MAZAMA LIBRARY
Established in 1915, the Mazama Library is nationally recognized as holding one of the top mountaineering collections in the country. Located on the ground floor of the Mazama Mountaineering Center, the library is a fantastic resource for members and the general public to find information on hiking, climbing, camping and exploring the rich history of regional and global mountaineering culture.
Learn more about the Library & Historical Collection at mazamas.org/library
BOOK REVIEW RAMBLE ON: A HISTORY OF HIKING BY JEFFREY J. DORAN Reviewer: Brian Goldman
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recent addition to the Mazama Library is Ramble On–A History of Hiking, by Jeffrey J. Doran. The book is a very detailed, wideranging overview of hiking (also known as rambling, tramping, walking, hillwalking, backpacking or trekking). The book shows how hiking evolved from an upper-class European sport of alpinism to an activity that enriches millions around the world. Ramble On shares with readers the biographies of the influential hikers from the 19th century, stories of the first trails built for recreation, the formation of the first hiking clubs (including the Mazamas) and the evolution of hiking equipment. Who recorded the oldest hike for pleasure? In the second century, the Roman Emperor Hadrian climbed Mt. Etna on the island of Sicily in order to look at the sunrise. It would be another 1200 years before there was another recorded hike for pleasure. Petrarch, a scholar and poet who ushered in the Italian Renaissance, climbed Mt. Ventoux in southern France, "to see its conspicuous height..." However, prior to the 15th century, many regarded mountains with fear and danger, "filled with wild beasts and wild men." When did hiking really take off ? Some say it was the publication of A Guide to the Lakes, by Thomas West, which detailed the landscape of the Lake District in northwestern England. This guide inspired the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, whose poetry in turn inspired American authors Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and John Muir. By the end of the 19th century, a Sunday stroll through the park became a respectable activity in Europe and America. In addition, there was a backlash to the Industrial Revolution, in which the Romantics wrote of their concern that people were sacrificing their souls as a result of industrialization. They sensed that people were getting disconnected from the beauty of nature and wanted to breathe
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