An Englishwoman born in 1831, Isabella Bird was frequently ill as a child and young woman, and her doctors recommended a life of travel and fresh air as the cure. Ultimately, she took the advice and traveled the world. And traveled. And traveled. Bird connected with the beauty of the Colorado Plains and the valleys and mountain parks that she found exhilarating. She would be the first woman to stand atop Colorado's Longs Peak, in 1873. While in Colorado she spent most of her time in Estes Park, but she traveled to Garden of the Gods, across South Park and through many of the mining towns. More than just traveling, she engaged the places she visited and the people she encountered. The Lady and the Mountain Man reveals the story of Bird’s year in Colorado and her relationship with Rocky Mountain Jim Nugent by re-examining Bird’s letters to her beloved sister and putting her work in historical context.