Two in the Far North: A Conservation Champion's Story of Life, Love, and Adventure in the Wilderness

by Margaret E. Murie

Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award

A Northern classic and beloved favorite, Two in the Far North chronicles the incredible story of Margaret “Mardy” Murie, called the Grandmother of the Conservation Movement, and how she became one of the first women to embrace and champion wilderness conservation in America.

At the age of nine, Margaret Murie moved from Seattle to Fairbanks, not realizing the trajectory life would take her from there. This moving testimonial to the preservation of the Arctic wilderness comes straight from her heart as she writes about growing up in Fairbanks, becoming the first woman graduate of the University of Alaska, and meeting—and then marrying—noted biologist Olaus J. Murie. So begins her lifelong journey in Alaska and on to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where along with her husband and others they founded The Wilderness Society to protect nature and wildlife and speak out for ecological consciousness. From adventures of traversing over thin ice with dog sleds, camping in woods surrounded by bears, caribou, and other wildlife, to canoeing in streams with geese nearby, and more, Murie embraced nature as a close neighbor and dedicated her life to advocating for wilderness protection and conservation.

First published in 1962, this edition features a new foreword by Frances Beinecke and an afterword from Donald Murie. Margaret Murie inspires readers to join her in finding life, love, and adventure in the beautiful remote Alaskan wilderness and the natural world beyond.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Nature, Travel, Adventure, Biography, Book Club

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Margaret Thomas "Mardy" Murie (August 18, 1902 – October 19, 2003) was a naturalist, author, adventurer, and conservationist. Dubbed the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement" by both the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, she helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act, and was instrumental in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She was the recipient of the Audubon Medal, the John Muir Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic tale of Alaskan frontier life, with some of the greatest champions of the wilderness, Mardy and Olaus Murie. Margaret Murie is fearless and this is her account of her travels from age 9 when her family first moves to Alaska, into an account of life with her biologist husband as he tracks the caribou and other species. Sled dog travel across ice, very occasional humans, survival during extreme cold and extreme mosquitos, childbirth, it's all here!

[D]

I won't rate this book, since I decided not to finish it. I read about halfway, before realizing that nothing was actually happening in the book and the writing was not enough to carry the book on its own. The first part of the book is about the author, age 9, moving to Fairbanks with her family for the first time. The journey and first winter were interesting, but after she gets married and leaves on their "honeymoon", it was just WAY to drawn out for me. Far too many useless details. "then we went inside and so and so was there and so was this person and we talked for a while". That sort of thing. Either her diaries were extremely detailed and should've been heavily edited, or she's making up the details. I've been reading books about the north, Coming into the Country by John McPhee being the best by far, and this one just didn't sustain my interest. The writing didn't really captivate my imagination and up to halfway in the book, there's nothing political or really hinting at her legacy. Just a couple moving through the bush and learning the ways of the wild. I would probably have given it 2.5 stars for what I'd read.

[Steven Howes · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in high school and working in a grocery store, I would pour over every new issue of Alaska Magazine and dream about being out in the wilderness chasing caribou, moose and bears, banding birds of all sorts, studying plant life, and living off the land. This book is the author's account of several trips into the Alaska wilderness with her husband, noted wildlife biologist Olaus Murie. The first expedition (the Murie's honeymoon) was in the mid-1920's and involved long river trips (both in river steamers and smaller craft) and dogsleds. The purpose of the trip was to study barren ground caribou migration patterns. The other trips took place in 1956 and 1961 and also involved documenting and describing area wildlife and plants. The author makes this much more than an account of these trips. She describes the events, the land, and the people with passion as well as detail. Her accounts in some way make up for the experiences I missed. I have made it to Alaska only once for a week. The days were spent in meetings in Anchorage and the nights were spent in a crummy barracks at Ellmendorf Airforce Base.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. You gotta hand it to a woman who goes exploring in Alaska by dog sled in her early 20s with her brand new husband at the turn of the century! There is nothing spectacular about the book or her writing, but just the life that Margaret Murie led (and how humble and matter of fact she is about it) makes the book a pleasure to read. Plus, she's so incredibly appreciative of the opportunity she had to experience Alaska the way she did. Really enjoyable read.

[Jeff Koeppen · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading I was unaware that author Margaret Murie was such and icon of nature conservatism. She is known as the "grandmother of the conservation movement"! She helped establish The Wilderness Society, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and received numerous awards over the year including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998 by President Clinton.

Two in the Far North is about Margaret's adventures in Alaska throughout most of her life, beginning as a nine-year old in 1911 and ending with her last visit 1975, in her 73rd year! (She lived to be 101.) Her stories are told though a series of highly detailed monologues and diary entries. She describes Alaska, and its flora and fauna beautifully. You feel like you were right there with her, freezing your bum off (during most of the year, anyway). The experiences she shared were interesting as stand alone stories, but what made them more interesting was how some things changed in subsequent visits over the years. Travel in the artic was always inherently dangerous, but as technology advanced from 1911 to 1975 some of the danger was mitigated and the wilderness became more accessible. For instance, on her first trip through Alaska the modes of transportation were steam ship and dog sled, and the steamer could only make it so far up the wild rivers. Eventually, the railroad cut through Alaska and later float plane could deposit you on any lake you wished to visit. (This became a worry (and motivation) of Margaret as she feared the increased accessibility would lead to this beautiful country being overrun by developers or mining/ oil companies.)

Along with her descriptions of natural Alaska, she provides insight in to the lives of the early settlers and native Alaskans who she met and lived amongst. Life on the frontier was harsh and cold for much of the year as one would expect. We upper-Midwesterners think we are hardy. This was winter living turned to 11. She met her biologist husband, Olaus in Alaska in the early 1920s while he was researching and collecting animal specimens and they became a great research and conservation; truly heroes of environmentalism before it became the issue it is today.

My favorite parts of the book were of her early life as a young girl in the 1900s and how her and the other settlers persevered in such a harsh and unforgiving environment, her plane crash (not really a crash per se, but the plane engine died in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and she was stranded), and the recounting of her and Olaus's last good-byes to the the land they loved . The Afterword written by her son Donald is touching as well.

I knew I would like this book as soon as I saw the cover, which features the smiling Margaret and Olaus in their winter fur clothing, probably in the late 1920s. What a pair. Their legacies in conservation will live on forever.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will make you long for unspoiled nature while at the same time making you glad you don't have to deal with the mosquitos and other difficulties Mardy Murie braved while caring for her husband and family in the wilds of Alaska. This was before modern camping conveniences, and this woman was TOUGH!

[Karyl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never once been to Alaska, but I have a dear friend who lives there, and her stories fascinate me, even though she lives in civilization. So I started checking out books from the library about life in the interior, which is how I came to read Braving it: A Father, a Daughter, and an Unforgettable Journey into the Alaskan Wild, as well as James Campbell's prior book about his cousin, Heimo Korth, The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness. This made it especially lovely to read about Murie and her husband in the vicinity of the Coleen, which is near where Heimo and his wife spend much of their time.

What makes this book even more fascinating is Murie's simple joy in everything that Alaska offers. You'd think a young woman may be a little concerned not to hear from her fiance for months before the wedding, but Murie knew she was marrying a scientist, and communication was rare in the early 1920s. Yet the bridegroom arrived just about on time, and Mardy and her beloved Olaus were married. Instead of a honeymoon to the Caribbean, they spent their time on a scientific trek of Olaus's, attempting to learn more about the migration patterns of caribou and what kinds of species were to be found so far north. In a time when wives were expected to look beautiful and keep house, Mardy made sure to pack trousers and flannel shirts and books into her "practical trousseau," and went intrepidly into the wilds of interior Alaska with her beloved.

The descriptions of the unspoiled wilds are hardly to be believed, yet Murie transports her readers into the same valleys and rivers that she herself saw. Always ready for an adventure, she even joins her husband on a trip to Alaska when their son was less than a year old, making the expedition one for the whole family. Fortunately, they went in summer, so the worst part of the trip wasn't the cold, but instead the mosquitos. (This makes me wish that Buhach hadn't gone out of business. The company made an all-natural and apparently very effective mosquito repellent that Alaskans swore by.) The more time she spends in these wild places, the more she falls in love with them, and the more she believes it's extremely important to preserve these wild places not just for humankind, but also for the flora and fauna that are present there.

While there are some issues with this book (Murie isn't a trained writer, and there are some times where the reader gets a bit lost), it's a wonderfully nostalgic look at an Alaska before there were snowmobiles and GPS systems and satellite phones, before bush pilots could cut down a two-week overland journey to a mere 90 minutes. It's also somewhat of a love letter not only to her partner and husband but also to her favorite state, the one that has captured her heart with its days of total sunlight and the beauty of the unspoiled landscape.

Highly recommended.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

2019
This is a reread. I rediscover this book while browsing the biography/autobiography section of the local library. I first read it Margaret Murie (MM) was raised in Alaska shortly after Fairbanks was a small town of a few hundred people. Her descriptions of life during those early years are priceless. To get to Fairbanks was a ride up 3 or 4 rivers and then down a river. Or a five day trip with dogsled or horse-drawn sled or a combination of the two. The railroad was built in l918 which changed the nature of the wilderness, maybe not the wilderness but the access to it. I enjoyed this reread.

2008
a memoir of three different trips to the far north in Alaska. She describes the first trip when she is 8 or 9 and her father is transferred to Fairbanks as a deputy district attorney. They travel by boat to Skagway then by train to Dawson city then down several rivers to Fairbanks. The only other way was by overland dogsled or horse sled in winter which took nine days. Margaret describes what it is like to live in the town that is only 10 years old after the gold rush of 1897-98.

The Second trip was after she had been to the lower 48 for college education and then moved back to her family in Fairbanks. She meets and marries a young man, a naturalist, who has been hired by the government to take inventory of the land and the animals. Murie describes in great detail two of their trips to the north, one in the late fall, and the other is early Alaskan Spring. Using dog sleds and boats and walking she describes the events and plants and animals, all this time with a 9 month old baby (on the second trip). She is able to give a very good description of Alaska then and the ruggedness of it all. She also describes the many individuals who have chosen, to live out their days in the North. Almost all are helpful and friendly.

Thrity years later after having lived in Jackson Hole Wyoming is some sort of wildlife management position, Margaret’s husband, Olaus, is asked to make a trip back to a remote part of Alaska for father study. The government is trying to decide whether to make the Artic Wildlife Range to protect. Olaus, Margaret, and 3 or 4 others spent 6 weeks or so in two isolated camps studying all the various wildlife and habitat, writing in great detail all they see.

This is not a dull book. It is filled with humor, conversations, animals, all told in a delightful manner. I enjoyed this book. One would need to have an interest in Alaska and wildlife to enjoy it, however. Murie often quotes from her extensive journal as she relates the events as she sees them and feels them. Once again, stressing to me the importance of journals in our living.

Be sure to read the latest edition with Terry Tempest Williams with the preface

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Two in the Far North" tells the story of the intrepid (though she had no idea this term could be applied to her) Margaret Murie, who traveled with her husband across uncharted Alaska as he worked for the National Geological Service. Murie paints herself as a sort of fly on the wall of her husband's adventures, yet her experiences are often the ones leaving the reader shaking her head. One instance sees Murie ensconced in an overladen raft, hurdling down a rapid-riddled river - - with her infant in her ams. Because she sees herself as just being along for the ride, Murie's reflections on their travels are often endearingly simple - (she spends a ton of time recounting the meals she prepares for her husband and his team, which I suppose was seen as a woman's big contribution to an expedition like this). Yet the wild, natural beauty of Alaska certainly wasn't lost on her.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing. And this just fits my vicariously-live-in-Alaska reading. The bulk of the book comes from Murie's diary entries.

One lengthy quote saved from the end of the book regards how Mardy dealt with her grief following her husband Olaus's death. Note particularly what I've italized:

"There were all the places of Olaus's being. . . . All too much; not bearable. But how could I move away, and where else could I take up life again? . . . So--get busy--do the spring cleaning, greet the friends who come, try to get to sleep at night without thinking, without remembering. And after those first days a new feeling came into me. It was almost as though this loved log house put its arms around me. There was warmth and purpose again and each day made its specific demands and carried me through. Even the nights of tears were followed by days full of activity. Spring bloomed inexorably and carried all with it, and life and people continued their demands. It was good to have these responsibilities; I had less time to think of myself. It is good to have entanglements with many people; in time of crisis, they demand your attention and give you no time to brood. . . . [Y]ou soon know the pattern of your days and there are no empty hours, so you are carried along until one day you realize that the grief and the missing are never going to go away, but that on top of them somehow you must build a rich experience of living, woven of involvement with others' joys and sorrows, and their partial dependence on your listening, and of your own still active curiosity about life."

[Noemie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rarely never finish a book. Even when I find it incredibly tedious, I push through. I just couldn't do it with this book. I read for an hour or two and would think that I had progressed at least by 10%. When my e-reader said 2% or 3%, I found t incredibly discouraging. It took me 2 weeks to read 50%, and I usually read a book every week. I had to put it down and move on. Some of my friends completed the book (this was a book club pick) and confirmed that not much happens in the second half. So I really have zero motivation to finish it.

This book is basically a diary or a journal. It lists every mundane details of every trip that eventually it becomes very redundant. I lost interest the moment she got married as that's when she starts to travel with her husband and repeats the same thing over and over again; we packed food, extra clothing, a first aid kit...we traveled for a while, it was so beautiful...we ran into Joe, he invited us for lunch, we ate this and that, we slept outside beside the fire, I was so content, etc. Repeat 30x. I don't mean to diminish the book (I still gave it 3 stars), but there's really no story here. The title should read "Two in the Far North: a detailed account of our travels through Alaska".

If you love the outdoors and also want to learn more about how people lived in the beginning of the 20th century, then you might enjoy this. I didn't hate it, but I need a story.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the SUBJECT matter of this book. Margaret relates how she and her wildlife biologist husband, met, married and then went to work to help preserve some of Alaska's wilderness.

I still haven't finished it even though I love it. I go back and forth with it, getting into 25 pages, then getting bored with it. However, I loved the subject matter so much, that I bought the interview of her narrated and produced by Harrison Ford and Robert Redford.

So why the hemming and hawing? Well, Mardy (Margaret) isn't a writer. Her degree was in business, so there are times you go, WTH? and can't figure out what she's saying because since she was not really a creative-writer type,

I had that happen to me about once every five pages, then I'll have to go to Google and look up the place or object she was referring to, to find out she was talking about.

Example. There was some product she brought up a few times but never described what it was or why it was important to being in the Alaskan wilderness. Turns out, she was referring to a powder that repels mosquitoes. I had to Google it. Things like that, that drive me nuts and slow down the narrative.

BUT, having said that, if you're a naturalist, love Alaska wilderness, you'll love this book.

And I recommend the video, too.

[Maryclaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book covers Margaret at various times in her life in Alaska. Margaret, first as a child in a small cabin with no benefits that a child growing up in the lower 48 would have. She proceeds to grow in many ways, spending time on boats, trains, dogsleds, horse, and airplanes. Margaret experiences life and learns for the sourdoughs of Alaska. She and her biologist husband travel and obtain specimens and migration information for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Margaret and her family were advocates of wildlife preservation and helped to pass the Wilderness Act. This is the third book I have read on travel thru Alaska and the Arctic area of Canada, one of the main topics of complaint of the travelers are mosquitoes. The bugs were not something I expected as a major complaint, but after reading the descriptions of the steps necessary to protect yourself, they are a major problem in the summer months when you should be enjoying the nice weather.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Try and get the 35th Anniversary Edition with added info and foreward.

An all time favorite book!!! Story begins when Margaret moves from Seattle to Alaska when she is 8 yrs old in 1910. Continues thru her education, marriage, honeymoon dogsledding and love of and adventures in the wilderness. SOO MUCH that has been preserved is largely because of their efforts. This book is written from a woman's perspective and yummy wonderful. On the cover it has a label "An American Wilderness Classic" I rate it an A.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is dangerous because it makes you want to drop everything and fly north for month long adventures.

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on stories about their visits to Alaska. She skipped right over the 30 years they spent in the Tetons. I guess I'll have to read Wapiti Wilderness to find out about those years.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enthralled by Alaska and although I tried to fit as much exploring in as I could in my two visits, I only saw a small portion of it ... and then both in the month of June. I would love to experience more. Part of the allure is its wildness and part of the reason for its wildness is Mardy Murie, an early environmentalist and the author of this memoir. She, along with her biologist husband, Olaus, worked their entire adult lives advocating for the preservation of the land they loved. Her husband's fieldwork over many decades exposed Mardy to a fascinating life few others can come close to replicating except vicariously through this classic. Olaus was a founding member of The Wilderness Society in 1935 and Mardy was his wife and secretary. After Olaus's death, Mardy continued to speak out for conservation. I strongly recommend Two in the Far North to anyone with a love of wild places and the understanding of the need to preserve these unique places with strong laws.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, although I was in Honduras I felt transported to Alaska and it made me want to go there desperately. Also, it made me inspired to complain slightly less about my travails in the field...at least it didn't take weeks by dog sled to get to my sites!
The book is basically a memoir about a woman who grew up in Alaska and then married a field biologist studying caribou and such and tramping around the wilds. She later became important in protecting the area and establishing and defending ANWAR.

[Clearview Library District · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became fascinated with the Murie's after reading this. It will forever change how you look at Alaska. Margaret travels to Alaska as a young girl and falls in love with it primitive wildness. She meets her future husband, a wildlife biologist, and they fall in love and marry and become crusaders that ultimately save thousands of acres of wilderness. The writing is naive in that it is journal type entries but Mrs. Murie more than captures the majesty and romance of the Yukon in it's heyday in this wonderful book.
Marsella

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir of Margaret (Mardy) Murie, famed Wilderness Preservationist and her husband, Olaus Murie, the father of modern elk management and multi-talented naturalist. It recounts her early years growing up on the Alaskan frontier in the early 20th century, and the life she shared with Olaus, exploring, studying and fighting for the preservation of Alaskan wilderness. An engaging read about two remarkable people.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attempting to describe the incredible expanse and magesty of Alaska in words is meager. It was so fun for me to read about Mardy's explorations as I traveled to a few of those places too and could visualize and feel the tremendous spirit of the places. There is no place in the USA like Alaska! I am very grateful that so many acres have been preserved. Thanks for your contibutions toward these legal preservations.

[Dan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true story of a lady, raised in Alaska who becomes one of the biggest defenders of the environment of Alaska.

I learned of this lady from a song that was written and performed by John Denver-I see Them Dancing- I did not know the book existed

the story tells of her upbringing in the Alaska frontier, her marriage to her biologist husband and their research trips into the wild.

A great love story, but the story of a person dedicated to preserving the last frontier.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Wallace Stegner, Maurdy Murie is another must read for all living in the great west

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of the outdoors and love Alaska. This was an excellent story of what it was like to be true explorers before the days of Gore-Tex, GPS and cell phones.

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing that Margaret Murie marched behind her husband, a wildlife biologist, into the wilds of Alaska and managed not only to endure but to thrive. One of my favorite memoirs.

[Joel Witzig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I wanted this book to be better than it was. Amazing accounts of Alaskan scenery and situations in the early 1900s as told by a the wife of a scientist and naturalist, who worked right along side him and became distinguished for her own achievements. Very interesting to see frontier Alaskan life and how the state was set up and built from complete wilderness to the controlled wilderness we have today. Great insights into the Alaskan Native cultures and many heartwarming interactions with Native people groups. Thoroughly explained the importance of natural landscapes and for appreciating nature in its undisturbed state. The excitement and appreciation of the author and individuals written about was infectious and made you just as interested and excited about nature. The only problem was that some of the trips and events seemed somewhat repetitive, and I feel like if the major events would have been highlighted more and could have stood alone, I would have had more appreciation and would have been in awe even more. Probably don’t recommend for light reading or for those just getting into nonfiction narrated stories.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the conservation book I didn't know I needed. Mardy Murie is far more relatable to me than John Muir or Aldo Leopold could ever be. Here is a woman who happily agrees to a dogsledding trip in the Arctic as her honeymoon adventure. A woman who brings a baby on a wilderness trip without hesitation. A woman who also isn't afraid to tell us about moments when she ended up in tears after a particularly hard stretch of trail. And a woman who knows how (and is proud) to make an incredible meal in the outdoors. I had a chance to visit Mardy and Olas Murie's ranch in the Tetons several years back, and this book was recommended to me at that point. I can't believe it took me this long to read it. I now want to know everything about Mardy-- at the time, we did watch a documentary about her (Arctic Dance), but now I want to re-watch it. Loved this and would highly recommend.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly my cup of tea but always nice to see a part of our world through someone else's eyes. The pioneering done by her and her husband was adventurous and incredibly productive in their preservation efforts. The scenery was beautiful, but ultimately the descriptions started to feel smothering in their detail. A bit flowery, I suppose. Murie and Olaus's passions were contagious and I found myself especially reflective about our roles within RMNP. Definitely a slow read, and wouldn't have picked this up on my own.

[The Wildlife Center of Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our online wildlife book club loved this book! Most people had a rating of 4-5 stars, so we're rounding up for this important "grandmother of conservation". Join our online wildlife book club at wildlifecenter.org!

[Julie H · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very hard for me to get through - I read 150 pages and then had to stop.