Adventuring in the Rockies: The Sierra Club Travel Guide to the Rocky Mountain Regions of Canada and the USA. Rev. ed.

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

The Rockies would seem to be self-explanatory nomenclature. Not so, as
Jeremy Schmidt explains in his introduction. It depends on the scale of
the map and whether the mapmaker thought of subranges, such as the
Sierras or the Cascades, as part of the Rockies or distinct entities.
Schmidt cares about geological niceties, but in this book, he focuses on
a very large span of the Rockies, from Santa Fe in New Mexico to
northern British Columbia, 2000 straight-line miles along the
Continental Divide, which twists like a river.

The guide covers five regions: Colorado, Yellowstone, Salmon River
Country, the international border region, and the Canadian Rockies
region. For each, Schmidt provides a general discussion of the
region’s history, geology, and natural history, along with an overview
of recreational possibilities. Separate sections, generally organized by
mountain ranges, are devoted to specific parks, wilderness areas, or
wild rivers.

This is not a directory of campgrounds and tour operators. However,
Schmidt does cover the best-known trails, access points, etc. He aims at
readers who share his “affection for geography” and his “feel for
the neighbourhood.” He considers the real necessities for travel to be
a good map, a healthy curiosity, and “a sense of how the land is put
together.” It’s a satisfying approach.

The guide includes a few small maps as well as a few black-and-white
photos of the key areas covered: Jasper, Banff, Kootenay, Glacier,
Yellowstone, Hells Canyon, Sun Valley, Grand Tetons, San Jauns, and
Bandelier.