by Kaeli Wells I hiked down off the mountain at 3:44 in the morning. It was the day after the summer solstice and there was already a thin line of…
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.
Flip-flops and Mountain Goats
Yeo Won Yarnell's essay was the best of the 2019 FSPW Scholarship Competition. I was raised in a household that highly values doing outdoor activities like hiking, biking and skiing. …
David Neils — Introduction to a Wild Life
By David Neils Growing up in Libby, Montana, I was surrounded by incredibly wild and beautiful country. Our family spent a lot of time in the outdoors. There were trails…
Leigh Lake September
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…
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…
