By Phalyn Fickas The September day started out early, before the sun rose, as most expeditions like this do. I laced up my boots, filled my water bottles, and headed…
Category: Voices in the Wilderness
Voices in the Wilderness, begun as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, allows people from many walks of life to tell personal stories about enjoyable —or maybe not-so-enjoyable —adventures and personally important moments in wild country. Pieces are written by people from all around the Scotchmans area. Each story tells of the writer’s special relationship with wild places. The stories are funny, touching, scary, inspiring and all rooted in a personal relationship with a place with no roads.
These essays are published in papers around the region including Montanian, Western News, Sanders County Ledger, Bonner County Daily Bee, and Sandpoint Reader.
Man Vs. Nature
By Kelly Butts-Spirito Eugenio Montale once wrote, “The most dangerous aspect of present-day life is the dissolution of the feeling of individual responsibility. Mass solitude has done away with any…
A Winter Forest Choir
By Brian Baxter After the snowfall, Old Man Winter rests. He is warm now, with his long white hair flowing down his shoulders. After conjuring up infinite patterns of snow…
An Intern’s Summer in the Scotchman Peaks
By Jacob Arrington When I first applied for the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness Backcountry Ranger position, I knew very little of what I was getting into. I knew that…
Surviving a Wild Wind by Annie Gassmann
By Annie Gassmann We were nearing the end of a mother–daughter backpack trip into the Scapegoat Wilderness. I was in my late teens, eager to explore tall mountains, dark forests…
Lance Shevlan adds his story to “Voices In The Wilderness”
Family and Fall in the South Fork of Ross Creek We moved West in the early 1970s because we found it quiet and beautiful, and much less busy than Minneapolis.…
Consumed in the Yaak
By Riley Egan I am a consumer. I take elk, deer, trout, firewood, mushrooms, grouse, berries, experiences, memories, insight, and perspective. I take all of these things selfishly, albeit reverently,…
Shey Hannum went hunting and got more than she expected!
Calling the big one in. By Shey Hannum I bet you've never heard a hunting story like the one I'm about to tell you; especially from a girl. This is…
