Bear in the Back Seat II: Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger #2

by Carolyn Jourdan, Kim DeLozier

Second volume of true stories from a national bestselling series set in “[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with befuddled bears, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and nine million tourists, some of whom are clueless."

By 7-time Wall Street Journal and Audible Top-10 national best selling author. The first volume of DeLozier's memoir was a #9 Wall Street Journal Bestseller in December of 2013.

In Kim DeLozier’s world, when sedated wild black bears wake unexpectedly in the back seat of a helicopter in mid-flight, or his car as he’s driving down the highway, or in his office while he’s talking on the phone, it’s just another day in the park.

You’ll love seeing Kim and a fellow ranger tested as they bravely take on the task of dealing with enraged wild boars, elk, and other wildlife.

A hilarious, heartwarming, and heartbreaking memoir by the chief wildlife ranger in the #1 most popular family vacation destination in the USA, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For over thirty years, Kim DeLozier acted as a referee in the wild, trying to protect millions of park visitors a year from one of the densest populations of wild black bears in America --and the bears from tourists who tried to get too close.

Written with Wall Street Journal bestselling author Carolyn Jourdan who has several highly-regarded #1 Amazon bestsellers about the Smoky Mountains and Appalachia. Her other books are "Heart in the Right Place", "Medicine Men", and "Out on a Limb".

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals, Adventure, Memoir, Humor, Biography

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 23, 2014

About the author

USA Today,Top-10 Audible & 6-time Top-10 Wall Street Journal best selling Author of Memoir, Biography, Wildlife, and Mystery

USA Today Best Seller Out on a Limb was also voted a Best Kindle Book of 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2022.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2017.
#7 NYT-Audible Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2016.
#6 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2015.
#5 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Medicine Men in 2014.
#9 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Bear in the Back Seat in 2013.
#7 Wall Street Journal Best Seller Heart in the Right Place in 2012.

Visit Carolyn online at her website, her personal Facebook page, her Facebook Author page, her Twitter page, or her Instagram page.

Jourdan's newest books are Dangerous Beauty: Stories from the Wilds of Yellowstone and Waltzing with Wildlife: 10 Things NOT to do in Our National Parks.

Other recent works are Nurses: The Art of Caring, Radiologists at Work: Saving Lives With the Lights Off, and Talking to Skeletons: Behind the Scenes With a Radiologist.

The nurse book is a collection of the most memorable moments from the careers of over 60 nurses. It covers nearly 70 years of practice from World War II to the present day.

The extraordinary situations described here are the result of more than 1,000 years of hands-on bedside knowledge. The vignettes contain wisdom and insight gained the hard way, from long experience in the trenches (sometimes in actual trenches) performing tasks that range from the most humble to the most skilled.

The radiology books form a set of companion books, one dealing with the most memorable moments of 40 radiologists and the other chronicling 7 extraordinary nights spent shadowing a single radiologist.

Bear in the Back Seat - Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a series of true stories from “[a]n extraordinary landscape populated with befuddled bears, hormonally-crazed elk, homicidal wild boars, hopelessly timid wolves, and nine million tourists, some of whom are clueless."

In Kim DeLozier’s world, when sedated wild black bears wake up unexpectedly in the back seat of a helicopter in mid-flight, or in his car as he’s driving down the highway, or in his office while he’s talking on the phone, it’s just another day in the park.

In Out on a Limb Phoebe McFarland has just moved back to her hometown of White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded ridges and isolated hollows of the Smoky Mountains.

Now she spends her days working as a rural home health care nurse, making calls on a quirky roster of housebound characters she’s determined to take care of whether they cooperate or not.

She applies this same optimism to her love life, despite the fact that she’s been dating for 38 years without locating any husband material. When she runs into her childhood sweetheart, Henry Matthews, a wildlife ranger for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it looks like she might’ve found her man.

But Phoebe and Henry’s chance for romance has to be put on hold while they undertake a desperate search for a young woman who mysteriously vanished from the park during a gathering of world famous biologists and botanists, including a charismatic Frog Whisperer.

Medicine Men

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say that has not already been said of this wonderful book? It is warm, intelligent, eco-friendly and - above all - Responsible in its reverence for the natural world.

Sure, there are a few BAD Bears. But most of them become that way through interaction with irresponsible human behaviour!

So let me ask you a question: what would YOU do as a Park Ranger if the insufficiently-sedated Bear in your Back Seat were to suddenly wake up?

Simple… you’d have to just Keep Your Head (or as the beleaguered ‘n bombed-out Brits did during WWII - Keep Calm and Carry On)!

Well…

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming the bombs on you -
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds worth of distance run -
Yours is the world and everything that’s in it!

Yes, Carolyn (whose reviews I follow right here on Goodreads) is the ideal National Park Ranger. Her mind throughout these fabulously funny and absurdly hilarious tales is so beautifully Clear, Calm and Collected.

If you pick up this collection at your local mall this weekend, you’ll find a great antidote to your workaday stress.

But - a little warning - as you get back into your vehicle to take this book home:

Check your Back Seat!

[Cassie Bolton]

I'm finished with this only in the context of knowing I'll never get through it. These stories would all be fine and cool if told in person, but putting them in writing honestly ruins them. I don't need to read about every time you saw a bear at a campsite and had to tranquilize it. Tell me around a campfire and then I'll listen.

[Bomi Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great read! I'm so glad I found this randomly on sale. The book has amazingly full of exciting stories about being a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains. I laughed out loud several times due to the funny moments the ranger would describe; dangerous but funny. This ranger clearly enjoys his job and has passion and love for animals and the Smoky Mountains. I learned so much about our national park and how to safely view wild animals without disrupting their home or putting either of us in danger. I can't wait to visit the park!

[Merissa Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first book. Decided to give the second a shot. Just as entertaining.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book by a wildlife biologist in the GSMNP. Some stories were sad but most were hilarious. I laughed out loud once or twice.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kim does it again! An excellent book made for any bear, outdoor, or national park enthusiast! A mix of humor, feel good stories, and a few tales that will have you on the edge of your seat!

[Mindy Pollock · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. Love the Smoky Mountains and hearing the stories from the Ranger. Wish people would pay attention and STOP feeding the wildlife.

[Michael G. Hodges MD · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Great Stories

If you liked book 1, then you will enjoy book 2 even more. Visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will never be the same.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book to read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very similar to the previous book in the series. The stories are relatively short and can be read quickly, so it's a good book if you enjoy the outdoors but don't have a lot of time to read lengthy stories. It's especially enjoyable if you're familiar with Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the surrounding areas, as they will seem very familiar to the reader. Many of the stories are very similar, dealing with black bears, elk, and other native animals. As it seems is common for most wildlife and park rangers, us humans are the greatest challenge to manage. It's apparent that Kim loves his job and his co-workers and is passionate about the outdoors. I think his stories combined with Carolyn Jourdan's writing make this an enjoyable read. I'd suggest reading both books if this one sounds interesting to you.

[Katie Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another awesome book! It did get a little dark towards the middle. However, the author planned well and added some practical joke stories soon after. Love love love reading about his career and all his stories. Thank you for sharing them and for the helpful hints at the end of both books as to how to react to a bear encounter. 50 yards - 150 ft!!! No running, no climbing trees. Don’t pack a family picnic in your kid’s backpack while hiking - yah oops did that one personally in GSMNP. Glad nothing happened - we were lucky. Don’t let kids run ahead. Stay together as a group. Stay calm and back away. Talk in low tones, then shout and throw rocks if it still comes towards you, then fight if it comes to that. Got it. Thank you!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED the first book, so I HAD to read the second one. Since taking a class about Yellowstone wolves as a college student, I've had a passion for wolves. Stumbling on wolves in Chapter 2 made this one ever better. This one also focused a lot on the reintroduction of elk, more so than focusing on bears or wolves. It was fascinating to learn more about elk (we have them locally, but I've never read up on them), and I loved the stories Kim told about elk with personalities. They put him in some delightfully entertaining situations, and it made for some good, enjoyable reading. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about large critters and life in the Park.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Exciting Bear and Wildlife Adventures

This is the second of a two book series about the authors' experiences dealing with bears, elk, wolves, hogs and more in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There ate fun and frightening encounters and some memorable animals. This book will definitely make you smile. I enjoy reading about the rangers and wildlife managers and their accounts of the highs and lows of their careers. I read this book using immersion reading, while listening to the audio book narrated by Carey Jones. His authentic dialect beautifully compliments the material. A fun and thought provoking read.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 own
Bought the second book in this series in May when I was in the great smoky Mountains. Bought the first book back in 2019 and really enjoyed it so thought I would give the second one a try normally, the next in the series is not as good as the first because they’ve used up all the good stuff in the first book, not true for this series. A lot of good short stories about wildlife told in an entertaining way. a quick and easy read, that would be enjoyed by anyone who likes wildlife. Bonus points if you’ve ever been to the great Smoky Mountains national Park because you’ll recognize the locations in this book.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I literally laughed out loud at some of the stories, while others made me want to cry -- at least in part due to the stupidity of people. I live near the Smokies, so there was that much more meaning for me as well.

Highly recommend if you are looking for stories set in a national park that give insight into just what some of the rangers deal with on a daily basis. (and yes, I copied my review for book 1 for book 2 - just as funny and enlightening as the first)

[Jerimy Stoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like the first memoir written by this pair of authors, this is a fun read about interactions between wild animals, other wild animals, and people. It's amazing to me to think about how much acreage such a small group of Wildlife Rangers has to cover. It's daunting. I would recommend this quick 200 page read to people who are interested in wildlife, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, nature, conservation, outdoors, and humor.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though Kim DeLozier is not a writer, he is a story teller, and I am grateful that I ran across a copy of the first volume of this memoir when I took a road trip on the Shenandoah/Blue Ridge Parkway. His recounting of experiences of wildlife management are engaging and entertaining, and give a underlying message that if one cares about wildlife and nature that leaving it alone is the best policy. Thanks Kim.

[Chris Cowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice enough stories about being a ranger in the Smoky Mountains. Pretty inconsequential, but having recently driven over said mountains. which are stunning, for me it's a happy reminder of a beautiful place and the animals I mostly didn't see there - except we did see elks and wild turkey. No bears though.

[Lisa Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this read! I’m a big fan of the national parks and found this down to earth storytelling to be great bedtime reading. I bought it for my grandkids. But I’m not sure they’ll be up to some of the rather “scary“ encounters yet! I want to keep them out camping with me. But I’ll use select chapters with them now that I pre-read it.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A follow-up to DeLozier’s first book, he recounts more stories about his time as a wildlife ranger. This time he focuses his stories more on both bears and elk. Some of his stories are heartwarming, while others are almost frightening. But the moral of the book, don’t run from Smoky Mountain black bears or play dead—fight back.

[Summer Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

The stories in this book aren't laugh-out-loud funny like in book one, but they are all interesting, and Delozier provides a great window into the realities of wildlife management as well as tips on how visitors can help keep wildlife wild and stay safe in the park.

Main theme: DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS!!!

[Anu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always fun to read tales from wildlife rangers. Some of the stories are hilarious while others make you go “awww” I found the author’s style rather tedious and repetitive - it was hard to retain interest after the first half. Good spot of comfort reading though 🐻

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed out loud more than once while reading this book, held my breath a few times, and shed a tear occasionally, but I never lost interest. If you love the Great Smokes National Park, and/or wild animals, you need to read this book!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

More stories about being a wildlife ranger in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Many are funny, however, the overriding theme is how people feeding wildlife usually ends with the animal learning to associate people and food, which is never a good outcome.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book telling about different situations a wildlife ranger encountered with wildlife in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It not involves encounters with bears but also with elk.

[diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding read

This book was impossible to put down. One of the best books I've read in a long time. Wish there was a third in the series.

[Mary Moxley Sale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read it you love GSMNP

This was a fun companion to Hear in the Backseat. If you enjoy the great outdoors, you'll enjoy this one!

[Kathy Govreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable read. It was also very informative.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The stars of the book are the bears, elk, and hogs. Entertaining, but could use an editor.

[Lynne Sternett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved!