Just By Accident

About the Book

Just By Accident: Adventures of a Modern Vagabond provides an entertaining and unique look into the life of a modern wilderness vagabond. It is filled with true wilderness adventures encountered by "Backcountry Ben" and allows many of us to catch a glimpse of what lies beyond where most of us will ever go.

While Just By Accident: Adventures of a Modern Vagabond is autobiographical in nature, it is more than just the story of one man's life of travel and adventures in the backcountry. It is also about interpersonal relationships that were formed and fostered by Ben's odyssey in the wilderness.

It is about the forest ranger trekking the backcountry, manning a fire lookout, fighting a forest fire, or writing a recreational plan.

It is about the National Park Service employee riding horseback in one of our beautiful national parks and helping both young and old, novice and experienced, gain a greater enjoyment from the outdoors.

It is about the fish and game people who protect our wildlife from potential poachers; who improve habitat, conduct biological surveys, and collect data, not just on endangered species, but on the myriad of other creatures which inhabit our forests and wildlands.

It is about the entire guiding and tourist industry that brings people to visit our parks and forests, hopefully to return to their urban dwellings with a fresh point of view about nature.

About the Author

Ben Benson, a skilled and courageous outdoorsman, was nicknamed "Backcountry Ben" when employed with the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska. He has not only traveled much of the world, but has explored it with a true sense of free-spirited adventure and a sincere love for nature. These explorations have included areas ranging from Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska to Zimbabwe, Africa. During these travels, he has been able to capture on film many incredible sights that most of us would never see in our entire lifetime. These pictures are now available for preview and purchase on his website at www.backcountryben.com

A few of the many roles he has filled are park ranger, hunting guide, wilderness mountaineer, photographer, boat painter, deckhand on a Mississippi River towboat (following the footsteps of Mark Twain), town manager, financial consultant, and a Navy Corpsman with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Just By Accident: Adventures of a Modern Vagabond was compiled in 1999 after ten years of work to provide the opportunity for readers to enjoy, and perhaps even learn from, Ben's adventures as he explored the Appalachian Trail, survived the grasp of PTSD, faced bears and other wildlife in the wilderness, fell on an ice axe when alone on the Eagle Glacier, and much, much more.