A showdown with an enraged grizzly bear, a close encounter with a great white shark, a small airplane crash landing and 13 other near-disasters provide more than enough drama to fill an exciting book. 

But the best is yet to come in the new page-turner by Tom Stienstra, longtime outdoors adventurer and writer.

“When you are near death, you might be invited to experience glimpses of the afterlife,” he revealed in “Heaven Delayed: One Man’s Survival of 16 Near-Death Encounters.”

In his latest and most personal book, the author combines tales of white-knuckle danger with thought-provoking dreams from his near-death experiences.

Stienstra’s first brush with death occurred when a violent robber bashed him in the back of his head with a hatchet. At the time, he was a 21-year-old journalism student at San Jose State University and working in a gas station. 

“My first glimpse of the afterlife was after the hatchet attack where a group of people visited me in an arc around a gurney as I was carried unconscious into an ambulance,” he recalled. 

He did not recognize the people, though, and decades passed before the next such vision. 

Starting in 1980, Stienstra covered the outdoors for the San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, magazines, radio and television. He penned dozens of books and became a popular media figure.  

Countless personal adventures informed his work (and still do), and some of these outings included moments of danger. 

Stienstra was fishing an Alaskan river when a 1,000-pound grizzly pursued him through thigh-deep water. The bear wanted his fishing spot back, the fisherman realized, as heart pounded like “cannon shots.” 

On another fishing trip west of San Francisco, a 19-foot great white shark swam up beside Stienstra’s 20-foot boat, giving the angler a stern look with his big black eye. “Big Whitey was simply sizing up a possible meal, we figured. It petrified me like nothing I have ever felt… that big shark was wired to eat me.” Though the encounter gave him nightmares, he and friends returned to fish for “Big Whitey” again. 

Another scare struck after Stienstra became a pilot and bought a small plane. Though he had the aircraft carefully checked by mechanics, multiple malfunctions occurred as he tried to fly his father to Mount Shasta. Landing gear would not deploy, but the aviator was forced to land anyway. “As the metal of the plane grinded across asphalt, it set off a horrible, screeching roar that thundered through the air,” he wrote. 

In his many decades of outdoors exploration, Stienstra has also pursued backpacking, boating, hunting, climbing, cycling, photography and wildlife viewing. He won induction to the California Outdoors Hall of Fame in 2003 and multiple honors from Outdoor Writers Association of America, including a lifetime achievement award in 2025. 

Let the record show that the vast majority of his outings have been safe and incident-free. 

However, readers of “Heaven Delayed” will no doubt take interest in the author’s scary wildlife encounters, near-drownings, and conflicts with police. “I can’t believe the things which happen with you,” said a friend after the cops mistook the pair for armed robbers.

Stienstra’s most recent and difficult survival challenge arrived with a cancer diagnosis five years ago. He underwent six brain surgeries and nearly died twice on the operating table. Almost a half century after his first afterlife dream, two other visions followed in which he saw old friends who have been dead for years. Two spoke to him from high on Mount Shasta, and the third encouraged him to have a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. 

“From the dreams, what keeps resonating is how happy and friendly all three of my pals were,” Stienstra shared. “Those dream-visions helped me hold onto hope that no matter what was ahead, life or death, I would be OK.”

 Stienstra prays and describes himself as spiritual, though he does not practice a specific religion. “Many paths, one truth, that is my mantra,” he wrote. 

For assisting in his struggle against cancer, he credits his wife Denese Stienstra, neurosurgeon Dr. Steven Chang, and Dusty Baker, a close friend and World-Series winning baseball manager. 

Insights from a well-lived and thoughtful writer in his 70s set “Heaven Delayed” apart from other outdoors adventure books; Stienstra delivers both adrenaline and wisdom. 

“As I look to the future, powered by my spiritual strength … the fear of death is gone,” he concluded. 

Matt Johanson enjoys hiking, climbing, skiing and writing about the outdoors. You can find his work at mattjohansonwrites.substack.com.