Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness
Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness book cover

Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness

Paperback – October 1, 2003

by
Price
$13.99
Format
Paperback
Pages
208
Publisher
Picador
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0312422721
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.85 x 8.2 inches
Weight
6.9 ounces

Description

Review “Honest, lyrical, and full of a kind of ineffable wonder. Anyone who has ever loved a place truly will surely love this book” ― Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness “This is a lovely book about honesty, about clear-eyed seeing, and clear-eyed feeling. Each reader will come away from reading this book with a favorite scene that he or she will remember forever.” ― Rick Bass “Pete Fromm is an honest, objective, and impeccably focused observer of the natural world, and a superb writer to boot. His sentences have the impact of an ax cleaving chunks of frozen stovewood, and Indian Creek Chronicles is as satisfying as ten cords freshly split and stacked and ready for winter.” ― Jerry Dennis, author of A Place on the Water “A swift, absorbing tale. . .[Fromm] has made me shake out my heavy winter sleeping bags with renewed enthusiasm.” ― Chicago Tribune About the Author PETE FROMM is a five time winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for his novels If Not For This , As Cool as I Am , and How All This Started , his story collection Dry Rain , and the memoir Indian Creek Chronicles . The film of As Cool as I Am was released in 2013. He is also the author of several other story collections and has published over two hundred stories in magazines. He is on the faculty of Oregon’s Pacific University’s Low-Residency MFA Program and lives in Montana. His second memoir The Names of the Stars: A Life in the Wilds was named an Honor Book in the 2016 Montana Book Awards.

Features & Highlights

  • Winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award
  • Indian Creek Chronicles
  • is Pete Fromm's account of seven winter months spent alone in a tent in Idaho guarding salmon eggs and coming face to face with the blunt realities of life as a contemporary mountain man. A gripping story of adventure and a modern-day Walden, this contemporary classic established Fromm as one of the West's premier voices. "Honest, lyrical, and full of a kind of an ineffable wonder. Anyone who has ever loved a place truly will surely love this book."--Pam Houston, author of
  • Cowboys Are My Weakness

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(394)
★★★★
25%
(164)
★★★
15%
(99)
★★
7%
(46)
★
-7%
(-46)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Overall good, but not the best

I would recommend this book to a friend, but if you are actually looking for a modern Walden, this is not where to look. This book isn't a philosophy book. Its a great story about how living in the wilderness can change a person. The ending left me somewhat unsatisfied, but after all, it is a true story.
5 people found this helpful
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Excellent

This is my kind of book. I have always dreamed of taking an extended break from modern life--getting away from crowds, traffic, and the generally hectic rat race that we are born into. Pete Fromm took advantage of an opportunity while he was an un-attached college student, and he had the experience and adventure of a lifetime. Since I will never have such an opportunity, reading Fromm's account is the next best thing.
5 people found this helpful
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one of the best of the genre

it's hard to say enough good about such an honest account of something most of us will never get to do...and I for one dream of.

All of my trips, all of my time in the woods is spent running away from things, yes...but it's also spent running TO something...a test of myself against the great solitude.

The maps help you understand the lay of the land...the story draws you in...the characters are real - because they were...and the land and the animals...just perfect! I railed against Pete when he left his dog...but I cheered when he brought his own kids back to the tentsite years later.

I am a heavy reader...many genre's....this is probably one of the top 100 books I have ever had the pleasure to read.
2 people found this helpful
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Having spent time in this part of Idaho I love this book

Having spent time in this part of Idaho I love this book, but the book does a great job of conveying place without having been there. Well written. I give copies of this book to friends who appreciate the wildness of Idaho. A great read for anyone who has run the Selway River, as you pass Indian Creek on the way to the put-in. I think I have bought seven copies over the years. One of my favorites.
1 people found this helpful
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A truly great read!

I think the most profound thing I took away from this book was the authors transformation during his stay in the woods. Initially, he questioned his decision to come and was eager to leave shortly after arriving. However, towards the end of the book he starts to really enjoy his solitude with the wilderness and his dog, taking long hikes that lasted for hours. Once spring came and people started to show up in his valley I truly felt for the author. At that point, I think he appreciated the time alone, which is hard to come by in this day and age. Highly recommended!
1 people found this helpful
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Don't understand the praise

I must admit I don't understand the praise around this book. It's OK, but it's very day-to-day factual and with much less spiritual reflections than I expected. Plus, the author is far from spending "a winter alone", but receives a lot of visits. Easy to read, but not the meditative experience I expected.
1 people found this helpful
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A MOUNTAIN MAN EPIPHANY

I alternated between liking and disliking this book but in the end, I could not put it down and read it quite quickly. I seem to be on a fix for reading people living alone in wilderness situations. This book was appealing because it was well-written, and it was interesting to watch the transformation of Fromm who, at first, had quite an idealistic view of a "mountain man" lifestyle. After taking a job with Fish and Wildlife (I think) in Idaho, he quickly found out it's not ideal at all. I disliked the book at times because he talks about hunting and killing a lot, very mercilessly at times, and I can't take that stuff. There is a section where he steps on a raccoon to crush its ribs and I just can't handle that. What was the point? Couldn't he have let it go? I grew to respect Fromm a little bit, though, because at least it seemed like he used all the parts of everything he killed, even learning how to tan the hide. Seems like his winter at Indian Creek was pretty pointless, overall, considering so few of the salmon actually made it to adulthood. I liked reading the book because I couldn't imagine spending a winter in such a brutal place, yet it is an attractive thought. Perhaps I am being idealistic. At any rate, a fun, quick read.
1 people found this helpful
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Indian Creek as a How-To Book

My wife and I read this book before buying our own wilderness property in Montana not that far from where Peter stayed. It inspired us. Indian Creek Chronicles is to moving to the wilderness as Rebel Without a Crew is to independent filmmakers. We didn't even pay enough attention. On re-reading (yes, it is that good) I realized Peter had mentioned damaging a vehicle by tossing firewood, I should have been forwarned. The number of experiences we've had since moving to the wilderness that are similar to Peter's is astounding. So this review is for people who are thinking of trying what Peter did, either for a year or for many years, yes this is the book for you.
1 people found this helpful
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Super Funny!

I just loved this book! It was hilarious to read about all his mishaps in the wilderness. I laughed out loud when he finally admitted that he didn't know what a cord of wood was! This is a great book to read in an evening next to your warm fire. I highly recommend this funny book.
1 people found this helpful
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good book!

well written.

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