Epic Solitude

A Story of Survival and a Quest for Meaning in the Far North

by Katherine Keith

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Pub Date Feb 04 2020 | Archive Date Feb 24 2020

Blackstone Publishing

Biographies & Memoirs | Outdoors & Nature

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Description

In the tradition of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and John Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Epic Solitude is the powerful and touching story of how one woman found her way—both despite and because of the difficulties of living and racing in the remote wilderness.

All her life, Katherine Keith has hungered for remote, wild places. Her travels take her across America, but it is in the vast and rugged landscape of Alaska that she finds her true home.

She and her husband build a log cabin miles away from the nearest road and create a life of love. An idyllic existence, but with isolation and brutal living conditions can also come heartbreak. Keith experiences tragic loss and must push on, with her infant daughter, alone in the Alaskan backcountry.

Long-distance dog sledding opens a door to a new existence. Racing across the state of Alaska offers the best of all worlds by combining raw wilderness with solitude and athleticism. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race remains a true test of character and offers the opportunity to intimately explore the frontier that she has come to love. With every thousand miles of winter trail traversed in total solitude, she confronts challenges that awaken internal demons, summoning all the inner grief and rage that lies dormant.

In the tradition of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and John Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Epic Solitude is the powerful and touching story of how one woman found her way—both despite and because of the...

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A Note From the Publisher

Katherine Keith is a wilderness athlete, experience junkie, spiritual questor, long-distance dog musher, and mother to a fifteen-year-old daughter and thirty-five dogs, living above the Arctic Circle in Kotzebue, Alaska. Professionally, and as a jack-of-all-trades survivalist, she is a small business owner, rural Alaska project director, energy engineer, commercial fisherman, and wellness advocate. Accomplishments such as completing six Ironman triathlons and five 1,000-mile dog sled races form the cornerstone of Katherine’s philosophy of generating grit through overcoming real-time obstacles. A never-ending dreamer, Katherine is currently pursuing climbing the seven tallest summits on every continent as a budding alpinist. Above all, she loves spending time star-gazing, chasing northern lights, and playing cribbage by the woodstove with Amelia at camp.

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Advance Praise

“Epic Solitude is a powerful story of personal tragedy but also about one’s unrelenting drive to survive, both emotionally and physically. [Keith’s] vivid description of Alaska’s winter beauty is breathtaking. While some might run from Alaska’s sometimes harsh winters, Katherine runs towards them and embraces all the beauty Alaskans and Alaska has to offer.”

-Bill Walker, Governor of Alaska (2014–2018)

“Katherine’s writing is as beautiful as the Alaskan wilderness, as compelling as the Iditarod, and as engaging as the Northern Lights. It’s a story of love, life, loss, and resilience. I loved this book!”

-Lynne Cox, author Swimming to Antarctica and Grayson

“Epic Solitude is a heartbreaking, gripping, and ultimately uplifting memoir of tragedy and transcendence in the wild. Brave and inspiring!”

-Aspen Matis, author of Your Blue Is Not My Blue

“Katherine’s story beautifully reveals her devastating journey through heartbreaking losses. She has chosen to continue healing by stripping the intrusion of life traveling alone with challenges of extremism in Arctic Alaska. A similar path where I have found God’s comforting presence. Both of us continue to be a work in process. I am so impressed at the skill she has to draw a reader in. This book is an outstanding read.”

-DeeDee Jonrowe, multiple Mid-Distance Sled Dog Race Champion, 36 Iditarod Race participant, 16 in the top 10; currently a search-and-rescue dog trainer for Alaska Wilderness Searches

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