Kayaking Alone

Mike Barenti is a writer and journalist who has worked as a reporter for the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Idaho Falls Post Register and has taught English and creative writing at various colleges. He has published work in such journals as River Teeth and Ascent.

"A fresh look at a river system critical to our history and our future. . . . This is a good book about paddling, and an even better book about the salmon, science and politics up the Columbia."—The Spokesman-Review "Part travelogue, part history lesson, part ecological meditation, Kayaking Alone is the product of a tough but revealing trip."—Idaho Arts Quarterly "This book flows from cover to cover like the rivers traveled within its pages, and the story is never the same for long. Barenti takes readers on a ride deep into the personality of the West, shedding light on the culture of the region every time he eddies out."—Sam Weiss, Paddling Life "Kayaking Alone provides much more than a chronicle of one man's quest to find adventure on a great river system…Barenti weaves conversations with the people he meets, farmers, ranchers, river guides, fisheries biologists, native peoples and dam workers, into a narrative revealing the complex interaction among the economy, the environment and the lives of the inhabitants of the lower Snake and Columbia River."—Stan Miller, OutthereMonthly.com  "This book is a good combination of paddling, river history, and the plight of the salmon on the river of the same name."—Cascade Currents

• Chapter 1 – SunbeamChapter 2 – Where the Marlboro Man Might SettleChapter 3 – Henry Clay Merritt, on His 158th BirthdayChapter 4 – Into the WildernessChapter 5 – Watching Fish in RigginsChapter 6 – Dragonflies and the Plant MigrationChapter 7 – Into the BreachChapter 8 – Locking Through with SmoltChapter 9 – River of EmpireChapter 10 – The Swallowing Monster and the Pictograph IslandChapter 11 – Watching Fish at Bonneville DamChapter 12 – Used up by the WindChapter 13 – Looking Back at Cape Disappointment