For those who go in search of the isolation, silence and adventure of
wild places it is--perhaps ironically--to the man-made shelters that
they need to head; the outposts: bothies, bivouacs, cabins and huts.
Part of their allure is their simplicity: enough architecture to shelter
from the weather but not so much as to distract from the immediate
environment around.
From the Cairngorms of Scotland to the fire-watching huts of Washington
State, from Iceland's Houses of Joy to the desert of New Mexico, and
from the frozen beauty of Svalbard to the Mars Desert Research Station
in Utah, Richards visits the outposts and witnesses the landscapes, and
asks: why are we drawn to wilderness? And how do wild places become a
space for inspiration and creativity?