The author was a Brit of privileged background who went to a private school, WWI, Bank of England, then threw it all away to undertake a life of adventure in Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories in Canada. This particular book in his corpus of work narrates the story of his life on the Buffalo Head ranch outside High River, Alberta. He’s a nomad, a wanderer, a lover of lonely places with harsh conditions, strong, extremely capable, excellent hunter and trapper, a man who can’t be tied down, who’s like the bear who went over the mountain just to see what he could see, and having found another mountain, had to climb that one too. Of course, he couldn’t be contained so when a road was put through Kananaskis, it proved too much so he sold off his ranch, took his wife, the rest of the horses he was fond off, and rode off into the mountains in B.C. It is an engaging read for life was never dull for R.M. Patterson. ( )