Rhythm of the Wild is a memoir about Kim Heacox's longstanding relationship with the most iconic landscape in Alaska. Woven throughout the personal narrative are stories on the human and natural histories of Denali National Park, garnished with a conservation polemic. Heacox writes of Denali through an inspirational arc to show how a place can touch a life, even save a life, quietly, profoundly, day after day, year after year, and how that saving multiplied by millions of lives over a century makes the world a better place. Heacox makes the argument that we must save these places so they in turn will save us. Denali National Park is the most accessible subarctic sanctuary in the world, and it has awakened millions of people to what's authentic, priceless, and true.--Dust jacket.

Prologue : The river has been here for ten thousand years -- [1] The first summer. The midnight ride of Kimmy the Kid ; Red socks and Secretary Watt ; Not recommended for rehire -- [2] Ten years later : Toklat River. The presence of absence ; Alexander Supertramp ; Kantishna gold and Usibelli coal -- [3] Another ten years later : Wonder Lake. One degree north of heaven ; The bear is nowhere and everywhere ; The battle below Mount Galen -- [4] Another ten years later : East Fork cabin. Wolfing down pizza ; The grasshopper effect ; Hiking with Melanie -- [5] Two years later : Wonder Lake. Epilogue : My inner porcupine.