Frog Mountain Blues

Called "Frog Mountain" by native Tohono O'odham people, the Santa Catalina Mountains offer the citizens of Tucson a wilderness in their own backyard. Over the years it has attracted treasure hunters and entrepreneurs; today recreational facilities dot its summits while resorts and housing development creep up its foothills and into its canyons. Charles Bowden and Jack Dykinga have hiked the Catalinas for years and bring to this book not only a love for the land but the experiences of others who have "lived the mountain." Frog Mountain Blues contrasts the mystery and power of this majestic range with its fragility, and cautions us that this unique wilderness could easily be lost through overuse. By showing the capacity of society to whittle away a whole mountain in pursuit of a "better life," Bowden and Dykinga impress upon us the need for an urbanized society to have wilderness close at hand—both as a retreat from its own insanity and as a reminder of the natural world.