Cameron McNeish is one of Scotland's best-known hillwalkers and broadcasts regularly on national radio and television. He considers himself an "evangelist" for the wild places of the world - mountains, deserts, remote coastlines and forests - anywhere that lies beyond the black stump. Having walked, climbed, ski'd and backpacked throughout the world, he now takes the reader on a journey through the its wild places, from the Cairngorms to Yosemite. The book includes a series of essays on McNeish's native Scotland which define those elements that make wilderness so special and worth protecting.