
RIP, Randy.
RIP, Randy.
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