World of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers and Adventurers
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
viii INTRODUCTION encounters with venomous snakes Out by the pond Kay and Eleanor drink grog and soak their bare feet in the cool water exchanging tales of their sea voyages Seated on a tree stump Freya and Kira nibble on olives and chuckle about their expe riences evading authorities intent on restricting their travels Watching it all is Marianne who paints the scene before her and smiles at the sight of Annie weaving in and out of the crowd on her bicycle This scene can only be imagined because some of the women you will meet in this book lived long before others were even born As you get to know each woman I invite you to revisit this imaginary potluck picnic as well as picture yourself as one of the next generation of women explorers and adventurers
Lorie Karnath ____________ A PRESIDENT OF EXPLORERS When I first landed in Antarctica I got out of the airplane and immediately I was frozen cold but before I even realized that what I saw was the most amazing sight Everything looked like glittering diamonds from the air to the hills to the ice below me it was just sparkling and so awe-inspiring that I knew in that second this is why I do it Lorie Karnath The first explorers to reach the North Pole the South Pole the world’s highest peak and the surface of the Moon all were men Each of them also belonged to the Explorers Club which for its first 77 years was an all-male club head quartered in New York City The club functioned as a gathering place for explorers to share their discoveries and talk shop It also served as a repository for artifacts and journals from mem bers expeditions Exceptional women explorers had been making remarkable discoveries during the preceding centuries but it wasn’t until the 1980s that they were invited to become members of the club ix
