First Church of the Higher Elevations:
Mountains, Prayer, and Presence
by Peter Anderson
(Ghost Road Press, Denver, Colorado)
www.ghostroadpress.com

First Church of the Higher Elevations: Mountains, Prayer, and Presence explores the ecology of story, spirituality, and landscape. Set on an island of mountains in Utah’s red rock country, in a Colorado ghost town near the Continental Divide, along a ridge above Salt Lake City, on a mountain above America’s most toxic county, and on the trails of the High Uinta Wilderness where Peter Anderson spent five years working as a backcountry ranger, these autobiographical essays begin in mountain valleys and saunter into the realm of contemplative practice and the experience of wildness.

Reviews:

First Church of the Higher Elevation is... joyous and funny. Peter Anderson is a good companion on a climb, with a lot of resources in his pack. His companions include John Muir, Jack Kerouac, Thomas Merton, Han Shan, Douglas Steere, Gary Snyder, Carl Jung, Wendell Berry, his wife Grace and daughter Rosalea, as well as Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, John Coltrane, B.B. King. Sometimes the wilderness rocks. Sometimes there is beer in the cooler.

From the Foreward by Paul A. Lacey, Clerk, American Friends Service Community

This is no work of airy mysticism: there is a wiry toughness and physicality to Anderson’s prose. Without sentimen- talizing, he shows us the night-blooming primrose, the coyotes, the names and contours of particular mountain ranges, and the hard facts of what the shape of the land does to the air, water, and creatures that move over it. Anderson also draws on the rich and varied spiritual history of the landscape he explores throughout. Mormons, Native Americans, Spanish Catholics, modern Carmelites, Quakers, and beat poets all appear on the trail. The result is a book that feels profoundly, eclectically American.

Image:Journal of Religion and the Arts / Image Update

The writing is wise and witty, mixing lively dialogue with quotes from great thinkers and poetic description. But also with a tad of humor and (dare I say it?) irreverence....This is a book more about the Great Mystery than any kind of anthropomorphic deity. It will fill you with wonder and awe, respect and the sanctity of all living things. And it will teach you the power of worshipping in the cathedrals of the high peaks. A gift for those who, when in doubt, want to go higher ... Highly recommended.

Art Goodtimes / Telluride Watch

This book promises to pull from deep within its readers the connection we innately know about high, wild places their power to soothe, infuse and reinvigorate us with the sense of our place in the world.

Finding metaphor in prayer and the edges of the mountain world around him, he notes, Crossing the inward edge that leads into deeper realms of silence is like breaking out of the trees and walking into an alpine meadow Deeper yet, it is like leaving the trees behind for the higher elevations. And at some point, the inward experience feels like a night walk on an Alpine ridge. One is still grounded, but in the shadowed lands up ahead or in the starlight reflected in a lake below, it isn't always easy to tell where the mountain leaves off and the sky begins. Taking us on both a physical trip through places that mean so much to him (including the alpine basins of the High Uintas, where he was a wilderness ranger, and the Henry Mountains, where he seeks bison) and a spiritual partnership with those like John Muir who have found inspiration in places of higher elevation in recent and distant history, Colorado author and Quaker Peter Anderson leads us humbly and with respect for the wonders he encounters.

Many authors would provide far too much chatter and conceit on this journey. Peter is a fine, gentle companion for a hike through wild country, in a realistic discussion of what modern man has done to Earth, and with a valued voice for protection of the last wild places.Reading this book will settle your heart and center you again amongst the meaningful elements of life.

Margaret Pettis - editor, The Lynx

…If there were too much mundane, it would read like a guidebook or boastful account of mountains ascended; if there were too much spirituality, it would wander off into ethereal realms beyond the interest or comprehension of prosaic sorts like myself. But Anderson finds the right balance in every essay.

He's a fluid and graceful writer, but this book is not for fast reading; many paragraphs deserve time for digestion and contemplation before the reader moves to the next one. First Church of the Higher Elevations reads well enough in town, but it would be an even better companion for that next long hike, back-country camping trip, or rainy day in the tent, when you're trying to figure out just how you fit into all that's around you.

Denver Post Columnist Ed Quillen (in Colorado Central)

Here is the steady wisdom of Anderson’s book, and sage advice for any reader: Pay attention to the places where the body and spirit meet.

Kurt Caswell
Mountain Gazette

...A must read for all pilgrims.

Ron Wooten-Green / Desert Call

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