Mark Sundeen

“I didn’t hear from her. I had flings with other women, but nobody equaled her. Unable to maintain a relationship, I got a dog, a heeler mutt puppy I saw in a cardboard box at the supermarket. I named her Sadie. When Wendy returned a year or so later, she was with a new guy, a fisherman, long hair and a beard, engaged to marry.”

On a plane ride over the Mountain West, a grieving father retraces his adventurous youth and searches for solace in the rugged landscapes that molded him.

To understand the tiny house movement, Mark Sundeen attends its big annual gathering—the National Tiny House Jamboree in Colorado Springs—to learn from its luminaries.

Retracing the steps of a Marine who went missing in the Montana wilderness. Family, friends and fellow Iraq veterans struggle to understand what happened to 30-year-old Noah Pippin:

“Pierce remembers the stranger as none too friendly. Pippin kept his back turned when Pierce started asking questions and said curtly that he’d hiked in from Hungry Horse. Seeing the fatigues, Pierce asked if he was military, and Noah told him he was a vet.

“‘You been over in Iraq?’

“‘Got back a little while ago.’

“‘I was in Vietnam,’ said Pierce, hoping to break the ice. ‘Navy.’

“Noah didn’t answer.

“‘If you’re going hiking in these parts, you need a gun,’ said Pierce. ‘Do you have one?’

“‘Yes, sir,’ he said. ‘Just a .38.’

“‘That ain’t much to stuff in the face of a grizzly when he’s chewing on your foot.’

“‘It’s all I got.'”