World of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers and Adventurers
You have legs you can go You have a voice why not sing You have a heart dance Nanao Sakaki Break the Mirror
Contents Introduction Women with Wanderlust vii Lorie Karnath A President of Explorers ix PART I CALLED BY MOUNTAINS Annie Smith Peck A Woman Above Them All 3 Rosaly Lopes Where Passion Leads 13 Constanza Ceruti Climbing Sacred Mountains with a Humble Heart 22 Sophia Danenberg Reaching the Highest Summit 31 PART II SEEKING NATURE Marianne North Picturing Nature 43 Martha Maxwell Exploring Wildlife in the Rockies 53 Ynes Mexia In Pursuit of Unknown Flora 65 Margaret Lowman Life in the Treetops 72 Pamela Rasmussen Birding Across Continents 81 Kate Jackson In Quest of Scaly Slimy Creatures 90 Aparajita Datta Vanishing Wildlife and Forgotten People 99 PART III EXPLORING THE WORLD’S WATERS Eleanor Creesy She Sets the Course 111 Kay Cottee Alone on the High Seas 119 Edie Widder Into the Deep Dark Sea 130 Jill Fredston Rowing Along Cold Coasts 140 Stephanie Schwabe Diving into the Dark Frontier 149
PART IV LONG TREKS Isabella Bird Bishop Health Horses Adventure 161 Annie Kopchovsky Londonderry Pedaling Around the World with Chutzpah 170 Helga Etsby The Long Walk Across America 179 Freya Stark A Fashionable Nomad 187 Alexandra David-Néel Seeking the Unknown 196 Helen Thayer Facing Fear in the Far North 207 Kira Salak Discoveries in Two Worlds 217 Acknowledgments 227 Resources 229 Notes 237 Bibliography 245 Index 253
Introduction WOMEN WITH WANDERLUST Picture joining a potluck birthday party attended by 24 women each one bringing tales of her wild adventures along with exotic foods from places she has explored Everyone is celebrating Jill and Stephanie’s birthdays Both were born on January 1 As you wander through the crowd you listen in on one conversation after another At the edge of the field Jill and Helen take bites of smoked salmon and gesticulate dramatically as they discuss voracious bears they have encountered Nearby on a small hill Constanza Annie Sophia and Rosaly eat Andean potatoes while talking of the high mountains they have climbed Lounging on a picnic blanket chewing venison jerky Martha and Isabella compare adventures in the Rocky Mountains and a short dis tance away Aparajita and Ynes snack on roasted grubs laughing about encounters with tropical leeches and giant cockroaches Stephanie and Edie between bites of sushi describe their first underwater experiences Not far from them Pamela and Lorie dine on dal and rice as they chat about bird discoveries Under a large tree Helga and Alexandra sample tsampa and oatmeal as they swap stories of their long treks Above them perched on a stout limb Kate and Margaret munch on mangoes and compare vii
