Wandering Home

Wandering Home, by Bill McKibben takes the reader on a leisurely walk from the Champlain Valley of Western Vermont down to and across Lake Champlain and on into the still wild Adirondacks of New York.  Along the way McKibben encounters an eccentric cast of progressive residents who are struggling to keep the region “traditional” and free from the pressures of New York City 2nd home expansion.  I found myself completely engaged despite the one fatal flaw which McKibben seems to have overlooked.  Wandering Home is a cry against the 2nd home in the country movement, yet the motivation for the book involves McKibben walking from his home in Vermont to his 2nd home in the Adirondacks.  Oops.  I give it a high recommendation none-the-less. 

An excerpt…”To get an idea of what a century can do to a tree, all you need is to walk to the trail’s southern end, in what was once the small settlement of Loch Muller.  A truly giant white pine shades the turnaround, and from it hangs this hand-lettered sign: 

On this site in year 1845 this pine tree, a sapling of twelve years, was transplanted by me, at the age of twelve years.  Seventy-five years I have watched and protected it.  In my advancing years it has given me rest and comfort.  Woodman spare that tree, touch not a single bough.  In youth it sheltered me, and I’ll protect it now. Pascal P. Warren, June 14, 1920reviewed by: Jonas