The Last Season

The Last Season is an excellent work of outdoor literature. The mystery of a missing person drives it forward using the braided narrative technique of current investigation layered with flashbacks to the past. But it's also a sympathetic biography of a respected forest ranger, and details about life as a ranger and the Sierra mountains. It's ultimately a somewhat dark story with no real happy ending for the Morgenson clan. But the example of Randy Morgenson perhaps offers some lessons, not too dissimilar from Christopher McCandless.

Suspense filled, tragic story. Even though you know at the beginning what the essence of the ending is, Blehm is a great writer and keeps the reader captivated during the entire story by alternately taking the reader between the events of the moment and background information.

Having read other books about Park Rangers and having visited Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, I could relate to the dangers as well as the general terrain and the amazing beauty of the Sierras, even though we were unable to do mountain hiking during our visit.

Without a doubt I believe our National Parks can invade a person's psyche and soul. I also believe that people should pay attention to their premonitions.

I had no idea that seasonal rangers, even show more ones who return year-after-year, are treated so poorly by the National Park Service. Thank you, Mr. Blehm, for incorporating that into this story.

Mr. Blehm successfully tackled the phenomenal task of telling all sides of Randy Morgenson's amazing, but sad story.

Great read! show less

It dives into the story of Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California. During his 29th summer as a backcountry ranger, he leaves for a normal patrol and disappears. The book examines his life leading up to the disappearance and mixes it with the search-and-rescue operation from the National Parks Service. A vefry fascinating look at what drives many humans toward nature, gives some history of the National Parks System in the U.S., and has an engrossing mystery surrounding the missing ranger.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the snippets of Morgenson’s views on the parks, their protection, and just his views on nature. It’s a fascinating read ad highly recommended.

This is a biography of a place. It is about a love affair with the Sierras. As an aside it is also about the story of one ranger, no scratch that, one Back Country Ranger. 28 seasons (yes, that is twenty-eight) in the wild country of the John Muir Trail, if that is not love then I do not know what is.

Randy Morgenson was a modern-day John Muir, a prophet for treading lightly in the wilderness. His unique childhood of growing up in Yosemite Valley with a naturalist for a father prepared him well for this life in the back country. Few books do such a good job at evoking such a strong sense of place. Although I have not hiked the JMT I have spent weeks climbing in the back country at both ends of the trail, and this book transported me back show more to that wild beauty, the Range of Light.

As good as he was in the natural environment, Randy was bereft of social skills as a friend or a husband. The book dwells a bit long in these areas and you would not miss too much by ripping a big chunk out of the middle. The commentary on the National Park Service not honoring their summer work force and being slow to implement a more modern communication system is sad but true. The coverage of the Search and Rescue is gripping. The personal people dramas are not as interesting.

One brief spoiler on the plot and the ending, "Nature Always Wins."

Overall the book is not as gripping as a Jon Krakauer, but a close second. Few books will take you closer to the soul of the Sierras. Highly recommended for all lovers of good mountain literature. show less

I very much wanted to like this book. I love the High Sierra and nature writing. I found some of the details on backcountry ranger life and culture to be fascinating, as well as some details on search and rescue operations.

But overall the book feels like a hugely stretched-out magazine article. It is highly repetitive. There are too many details, often not even adding atmosphere.

The mystery is largely solved in the end. The resolution was a bit of a letdown. Perhaps it would have meant more if it had come 100 or 200 pages earlier, before the endless journaling had exhausted me.

I'm disappointed with myself for taking so long to read this book about National Park Service Ranger Randy Morgenson. For 28 seasons Randy was a Rangers Ranger making the backcountry of Sequoia & King Canyon National Parks his seasonal home. He felt one with the trees, animals, mountain and meadow. He was truly in his element.
His final season at King Canyon, however, was fraught with complexities and sadness. So, when Ranger Morgenson becomes a missing person within the park those who knew him best deduced different scenarios. A full out manhunt ensues with inconclusive results....Until the results become evident.
Although, Randy's life and rise through the park system were interesting it is the authors descriptive prose that captured show more my imagination and made me yearn to hike on the trails, gaze upon mountain peaks and run through meadows. Blehm invites the reader into one of our national treasures and gain appreciation for the, poorly paid, men and women who provide a sometimes harrowing service as well as a means of educating the public. show less

This is a biography of one of the many great unknown heroes who patrols our national parks, caring for nature and visitors alike. Randy Morgenson had been a back country ranger for more than twenty years. He was know for having long talks with woodland creatures, writing poetic logbook entries, and knowing the Sierra Nevada like no one else. He helped find lost boy scouts and recovered many bodies of unlucky campers. Then one day, he went missing and for many years his disappearance was a mystery.

Some thought, after a low point in his personal life, he might have killed himself among the nature that he loved so much. Others knew he never could have put his fellow rangers through the trauma of searching and recovering his remains. It show more would be several years before his skeleton was recovered, having been trapped by mountain ice and record snowfall and eventually transported downstream by the river.

This is a biography of the man who came to so embody the national park. It will walk the reader through his development and the important moments that shaped him and made him a lover of the mountains. It will also cover some of the most amazing events in his career and some of the darkest times in his life, leading up to his death while on duty. Throughout, the author intersperses excerpts from his journal and various logbook entries which speak of a man obsessed with the world around him and dedicated to its preservation. show less