On Trails

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

EVERY BOOK, like every trail, is the result of a collaborative effort, but I would venture that this axiom is even truer of this book than most. Though I owe a debt of gratitude to hundreds of people who contributed to its completion, unfortunately, I only have space to thank a few. The elephant’s share of thanks must go to Jon Cox, a truly tireless and perspicacious editor. Moreover, I am enormously grateful to have found my way to Bonnie Nadell, my agent, who shepherded this odd duck of a book from a fuzzy ball of ideas to a fully feathered, flight-ready manuscript. Also, to my publisher, Jon Karp, whose faith in my ability to complete this project seems, in hindsight, truly astonishing. To the other editors who have shaped pieces of this book, both large and small: Karyn Marcus, Robyn Harvie, Melissa Smith, Will Bleakley, and David Haglund. To my friend and sage legal counsel, Conrad Rippy. To my many advisors: Ted Conover, Robert Boynton, David Haskell, Robert Levine, Chris Shaw, Bill McKibben, Janisse Ray, and Rebecca Solnit. And to my friends, for their careful reading of an endless series of drafts over the years: Andrew Marantz, Sandra Allen, Will Hunt, and Ferris Jabr.

Throughout this process, I have reached out to hundreds of people with questions large and small. This is but a small sampling of those who have generously taken the time to respond. My thanks to: Iain Couzin, Jeff Lichtman, Ronald Canter, Steve Elkinton, Robin Sloan, Amy Lavender Harris, Matthew Tiessen, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Diana James, Sarah Wurz, Lawrence Buell, Robert Proudman, Jeffrey S. ­Cramer, Signe Jeppesen, Reidun Lundgren, Toni Huber, Peter Cochran, Eustace Conway, E. O. Wilson, Judith Dupré, Stephen Budiansky, Ken Smith, Andy Downs, Jim Gehling, Ben Prater, Tracy Davids, Margaret ­Conkey, Basia Korel, Gary Snyder, Paolo Mietto, Bénédicte Jouneaux, Vincent Fourcassié, ­Lorraine Daston, Eva Williams, Mary Terrall, Rebecca Stott, Robert ­MacNaughton, Thomas Trott, Dan Rittschof, Marc Ratcliff, ­Charlotte Sleigh, Walter R. Tschinkel, John Bradley, Richard Bon, Ken Cobb, Eric Sanderson, Peter Coppolillo, Laurie Potteiger, Jordan Sand, Brandon Keim, Anthony Sinclair, Valerius Geist, Juliet Clutton-­Brock, Jack Hogg, Fikret Berkes, Ted Belue, Andrew George, Martin Foys, J. Donald Hughes, Jason Neelis, Jennifer Pharr Davis, Justine Shaw, ­Jennifer Mathews, ­Rodney Snedeker, Carrie Gregory, James Cleland, Claudio Aporta, Thom Henley, Erick Leka, Lee Alan Dugatkin, Eric Johnson, A. J. King, Peter ­Devreotes, Rhonda Garelick, Bob Sickley, Peter Jensen, Arne Helgeland, Sivert Øgaard, Charlie Rhodarmer, Alexander Felson, and Bram Gunther.

Special thanks to: Virginia Dawson, Brett Leavy, Kelly Costanzo, Jake Stockwell, Simon Garnier, and Chris Reid.

Thanks to A. Laly, for her excellent work translating Bonnet’s baroque French.

Thanks to the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, for helping fund the research for this book.

Thanks to Eva and Bob Morawski, Julia Morawski and Stephane Kowalczuk, Sue and Bill Guiney, Tami and Jerry McGee, Aysegul Savas and Maks Ovsjanikov, Louisa Bukiet and Peretz Partensky, David and Triss Critchfield, Ben and Emily Swan, and everyone else who housed and fed me during the many itinerant phases when this book was composed. Also, to all the drivers brave enough to pick a up mysterious stranger on the roadside and give him a ride to the next trailhead.

Finally, a great wave of love and gratitude to my family: Beverly, Bob, Alexis, Lindsay, Adrienne, Matt, Brook, all the Buntings, and all the rest. Thanks to Andy and Chris, who greeted me at the trail’s end. And most of all, thanks to Remi, my co-adventurer, who always says yes to jumping in, no matter how cold the water.