In 2001 Steve Edwards won a writing contest. The prize was seven months of ""unparalleled solitude"" as the caretaker of a ninety-two-acre backcountry homestead in southwestern Oregon. In prose that is by turns lyrical, introspective, and funny, Breaking into the Backcountry is the story of what he discovered: that alone, in a wild place, each day is a challenge and a gift.