Title: Downstream toward home : a book of rivers /
Authors: Houck, Oliver A.
Year: 2014
Subjects: Houck, Oliver A. Travel United States.; Houck, Oliver A. Travel Northwest Territories.; Rivers United States; Rivers Northwest Territories; Canoes and canoeing United States.; Canoes and canoeing Northwest Territories.; United States Description and travel.; Northwest Territories Description and travel.; United States Environmental conditions.; Northwest Territories Environmental conditions.
Abstract: "American rivers are among the most diverse and challenging in the world, and for many the excitement and escape they offer develops into a lifelong pursuit. In Downstream Toward Home, Oliver A. Houck recounts his six decades exploring America?s waterways,from unnamed creeks and Louisiana swamps to the rivers of western canyons and the Alaskan tundra. This engaging travelogue leads readers down over thirty-two rivers found across the country. Along the way Houck provides quiet observations as he finds footprints of red wolves on a sandbank or paddles through an aqueous forest of cypress trees. Collectively, these moments of adventure and introspection reveal his distinct and extraordinary vision of the national landscape. From the thrill of approaching rapids to the peace of resting on a shoal, Houck?s narrative draws from history and personal experience subtly to remind us how each body of water plays an outsized role in its surrounding environment. At once a journal, a primer, and a guide, Downstream Toward Home is an invitation to create our own experiences on America?s rivers" --from the publisher.
Contents: Prelude -- Part I. Explorations, 1954-1981 -- Egypt's Creek (New Jersey, 1954) -- Charles River (Massachusetts, 1957) -- Greenbrier River (West Virginia, 1970) -- Shenandoah River (Virginia, 1970) -- Juniper Springs (Florida, 1972) -- Big Sur River (California, 1973) -- Shuttles (West Virginia and Mississippi, 1970-1990) -- Great Falls of the Potomac (Maryland, 1974) -- Deerfield River (Vermont, 1974) -- Rock Creek (District of Columbia, 1975) -- Barren Grounds (Northwest Territories, 1976) -- Cache La Poudre (Colorado, 1977) -- Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (Maryland, 1978) -- Verde River (Arizona, 1978) -- Blackwater River (West Virginia, 1979) -- Saint John River (Maine, 1981) -- Interlude -- Part II. South toward home, 1981-2013 -- Atchafalaya River (Louisiana, 1982) -- Shell Bank Bayou (Louisiana, 1985) -- Rio Grande (Texas, 1986) -- Buffalo River (Arkansas, 1987) -- Horn Island (Mississippi, 1988) -- Horton River (Northwest Territories, 1993) -- Pearl River (Louisiana, 1993) -- Green River (Utah, 1994) -- Gila River (New Mexico, 1997) -- Bayou Sauvage (Louisiana, 2005) -- Deschutes River (Oregon, 2006) -- Old River (Mississippi, 2006) -- Red Creek (Mississippi, 2009) -- Bayou Sorrel (Louisiana, 2010) -- Grande Ronde (Oregon and Washington, 2013) -- Wolf River (Mississippi, 2013) -- Postlude.