Booklist
"Outfitting" involves guiding people into the wilderness and outfitting them with the necessities of survival; and Jim "Doc" Greer chucks his middle-class existence in Denver to give this rugged life a try. There is something romantic, fascinating even, about a traditional life transformed into an adventure, and that's exactly what Greer's life becomes. He becomes kind of cocky, too, and although it appears necessary to be for his job, it can become annoying to the reader wading through the many anecdotes about Greer's newfound outfitting profession. There are stories about bear and elk hunting, screwed-up rafting trips, bar fights, stubborn mules (a cliche, perhaps, but Greer's mule story shows just how stubborn the creatures can really be), and the dangers of the high country 11,000 feet and higher. Despite the "civilization" of what was once the frontier, Greer's adventures show us how dangerous the "Wild West" remains. And despite his sometimes obnoxious demeanor and "then another time" prose delivery, his lifestyle reminds us of the rugged individualism and American spirit of the cowboy, even today.
Joe Collins
Book Description
A big city boy with a university education, Jim Greer was haunted by the kind of dreams that afflict people like Thurber's Walter Mitty: dreams of running away from respectable careers to live intensely, on the edge, by the sweat of your brow and the skin of your teeth. At age forty, Jim Greer fled the conventional middle-class life in Denver he believed was killing him to operate a guide and outfitting service on Colorado's Western Slope. {Riding West{ is the story of his adventures.
Some of Jim's stories of outfitting--the business of taking men and women into the wilds and supplying them with the necessities of life--are grim, others hilarious. He tells how he reinvented himself as "Doc" Greer, a cross between Holywood's rhinestone image of a cowboy and the real thing; how he struggled with the dangers posed in the high country; how he fought for his authority, and sometimes his life, with headstrong horses and mules; how apparently trivial mistakes he made while hunting bears nearlly got him killed. And how the winter comes--when clients go home and snow closes the roads--the bone-weary, dead-broke, and out-of-work outfitter retreats to town to live by his wits and dream of spring and another year in the high country.
A unique and engaging look at the life of a contemporary outfitter, {Riding West} should appeal to those interested in fishing, big-game hunting, the American West, or to city slickers who want a taste of life in the great outdoors.
Jim Greer is a graduate of the University of Denver, a former teacher, state official, and college administrator, whose heart is still in the great outdoors.
Charles Miller is a professor emeritus at Western State College, where he taught English, journalism, and film studies for thirty years.
Scott Yeager (illustrator) is a Gunnison wildlife artist and sometime guide whose work is displayed in various Western Slope galleries.
