Wild Trek

Wild Trek is the second book in Jim Kjelgaard's Chiri series. Chiri was born to a domesticated dog in the wild and lived his first year living as a wild dog. Then he chanced upon Link Stevens, who was the rightful owner of his mother, and after a series of events they bonded. In Wild Trek, a few years have passed and Chiri is a mature hunter and companion to Link Stevens, a trapper living in the Canadian wilderness. When a local constable shows up at his homestead injured, Link offers to take his place to search for villagers who have gone missing in the northern territory. Link and Chiri set out on foot, into an area seldom visited by men (those who go do not return): the Caribou mountains. Battling storms, unforgiving terrain, injury, wild animals, and hunger, even finding the lost men will leave them far from the end of their journey - once they are in this perilous place, they will still need to find a way out. The bond between Link and Chiri is much more evident in this second book of the Chiri series. We are more in Link's mind than Chiri's, and Link's devotion to his loyal Husky-mix is made clear from the start. There's quite a bit of adventure here, and a very real feeling that survival is not guaranteed to all of the characters. Link is resourceful, as is Chiri, but not everything goes their way and they have to return to the planning stage again and again. I love the smart characters and test of strength that Kjelgaard fills his stories with.

I read Snowdog to my boys ages 6 & 8 and they begged me to buy Wild Trek. We were not disappointed. We were captured on every page by Kjelgaard's amazing ability to paint a living picture in our minds of the wilderness and the minds and determination of strong, adventurous men and man's best friend.

This is the sequel to "Snow Dog". These are my favorite books by Jim Kjelgaard. Intrepid trapper Link Stevens and his semi-wild dog Chiri are in for a big adventure when an injured ranger rides into their camp. The ranger is tough, but his arm is badly broken and he cannot complete his mission: to find a naturalist and his pilot whose plane crashed in the unexplored virgin wilderness of the Caribou Range to the north. Link sets up the ranger in his cabin and sets out to find the downed plane. Link and Chiri's home territory is sparse and hungry this year. It is early spring. After a bad winter of trapping, Link is amazed at the bounty of nature he finds as he and his dog journey north on foot. The Caribou Range is mythic and virgin territory. Link only knows of two others who earlier ventured there, and never returned. A sign of earlier visitors to the Caribou Range is a grizzly Link is forced to kill. Its body contains the remenants of an arrow fashioned from spent ammunition. Things get complicated when Link finds a human footprint. This book is filled with even more outdoor adventure, survival, and natural beauty than the first book, "Snow Dog". It is really exciting reading.

Wild Trek is a story about a trapper, Link Stevens, and his loyal companion a snow dog named Chiri. Wild Trek tells the story of Stevens and Chiri as they travel together to find a Naturalist and a Bush Pilot who are stranded in the far out reaches of civilization because their plane crashed in the remote back country of Northern Alaska. Stevens and Chiri must cross the Caribou Mountains, a place from which no man has ever returned, to save these men. From the first page of the book, I was hooked on Alaska. The author Jim Kjelgaard describes every detail of the Alaskan landscape with much detail and color. Stevens and Chiri experience many ups and downs during their journey to safety. There were many turning points in the story; just as soon as one problem was solved another one would arise, creating new challenges to be overcome. Wilderness survival books are my favorite and this is by far one of the best I have read. If you like wilderness survival and action packed stories then you will like Wild Trek. Read this book and join Stevens and Chiri as they try to return the stranded travelers to civilization.

Truely a well developed masterpiece. The plot was exiting and everything is in wonderfull discription. I just recently read ''Snow Dog'',another Kjelgaard favorite of mine, and now I see where Chiri came from. Read ''Snow Dog'' first to get the full story of Chiri's history. This is by far Kjelgaard's greatest work. If you are a dog lover,like me, or you need a thrilling adventure book this is a must read. And thank's Jim for all of your books,they are all captivating and thrilling.

Continued from the Great book Snow Dog, Chiri and his master Link Stevens set out in the most wild part of their land, no one ever enters there, that is except for this man who thinks that there is an albino moose out there and is destined to find it. He gets lost and Link has to go out and find him, with Chiri is wonderful staghound husky mix at his side he braves the wildlife of the Caribou hills. I love this book!