National Geographic Treasures of Alaska The Last Great American Wilderness

This new look at Alaska as the destination for wilderness experience in America celebrates the many lives and unique landscapes that make up the vast and storied land. The book captures Alaska's splendor with an astonishing combination of prose and photographs--from mountain ranges glittering with glaciers to lush forests and wetlands teeming with wildlife to fjords exploding with the barks of seals. Visiting the places and people whose natures are true to the spirit of this still wild frontier, Rennicke and Melford follow a dogsled team up a frozen mountain river in search of an Alaskan Eden; hike along active volcanoes that brim and boil in the Aleutian Islands; summit Mount McKinley with a double-amputee bush pilot in a triumph of spirit and determination over the mountain that almost killed him; and journey back through Alaska's human history, to the times of the Gold Rush miners, totem pole carvers, and nomadic hunters who crossed the Bering Land Bridge and discovered a new land. From grizzlies to glaciers, gold fields to ice fields, fishing boats to northern lights,Treasures of Alaskauncovers the wild heart and the endless challenge that make Alaska a land of enduring beauty and undying dreams.

Jeff Rennicke a former wilderness guide in the Gates of the Arctic National Park has written more than 250 articles.

Michael Melford is an award-winning photographer whose work appears regularly in National Geographic Traveler, Fortune, Smithsonian, and Coastal Living.