RIGHT NOW, travel writer Tim Cahill is the Lurie Distinguished Visiting Writer at San Jose State University’s Center for Literary Arts. That means he is teaching a few classes during the spring semester and will stage a few events as well. Aside from being one of the founding editors of Outside, Cahill has penned numerous books, especially 2004’s Lost in My Own Backyard, a guide to wandering around Yellowstone on foot.
The book is part of the Crown Journeys Series from Crown Publishing, a literary travel series matching renowned writers with their favorite places—more often than not, their home turfs. The books are short, easy reads, usually anywhere from 120 to 180 pages. Other works in the series include Blues City: A Walk in Oakland by Ishmael Reed, Land’s End: A Walk in Provincetown by Michael Cunningham and Time and Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket by Frank Conroy.
I became enamored of the series primarily because the only prerequisite is that the writers take their journeys on foot. And of course, the first one I bought was the one Chuck Palahniuk wrote, titled Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk Through Portland, Oregon, which came out in 2003. I interviewed Palahniuk when he was putting that project together, and he told me, to paraphrase, that the experience wasn’t going exactly as planned. The publisher was insisting that he paint a syrupy, romantic, sentimental and tender portrait of his hometown and that he follow the lead of some of the other, more poignant works in the series.
Well, if you’re familiar with Palahniuk (he wrote Fight Club), he doesn’t do that. Instead, he wanted to write about stripper bingo, feral-cat races, kayaking in the sewers, dive antique shops, thrift stores, the sex industry, haunted houses, mass drunken rampages in Santa suits, a vacuum cleaner museum and the world’s largest hairball. After endless battles and negotiations, he finally came up with a version that satisfied the publisher. You can read it for yourself. It’s an amazing example of hometown civic pride and a massive influence on yours truly.
Cahill’s contribution to the series, Lost in My Own Backyard, provides a beautifully irreverent glimpse into Yellowstone National Park, since he lives 50 miles away. In the introduction, he writes: “I have not tried to write a guide to the park. Others have done that and done it so well that anything I say would be redundant. … I hope my own idiosyncratic little book will spur you to explore the park, to enjoy it and to begin doing your own research into those areas that most enthrall you and charm you.”
Cahill explains that Yellowstone was established by an act of Congress on March 1, 1872, and that it was the world’s first national park, specifically set aside to function “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” In other words, Yellowstone is America’s back yard. Our back yard. It’s bigger than 14 states and only 8,000 square miles smaller than all of England—thus, a great place to get lost.
Throughout the book, Cahill offers advice for wandering on and off the miles of beaten paths in the park. He tells hysterical anecdotes of illiterate tourists trying to take snapshots of their kids standing next to dangerous bison. He riffs on both the geology and the overall ecosystem.
Petrified tree trunks, glacial lakes and parsnip jungles populate the narrative. Wolves do battle with coyotes. National and natural history merge into one. In the back of the book, he also incorporates a “Selected Yellowstone Bookshelf,” including Lee H. Whittlesey’s Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. The title of that one pretty much says it all.
Cahill also includes a few revised and expanded versions of articles he and pal Tom Murphy originally penned for National Geographic Adventure. They both live in the same town, and according to Cahill, Murphy “has an entire room devoted to Yellowstone books, to his wife’s immense annoyance.” Maybe Cahill’s presence can inspire San Joseans to explore their own back alleys and forgotten places. I know I will.
