Encounters With The Archdruid .
Encounters with the Archdruid, by John McPhee, talks about the journeys of four men. They are Charles Park, Charles Fraser, Floyd Dominy, and David Brower. Their journeys are in three wildernesses. They are on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. .
Charles Fraser is a resort developer who regards all conservationists as druids, which is a religious figures who sacrifices people and worship trees. .
David Brower is the most militant conservationist in the world. Charles Park, Charles Fraser, and Floyd Dominy encounters Brower, if in rapids, in forests, on mountain trails, on a raft, in a jeep, or on foot will be hard to fight across. .
He is a tall and attractive man. Brower is in his late fifties. He has dropped out of college when he was nineteen. He spends his life defending mountain ranges and what they symbolize to him. .
He doesn't like dry duff but prefers the feel and the beauty of a wet and glistening forest, vaporous and dripping. He hopes that they"ll have a good rain before their trip is over. .
David Brower view that if dead trees are not left to rot, the ecology of the wilderness is disturbed. He tries to save some forests and wildernesses. He is also trying to do anything he can to get people back into the balance with environment. Brower tries to make everything wilderness. He wants to recycle, do things over again, and do better, even if it costs more. .
Charles Park is a mineral engineer who believes that our economic well being rests on finding metals and extracting them from the earth wherever they are found. He studies mining. .
He is in his sixties with some white hair. He was an athlete in college. He spends most of his life out doors. Park is even taller than Brower. He collects rocks and thinks about the West. When he was in High School he had fifty ore minerals in his collection. Park has never camped out before, until their journeys.