World of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers and Adventurers
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
x A WORLD OF HER OWN And it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the Explorers Club finally elected Faanya L Rose as its first woman president In 2009 explorer Lorie Karnath became the second woman to lead the club She took on the mission of actively honoring the club’s his tory while at the same time redefining the image of explorers In the early 1960s in Concord Massachusetts Lorie and her brothers frequently investigated the nearby woods They cap tured snakes frogs grasshoppers and other critters and brought them home to observe but not keep as pets All of the animals were released back into the wild Lorie’s parents Albert and Carole shared their children’s interest in nature and actively encouraged these backyard explorations Lorie said that starting early in her life her parents showed her and her siblings many amazing things the planet has to offer They encouraged their children to learn through experience More than 100 years earlier the famous naturalist Henry David Thoreau had lived nearby at Walden Pond The Karnath Lorie Karnath in Bhutan with rice paddies across the river Courtesy of Lorie Karnath
LORIE K ARNATH xi Lorie Karnath holds the Wings WorldQuest Flag 14 at Ruehs taedt Germany The signs show the distances to nearby stork colonies and migration destinations Courtesy of Lorie Karnath family took walks there and Lorie learned about Tho reau’s friends Ralph Waldo Emerson and also Louisa May Alcott who became one of her heroes At the age of 10 Lorie moved to Europe with her family where they con tinued to explore As they traveled around Europe Lorie came to recognize the differences between well-trod tourist spots the more genuine communities and lesser-known historic sites where few tourists ventured As an adult Lorie continued to have a passion for asking questions and following the answers wherever they led her In 2007 she traveled through Europe and Africa tracking migrat ing white storks she observed their nests examined threats and established a wetlands reserve On walks in the woods sur rounding her home in the Hudson River valley in New York Lorie has spent hours watching bald eagles fox deer and other wildlife and each day she has asked new questions Whether exploring in Antarctica Africa Asia or South America she always has brought home questions Lorie has endured harsh field conditions such as leech-infested jungles scorching heat and heavy rains while studying flora and fauna in Borneo Her skill on horseback proved indispensible on her ride across the
