A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

Description

Dressed practically and riding not sidesaddle but frontwards like a man (though she threatened to sue the Times for saying she dressed like one), she covered over 800 miles in the Rocky Mountains in 1873. Her letters to her sister, first printed in the magazine Leisure Hour, comprised her fourth and perhaps most famous book, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. Bird's time in the Rockies was enlivened especially by her acquaintance with Jim Nugent, "Rocky Mountain Jim", a textbook outlaw with one eye and an affinity for violence and poetry. "A man any woman might love but no sane woman would marry," Bird declared in a section excised from her letters before their publication. Nugent also seemed captivated by the independent-minded Bird, but she ultimately left the Rockies and her "dear desperado." Nugent was shot dead less than a year later. Other notable books by Isabella Bird include Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Among the Tibetans, and The Englishwoman in America. Review: Amazing woman, loved to have met her. - Having read the book and marvelled at Isabella's endurance even though it is only letters I feel a bit cheated it having no maps, photos etc. I bought the book after seeing the first episode of the BBC programme where three so-called celebrities starting with Ruby Wax, were out on a jolly to emulate Isabella. Forget the programme it's a travesty of Isabella's travels. Nothing like it. Even to the point in the last episode of so called 'climbing' Pikes Peak. Bad editing you could even see the road that I have driven up at one point. Isabella did NOT climb Pikes Peak, she climbed Longs Peak in winter with three men. Amazing. I have ordered the other book hoping for more than just words. Review: Informative book of a very interesting journey by a victorian lady in the Rocky Mountains Colorado - Print was quite small and a few maps indicating her journey would be interesting but it is essentially a diary written by herself.