In the early seventies, some of us were shot like stars from our parents' homes. This was an act of nature, bigger than ourselves. In the austere beauty and natural reality of Hell's Canyon of Eastern Oregon, one hundred miles from pavement, Pam, unable to identify with her parent's world and looking for deeper pathways has a chance encounter with returning Vietnam warrior Skip Royes. Skip, looking for a bridge from survival back to connection, introduces Pam to the vanishing culture of the wandering shepherd and together they embark on a four–year sojourn into the wilderness. From the back of a horse, Pam leads her packstring of readers from overlook to water crossing, down trails two thousand years old, and from the vantages she chooses for us, we feel the edges of our own experiences. It is a memoir of falling in love with a place and a man and the price extracted for that love. Written with deep lyricism, Temperance Creek is a work of haunting beauty, fresh and irreverent and rooted in the grit and pleasure of daily life. This is Pam's story, but the courage and truth in the telling is part of our human experience. Seen through a slower more primary mirror, one not so crowded with objectivity, Pam's memoir, is a kind of home–coming, a family reunion for shooting stars.

With thousands of lakes and streams, over 1200 miles of canoe routes, 160 miles of portage trails, and 2000 campsites, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a true paddler’s paradise. Extending nearly 150 miles in northern Minnesota along the Canadian border, the wilderness area encompasses more than 1 million acres. This Eastern Region edition of the classic two-volume guide has been fully updated by area journalist Louis Dzierzak, with full coverage of 50-plus entry points and routes. Trip descriptions include day-by-day paddling distances, portage tips, and difficulty ratings, and identify the appropriate water-resistant, topographic maps W.A. Fisher maps for each trip. Together, these books deliver everything a visitor needs for the experience of a lifetime.