The Last Season

Oct 28, 2008

Billy rated it

I liked this book a lot. At first, I was skeptical. It seemed too ghoulish, and too unoriginal – too much like Into The Wild or The Perfect Storm. Gradually, I found myself transfixed, and looking forward to getting a little more time with the book..

It’s the story of a long term (28 years) seasonal backcountry ranger in the Eastern Sierra, Randy Mortenson, who one day goes out on patrol and never returns. The book shifts back and forth from the search (which was extremely extensi...more

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Jul 12, 2007

Rebecca rated it

I'm a sucker for biographies and suspense novels -- and this one delivers both. The story is fascinating and includes Yosemite National Park as a key character. The book tracks the life and disappearance of Randy Morgenson, a long-time back woods ranger in Yosemite. Morgenson literally grew up in Yosemite ... his father worked in the administrative offices and the family had a home in Yosemite Valley. The story of the family is well developed and includes accounts of their unlikely friendshi...more

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Nov 08, 2007

Melanie rated it

Recommends it for: Outdoor adrenaline junkies

Somehow, true stories always have such a pull for me. Although many of us will know how the book ends (the primary events described are from 1996) prior to reading the first page, the author keeps us interested. Suspense builds, and at times I found myself wanting to shout through the walls of time, to tell the rescuers the clues. I docked a star because I feel towards the last third of the book it becomes unnecessarily detailed. Every action of every search team is logged. I was so excited to g...more

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May 05, 2008

Ellen rated it

This book was a true wilderness mystery; an experienced backcountry NPS ranger goes missing in his assigned territory of the Sequoia/Kings National Park. The Last Season documents the life of Ranger Randy Morgenson and the massive search and rescue operation his disappearance triggered. Mr. Blehm had me turning the pages eagerly, swept up in the story, eager to learn more about Ranger Randy and anxious to piece together how he went missing.

What Mr. Blehm, and Ranger Randy through h...more

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Jan 29, 2008

Jeter rated it

Shelves: finished

What a great, great book. Tells the story of Randy Morganson who is a back-country ranger in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is a man who has lived the majority of his life in the mountains and is clearly one of the finest in his rare and seriously neglected profession. In 1996 (it's been a month since I read it, so I may have the dates off) he disappears early in the season. Because of the turbulence in his life that lead up to the hiking season, there is plenty of speculation as to what ...more

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Nov 09, 2007

Sundry rated it

Recommends it for: Anyone interested in hiking, backpacking, mountains and/or a real American hero.

Shelves: nonfiction

This book was recommended to me by some very enthusiastic park rangers at Death Valley. I am so glad I picked up a copy.

Upon finishing it this morning and reading through all the extra materials at the end of the book, I went straight to my notebook to write about the ideas that it provoked.

On the surface, it's a story about the life and disappearance of Randy Morgenson, who spent 28 summers as a ranger in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. But it's also about...more

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May 28, 2008

Crocker rated it

If you liked "Into the Wild", you'll love this book. Randy Morgenson is a backcountry ranger in the Sierra Nevada and Kings Canyon national parks.

Randy never really got people, but he really understood nature and being isolated in it. Growing up with family friends like Ansel Adams set the tone for his view on the world.

In much the same vein as "Into the Wild", Randy goes missing early in the book and the author takes you on a recount of his life a...more

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Jul 22, 2010

Benjamin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, national, parks, mystery, hiking, marriage, 2009-read, first-edition, edition

An enjoyable true-life missing person story from the King's Canyon National Parks region. I believe the story first showed up as a magazine piece in Outside. The first 100 pages or so took me a bit to get into. Eric Blehm's writing style at first seemed a little over the top in regards to how he described some of the wilderness areas the story is set in. It seemed at times that he was writing for an audience that never visited a national park, much less hiked on an overnight trip. Sentences like...moreAn enjoyable true-life missing person story from the King's Canyon National Parks region. I believe the story first showed up as a magazine piece in Outside. The first 100 pages or so took me a bit to get into. Eric Blehm's writing style at first seemed a little over the top in regards to how he described some of the wilderness areas the story is set in. It seemed at times that he was writing for an audience that never visited a national park, much less hiked on an overnight trip. Sentences like these, describing Randy s spartan conditions, got on my nerves:[return] Hardly the log cabin vision that the words ranger station evoke, the primitive residence was little more than a 12-by15-foot canvas tent set up on a plywood platform. (page 6)[return]Well, yes, that s what rangers in the field usually stay in. It s called a wall tent. I go hiking maybe twice a season, so I am no weekend warrior, but everyone has seen these in the parks. Perhaps I m being picky, but I do feel that it is more likely that the people who are going to read this book might be more wilderness oriented folks. I could be wrong. But over the last month, I have mentioned this book to students and co workers and all of the ones who have read it are avid hikers and backpackers. Regardless, it s an entertaining book that did appeal to this fan of the wilderness. After I got to page 100, the remaining 250 pages went by fast. [return]Some thoughts on the story (spoilers below): [return]Randy Morgenson is our main character, a back country ranger of some 28 consecutive seasons working in the national park. A bonafide mountain man. Blehm weaves Morgenson's upbringing and life into chapters that cover the 60's to 90's with other chapters which focus on the Search and Rescue operation to find him in 1996. The background chapters provide context for the SAR chapters. The main background themes for Randy include his love for the wilderness, his untraditional marriage with his wife Judi, and his somewhat selfish and uncompromising sense of environmentalism. Blehm does a pretty good job of taking the materials available to him (journals, ranger log books, anecdotes, ect) and creating a character for us to feel anxious for. [return]The SAR chapters were interesting to me because I felt I was learning about all the particular details that go into managing such a huge search and rescue operation in a wilderness area famous for swallowing bodies and never giving them up. It was a little like CSI in a national park. [return]Both sets of chapters gave a sense of how divided and splintered the NPS bureaucracy has become. Particularly on ways that seasonal staff and "lifers" are treated differently. The book does paint a picture that is 15 years old, so perhaps things have changed.[return]Much of the tension in the book is built upon what actually happened to Randy. Is he dead? Did he meet a terrible accident? Is he alive but can't be found? Did he commit suicide? Was there foul play? Did he simply leave the park and go to Mexico? Fortunately, this is not one of those books that leaves the question unanswered. The book ends with a fairly clear answer. This however, is where I became a little disappointed. Randy's body is found and the evidence provided is clear that is was merely an accident. Blehm, in my opinion, though gives a little too much credence to some of the fanciful supernatural anecdotes that pop up throughout this story. For instance, a hiker has a vision of Randy floating in a pool of water. Judi has a dream about Randy in the bottom of a lake? Randy is eventually found in a creek after probably falling into a frozen lake further up stream. Coincidence or were some people being alerted via psychic powers? Come on, seriously? I think it s safe to say that there were probably lots of people involved in the SAR that were having nightmares about all sorts of scenarios: cliffs, avalanches, foul play? It's a stressful operation and it wouldn't surprise me of lots of hunches were being mentioned. It just so happens that Randy did fall in a frozen lake and there happened to be a hiker who had a vision about a man trapped underwater and/or Judi having a dream about Randy at the bottom of a lake. However, it seems that Blehm is just searching for evidence that fits this one fanciful theory instead of the other way around, aka the scientific method. [return]You could say that Blehm is just merely telling the story that people told him. But think of it this way, Blehm was also told about an alien abduction theory, which is also ludicrous, and he only gives that theory 2 sentences. Why give page upon page to these other ludicrous theories? Hmm, perhaps to satisfy the paranormal fan? Fine, but paranormal fan I am not, and giving it fair weight with the more rational theories weakens the book in my opinion. [return]Skeptical criticism aside, the human drama played out on these pages does satisfy. I could go on about the bad taste that Randy's particular sense of ecological balance left in my mouth, but I'll save that for an Edward Abbey review. The memory of Randy get s enough flak from the marital problems hung out to dry in this book. Overall though, still a good read with some good sleuthing, psychological profiling, all set in a backcountry wilderness. If you love hanging out in the woods, going hiking, or just like true mysteries, this book is for you.(less)

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Feb 04, 2012

Marlene rated it

I bought this book, appropriately, in the visitor's center in Sequoia/King's Canyon. The Ranger who sold it to me said it was a great book. The fact that in happened here, high in the back country made it even better! It is the story of Randy Mortensen, a long time back country ranger who is rather a different soul and loves the solace of the back country ranger life. He is involved in the usual ranger duties and has performed many search and rescue operations until that fateful day when he him...more

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Nov 08, 2011

Levi rated it

Nobody Remembers The Mountain Man

Growing up in Denver, Colorado I have been around the Rocky Mountains my whole life. The Last Session tells a true story of a park ranger named Randy. Randy was a veteran ranger who was very well know, suddenly he went missing. The whole community around was out searching for him. He was known to go off for a few weeks and randomly show up again. But this time was different. He had no radio communication for the past four days before ...more Nobody Remembers The Mountain Man

Growing up in Denver, Colorado I have been around the Rocky Mountains my whole life. The Last Session tells a true story of a park ranger named Randy. Randy was a veteran ranger who was very well know, suddenly he went missing. The whole community around was out searching for him. He was known to go off for a few weeks and randomly show up again. But this time was different. He had no radio communication for the past four days before being reported missing. The whole town was in a great amount of stress and was scared of what might have happened to the renowned park ranger. This part of the story made me stop and think of a dear friend of mine who went missing. He was only missing for a day before he turned up…. Dead. No one wanted to think of the worst while he was gone. I could really connect with the emotions of the people who cared for Randy. Their own friend, partner, college, or even family member was gone without a trace. Like my friend Brad had disappeared. Death is the worst possible outcome that could come from this situation. Everyone in my little town of Littleton was worried for Brad, as everyone was for Randy.
Loosing someone is a hard thing to undergo, especially when you don’t know what happened to them. The author, Eric Blehm, did a fantastic job at illustrating the pain and worry in your head. Randy’s story is told from a third person view of what is happening. This gives the reader the opportunity to feel the emotion from many different points of view. To better understand each step in Randy’s life and the hunt to find him, Eric organized the book into detailed chapters that specifically explain each journey along the way. Each piece of information is vital to understanding the story and to really seeing the whole picture.
Eric displays a very intriguing story that can only be understood if connections are made to the book. Living near the mountains it gave me a huge connection to the area Randy was lost in. I cannot completely know what tests he was put through but from the illustrations that were painted we as readers can deeply feel what might have happened.
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Jan 01, 2011

Smith rated it

The Last Season is about the life and death (in 1996) of Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger in the Sierra Nevada's for 25+ years. The author, Eric Blehm, did an outstanding job researching, and writing, this book. The descriptions of the mountains was really interesting and his descriptions of Morgenson and how he became what he was were well done.

The book reads like fiction but isn't. Morgenson was a truly unique individual, he was absolutely dedicated to the wilderness, was fri...more

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Nov 28, 2010

Jenifer rated it

This is a story about a park ranger, Randy Morgenstern...The one they always turn to for help with search and rescue when someone is lost or hurt. Everyone considers him one of the best. An expert on the land and an expert in wilderness survival. And then he goes missing himself. I couldn't believe how the author kept me on the edge of my seat! Reading detailed descriptions of Morgenstern's life and personality had me wondering if he could have made a fatal error in judgement that cost him his l...moreThis is a story about a park ranger, Randy Morgenstern...The one they always turn to for help with search and rescue when someone is lost or hurt. Everyone considers him one of the best. An expert on the land and an expert in wilderness survival. And then he goes missing himself. I couldn't believe how the author kept me on the edge of my seat! Reading detailed descriptions of Morgenstern's life and personality had me wondering if he could have made a fatal error in judgement that cost him his life? Could he have finally gotten so "done" with society and his own personal problems that he could have ended his life? Could he have been cruel enough to disappear in to the wilderness? He was a somewhat sympathetic character, I couldn't help but admire his philosophy; "Be quiet and still and the mountains will reveal their secrets", however I spent much of my time reading about him alternately not trusting him or really disliking him.

I save five stars for life-changing books. This one hit close enough to home to give me nightmares. Five stars for that.
I liked the part where he and Judi were able to reconcile their individual needs and come up with a lifestyle that suited them both, but it seemed to me that as the years went on, Randy became more and more unable and unwilling to compromise his own ideals for her. If he had left her for the mountains forever, that would have been one thing; finally choosing his one true love. But his affair with Lo seems unforgivable to me. He keeps wanting Judi to join him in the mountains, becoming more and more hermit-like as the years go by. He seems selfish and unbalanced and those things scare me.

I loved the way that these characters love their country. Having spent some time in the Sierra-Nevadas, I had a good mental picture of the granite mountains, the meadows and the foliage described in the book. From journals of several of the people involved came some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful place descriptions that I have ever read. The people who live there and care for them really capture the magic and the mystery of the mountains. (less)

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Dec 28, 2009

Jan rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

Blehm's book is a loving examination of the life of Randy Morgenson, an ace seasonal park ranger and emergency rescuer in the Sierra Nevada, who went missing in July 1996.

Blehm does a masterful job in this book - telling the story of Randy's life from his birth onward, explaining his job and his passion (which were basically one and the same), describing the wilderness that Randy loved so well, and detailing the frantic but well-executed search that his fellow rangers pursued for a w...more

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Dec 17, 2009

Mike rated it

Recommends it for: those who enjoy Jon Krakauer

This is the true story of the life and disappearance of a backcountry ranger in the Sierra. Randy Morgenson loved the high country, sacrificed many things in his life to spend as much time there as possible, had an encyclopedic knowledge of his mountains, and was not shy about sharing this love with others, whether to correct or inspire.

Yet, in the last couple of years before his disappearance, Morgenson found little solace in his mountains, and felt under appreciated in his job that...more

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Jul 14, 2009

Mazola1 rated it

The Last Season recounts the search for a missing back country ranger. At least, that's the surface story. As a search in the wilderness mystery story, it's well written and suspenseful. But there are many more layers to this book. It's a meditation on the place of the wilderness in modern technological society. It's an essay on priorities in life. And it's a look at the strong role that the unconscious plays in our lives.

The Last Season is the story of Randy Morgenson, a back countr...moreThe Last Season recounts the search for a missing back country ranger. At least, that's the surface story. As a search in the wilderness mystery story, it's well written and suspenseful. But there are many more layers to this book. It's a meditation on the place of the wilderness in modern technological society. It's an essay on priorities in life. And it's a look at the strong role that the unconscious plays in our lives.

The Last Season is the story of Randy Morgenson, a back country ranger in the High Sierra for almost thirty years. Blehm skillfully sketches Randy's upbringing, his love of the mountains, and all their creatures and plants, his respect for the wilderness, and his troubled marriage. Randy was the ultimate back country ranger, more at home back in the mountains than with people, but still able to interact with park visitors in a special and respectful way, sharing his love of the wilderness with him. He was also particularly skilled in search and rescue, having an uncanny ability to figure out where lost hikers could be found.

Then one summer, Randy himself disappeared, after leaving a note on his cabin that he was out "on patrol," and then failing to respond to radio check ins. A massive search is mounted. The search is complicated by the fact that Randy's marriage was on the rocks, and he was apparently very depressed. Searchers, including those who knew Randy well, disagreed on whether he would have committed suicide. One remembered him saying at one point that he "owed" the mountains a body. Was that just a way of saying he felt at one with the mountains, or was there something more significant about that remark?

The initial search was unsuccessful. Then, five years later his body was found in a area close to one which had been searched. The condition and location of his body left it ambiguous as to whether his death was an accident or suicide. Many of Randy's friends found it impossible to believe he would have disappeared into the wilderness to commit suicide, knowing that he was well aware of the hazards search and rescue efforts caused to the searchers. But Randy was agonized over the breakup of his marriage, a breakup perhaps triggered in large part by the fact that he seemed to place the mountains above his wife. It is tempting to believe that Randy's unconscious exercised a powerful pull on him, bringing him to a place in he wilderness where he could be at peace.

The Last Season is that best of books, one that works on many levels. It is a good mystery story, and a though provoking look at humans' relationships with nature and with others.

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May 21, 2009

Lance Gideon rated it

If you enjoyed Into the Wild, you'll love this book! If you haven't read Into the Wild, you'll still love this book! Eric Blehm has done a fantastic job with his research, and has the reader almost convinced by the end that they actually knew Randy Morgenson. My only complaint would be that I found myself wanting to skip some of the more intimate details of his marriage and family life, so that I might make it to the end sooner, and learn of Randy's fate. In the end, the intimate details giv...more

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Sep 10, 2009

Diane Samdahl rated it

This is true story about risk and danger in the wilderness, recounted by Blehm after researching the mysterious disapearance of Randy Mortenson, a veteran wilderness ranger in the Sierra Nevada mountains. What is particularly engaging is how Blehm unravels the multiple facets of Mortenson's life and honors the conflicting and changing truths reported by Mortenson's family and friends. What we know up front is simply that Mortenson disappeared while patrolling the high Sierras. AS Blehm relates t...more

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Dec 21, 2011

Kerry rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, favorites, nonfiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Last Season is about the disappearance of and subsequent Search and Rescue operation for Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger that had worked 28 seasons for the National Park Service, mostly in the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park in California. The incident itself is at best an investigative piece in a newspaper or magazine. What’s amazing, however, is that the author, Eric Blehm, weaves that perfectly with other aspects of his life: childhood, parents, friends, marriage and affair, ad...moreThe Last Season is about the disappearance of and subsequent Search and Rescue operation for Randy Morgenson, a backcountry ranger that had worked 28 seasons for the National Park Service, mostly in the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park in California. The incident itself is at best an investigative piece in a newspaper or magazine. What’s amazing, however, is that the author, Eric Blehm, weaves that perfectly with other aspects of his life: childhood, parents, friends, marriage and affair, adventures, work at the NPS, his writings and thoughts, and events that happened after his disappearance, and a “biography/mystery” is born (his body wasn’t found until five years later and even today, there is no absolute certainty why or how he died).

What’s truly great about this book, is how Randy is presented, and how you can’t but be captivated by him and his stories, and can’t stop reading until the end. Randy was a complicated man. He was a hero to many park visitors, a role model for many rangers, an excellent employee to supervisors that appreciated his dedication, a headache to NPS (the bureaucracy that didn’t recognize his contribution or heed his suggestions), a passionate protector of the backcountry, a devoted son to his parents, a reliable friend, a romantic lover, and a lousy husband. He was both an idealistic dreamer and a cynical misanthrope. He was both selfless and self-absorbed, good with people and yet an ultimate loner, a philosopher and a hypocrite. Throughout his life he suffered from his inability to “reconcile his life in the mountains with ordinary life outside that world”, and therefore hurting his wife.

Despite the apparent similarities between Season and Wild, the two characters couldn’t be more different: Randy came from an intact and almost perfect family, he was a seasoned backcountry ranger, he died of an accident (although this is still debatable) instead of stupidity. Was Randy a tragic hero, or just a tragedy, like McCandless? A little bit of both. He was… human, albeit maladjusted. I wish he had dealt with his emotional issues earlier, and apparently, escaping into the mountains didn’t actually heal him.

My emotions were all over the place as I was reading this book: I was intrigued by his early life, impressed by his achievements, admired his love for the mountains and his vision for the backcountry, enjoyed his writing (no matter how “vague” it is), respected him for being an exemplary ranger, happy about his courtship with Judi, angry at his betrayal, sad about his death, and relieved that he finally got the recognition that he deserved (like such things in life, it always comes too late). Blehm brought out the whole person, the flawed but real person. Underneath it all, however, I cared about him, flaws and all, and wondered about his fate. Making the readers care about the character — that is the true proof of a book’s success.(less)

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Nov 10, 2011

Bob Schmitz rated it

My friend Burt Kornegay, a camping and canoe guide (http://www.slickrockexpeditions.com/) suggested this book. It's the story of the life and mysterious disappearance of Randy Morgenson a back country ranger in the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks in California. It mixes a lot of descriptions of the rough beauty of the Sierras with the history of Yosemite and the national parks and the tough, lonely, dangerous life of the back country ranger. I discussed the training, rescue missions, an...more

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Aug 05, 2009

Roy rated it

· review of another edition

This book is certainly a story of a ranger lost in the backcountry. However, it is also a story of someone who appreciated wilderness for what it was, recognized the value of unspoiled country, and the complexities of living with people and alone where there are none.
The blurb for this book compares it to Jon Krakauer's writing and that is unfair to author Blehm. While Krakauer can tell a reasonably good story and has been a commercial success, Blehm has lived the story he tells. ...more

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Oct 03, 2007

Topher rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: outdoors interested people

Shelves: non-fiction

I hiked the AT in 2001. I miss being outside...its really rare for there to be more than 2 or 3 days when I don't think about it. When I decided to leave Cisco and go back to school, I originally thought I was going to get a degree in forestry, and try to get a job as a forest ranger.

I could see me ending the same way as this story. It just left me feeling sad.

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Sep 26, 2007

Jesse rated it

Recommends it for: Hikers. Divorcees. Story tellers.

This book is the story of a park ranger who went missing and ended up dying, but it's also the story of reflections on a failed marriage, of reflections on what it means to be "in the wild" these days, and of reflections on what it means to search and search for something and not immediately find it. I would definitely recommend this one.

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Jul 30, 2010

Curtis Butturff rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

It does remind one of Into The Wild to some extent as the publisher claims but it's a totally different situation. This fellow was raised in the Yosemite Valley as a child and climbed in the Himalayas as a young man before spending 30+ seasons in the back country working as a park ranger for the National Park Service. This guy knew what he was doing and did not go out unprepared.

The real question is how a person such as this with such wisdom and value to our society might be put in...moreIt does remind one of Into The Wild to some extent as the publisher claims but it's a totally different situation. This fellow was raised in the Yosemite Valley as a child and climbed in the Himalayas as a young man before spending 30+ seasons in the back country working as a park ranger for the National Park Service. This guy knew what he was doing and did not go out unprepared.

The real question is how a person such as this with such wisdom and value to our society might be put in a situation where his only recompense for a life of service was payable only in the event of his dieing in the line of duty. This is the story of a guy who not only knew Ansel Adams, Adams gave him one of his cameras and the two used to go out together doing photography. That's just one example but I think it is one of the understated things in this book. Randy Morgenson was more than just a back country ranger he was link to history to the likes of Adams, Muir, Stegner, and others.

I'll not tip off the ending of the book or write a spoiler but the circumstances of his sudden disappearance really do raise a question of whether he met with an accident or chose a method of suicide that could not be conclusively proven to be suicide in order see his wife awarded his $100,000 death benefit. This is perhaps one of the areas where he shared a commonality with Supertramp from Into The Wild in that he had an affair which had hurt his wife of many years deeply and this legitimately drove him to despair as well. The two men shared a certain moral certitude that led them to some extent turn their backs on cities and on people.

For Randy Morgenson the dissolution of his marriage due to his own admitted actions might well have led to him doing a last noble thing in trying to make amends to his wife. His salary was insubstantial and he had no benefits from his decades of service except in death. Some people who knew are sure he didn't kill himself some are not.

You be the judge and if you happened to hike and camp in the back country of Kings Canyon prior to 1996 and ran into a tall bearded ranger who talk a lot about wild flowers and the importance of undisturbed meadows it might just have been this guy.

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Aug 04, 2009

Foy rated it

Shelves: wilderness-and-conservation

The chronicle of the life and death of park ranger Randy Morgenson is told in the pages of Eric Blehm's "The Last Season." Randy, who grew up beneath the granite peaks of Yosemite, works as a seasonal park ranger in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park for nearly three decades. With the help of his father, who himself was a famed naturalist leading tours in Yosemite, and several other illustrious nature lovers such as Ansel Adams, Morgenson develops a deep love for the wilderness and...moreThe chronicle of the life and death of park ranger Randy Morgenson is told in the pages of Eric Blehm's "The Last Season." Randy, who grew up beneath the granite peaks of Yosemite, works as a seasonal park ranger in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park for nearly three decades. With the help of his father, who himself was a famed naturalist leading tours in Yosemite, and several other illustrious nature lovers such as Ansel Adams, Morgenson develops a deep love for the wilderness and works hard developing his photography and writings skills to capture it. However, his real knack is the skills he employed as a seasonal back country park ranger. Randy knew, almost by instinct, the location of missing hikers and his encyclopedic knowledge of the back country was a resource for the backpackers he came across as well as his fellow park employees.

However, after thirty years in the woods, all was not well in the wild. Randy, having been married for most of his adult life, began having an affair with a fellow ranger. After successfully hiding the transgression for a short while, his wife was devastated when she found out. When Randy went into the hills for the 1996 season, few knew he was carrying divorce papers from his wife in his pack. Only in retrospect would his friends question his actions before going off. Randy told one friend, "With all that they have given me, a body is the least I owe these mountains." Despite his years of wilderness experience, Randy left his ranger station for patrol and disappeared. "The Last Season" tells his story: his youth, his love of the mountains, the desperate search for his remains, and the theories as to what actually happened.

Enjoyable and quickly readable is the narrative prose of Blehm, who winds the tale of Randy's life together with his tenure as park ranger in a non-chronological manner. Long quotes from Morgenson's journals, while not breath-taking writing, provide a glimpse into his intense relationship with nature as well as his disdain for those who abuse it. I would recommend this book for lovers of the genre. For others, it is worth a shot, but there is a possibility of getting bogged down before the real suspense of the search.(less)

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Nov 08, 2011

Kate Reader rated it

Randy Morgenson is Missing?

The last Season by Eric Blehm tells the story of how Randy Morgenson a park ranger in Kings County National Park goes missing in his 28th season as a ranger. Randy is very smart: however he chooses to be a park ranger over going to college. He is a very experienced ranger so him going missing deeply confuses all that know and love him. Randy has a deep appreciation for the wilderness that showcases as a prominent feature in this book.
...more Randy Morgenson is Missing?

The last Season by Eric Blehm tells the story of how Randy Morgenson a park ranger in Kings County National Park goes missing in his 28th season as a ranger. Randy is very smart: however he chooses to be a park ranger over going to college. He is a very experienced ranger so him going missing deeply confuses all that know and love him. Randy has a deep appreciation for the wilderness that showcases as a prominent feature in this book.

Eric Blehm organizes the story in very lengthy chapters that seem to drag on giving the reader no break in the text. The author’s writing is unorganized and can be difficult at times to understand what exactly is happening. The whole book is like listening to Erik Blehm experience a flashback each thought turns into another, rarely going back to the main idea.

The story of Randy’s SAR (search and rescue) always leaves the reader wondering what happened to Randy Morgenson. The author gives you hints that you have to perceive such as Randy was depressed because his wife Judi was divorcing him. Did he commit suicide? Did he get injured on patrol? IS he hiding out away from anyone that could find him? You can believe what you desire due to the authors mostly un-biased writing style.

Outdoor lovers will enjoy this book. I ski and visit the mountains on a weekly basis during the winter so I felt a connection to Randy. My gratitude for nature is not as great as Randy’s but this book has helped me appreciate the little things in nature. If you are the person who stands in line for a new i-phone and lives for five star hotels you may not be able to make a huge link to Randy’s thrill for living in the wild. However if you keep an open mind you might see a different perspective that you had never considered before.

The Last Season is a suspenseful mystery that explores the clues of Randy Morgenson’s SAR (search and rescue). It will let the reader interpret the evidence as they wish not giving the reader a strict idea that Eric wants you to believe. The Last Season will leave you wondering every time you put it down.
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Mar 13, 2011

Mark Stevens rated it

Eric Blehm’s “The Last Season” is a contemplation of legendary national park ranger Randy Morgenson, who yearned to “live by whim,” as he put it -- no borders, no boundaries, no trails, no rules. This is a book about the space, if the space exists, where man begins and nature begins. This non-fiction account of Morgenson’s fascinating life is deftly told and deeply intriguing. If Morgenson hadn’t died and if he hadn’t left behind a giant puzzle about how he died, I’d like to think Blehm would h...moreEric Blehm’s “The Last Season” is a contemplation of legendary national park ranger Randy Morgenson, who yearned to “live by whim,” as he put it -- no borders, no boundaries, no trails, no rules. This is a book about the space, if the space exists, where man begins and nature begins. This non-fiction account of Morgenson’s fascinating life is deftly told and deeply intriguing. If Morgenson hadn’t died and if he hadn’t left behind a giant puzzle about how he died, I’d like to think Blehm would have been equally compelled to write the story (but that’s probably a dream).

Morgenson’s death—and the conjecture about his state of mind at the time—are what make the last section of “The Last Season” such a page-turner. By that point, we have grown to know Morgenson so well that the massive search for his body is equal parts pounding and breaking hearts. The analysis of how he died requires some clever sleuth work and imagination.

Blehm’s book covers so much territory—Morgenson’s family, his upbringing, his spirit guides, his relationships, his marriage, his stellar record and his unique view of the world. His mother, for instance, said Randy could make a swarm of mosquitoes “seem like the most romantic thing in the world.”
Blehm’s account neatly inter-cuts the search for Morgenson (he disappeared in 1996) with background about Morgenson’s family and his relationship with his wife, Judi. The storytelling is brisk, straightforward and as good as anything Jon Krakauer or Timothy Egan have written. Blehm draws heavily from Morgenson’s own writings. You will feel like Randy Morgenson was an old (if a bit unusual) friend by the time he goes missing. If you liked “Into the Wild,” you’ll enjoy this one, too. In some ways, I liked this one better. Like Christopher McCandless, Randy Morgenson isn’t always likable or approachable. He’s an enigma, at times, too.

Read “The Last Season” for a deep glimpse into the people who relish the outdoors, who need it to survive. A friend loaned me a hardback to read. I’m ordering a paperback to keep on my shelf.(less)

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Oct 16, 2011

Pailey rated it

Recommends it for: wilderness lovers, anyone who likes a good mystery

The Last Season was a very different book than I have ever chosen to read before. Eric Blehm does a great job of weaving detailed stories of a man's life in with the search for him after his disappearance. It was a little hard to keep track of all the people mentioned in the book; luckily it isn't necessary for you to remember them all.

I read this book in every spare second I had-which wasn't much and it took me way longer to finish than I would have liked. I was consumed with the m...more

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Jul 05, 2009

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: read-in-2009

I picked this book up on one of those Buy 2 get 1 free tables at my local Barnes and Noble. The description of the book in the store intrigued me, but a few weeks later when I was trying to decide what book to read next, I was unsure about this book and I was starting to think that this was an impulse buy and wondering to myself why did I buy this book. Thankfully, I ignored my thoughts and dug in and I was hooked a few pages into the 1st chapter. This is a compelling account of Randy Morgenson'...more

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Nov 16, 2011

Rick rated it

Shelves: mystery, outdoors

So I heard that this book was similar to Into the Wild by Krakauer and Everett Reuss a Vagabond for Beauty. It is similar to those books in the way that a Pinto is similar to a Maserati. No comparison. This book would have made for an interesting long-format article in Outside magazine or on Byliner.com but stretching it into a book was pointless and tedious. I usually love these kinds of books, but this one took me two months of struggle to finsh (mainly because it sat ignored). That said,...more

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Oct 11, 2009

Lesandre rated it

In the afterword, Blehm acknowledges the minutiae throughout the book. Despite cutting so much, he opted to keep the final draft of over 200 pages in honor of the book's subject, backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson. I pushed through the minutiae, often skimming, mostly to learn more about Kings Canyon National Park's features and sights. The final two chapters provide the nitty gritty details, and the hypothesis, as to how and why Randy died, and was it suicide as some suspected?

While ...more

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