<p>No roads lead to Domke Lake in Washington State's rugged North Cascade mountains. To visit Domke, one walks or flies in with a floatplane. Gordon Stuart lived alone there more than 60 years. He trapped and hunted to survive and later operated a small fishing camp for a modest yearly income. In his latter years his health demanded that he hire help to keep the operation going and so began a series of some 16 "Hired Girls" over 12 years. Sandy Bryant was "Hired Girl #16" and stayed two summers and two winters. She kept a journal of her experiences with and impressions of this unusual mountain man. She was at Domke Lake the winter Gordon died. "Mountain Air" is the charming, ingenuous narrative of Gordon's life as told to Sandy. Stuart is revealed to be a sensitive, caring, and somewhat lonely man. At times quarrelsome and vindictive, he could become the epitome of charm entertaining a group of boisterous fishermen. Used to dealing with death on a daily basis as he tended his winter traplines, he cried at the loss of a beloved dog. Gordon Stuart was not a hermit, a misanthrope, nor the least bit anti-social. He just loved wilderness, solitude, hunting, trapping, and total independence. That he lived alone most of his adult life is testimony to a preference for a life dependent on one's wits and skills as a woodsman rather than social adaptation in the urban world of business and commerce.</p>

Mountain Air: Life of Gordon Stuart, Mountain Man of the North Cascades

Bryant, Sandy K. Nelson

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Books by Bryant, Sandy K. Nelson

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bryant, Sandy K. Nelson. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Mountain Air: Life of Gordon Stuart, Mountain Man of the North Cascades