Wilderness Experienced
“Wilderness Experienced” is our shared stories and musings about recent experiences in our nation’s Wildernesses. Stories can focus on the virtues of Wilderness, including the opportunity for solitude, discovery, spiritual renewal, physical challenge, wildlife viewing, and more, or things you found troubling, that just didn’t seem right in Wilderness and represent the challenges facing the National Wilderness Preservation System.
We suggest a length up to 750 words. Include one or two images from your trip, an author photo, and a very short bio (a couple of sentences works for this purpose). Wilderness Watch will review all submissions and reserves the right to decide which submissions get posted. Please send your story to [email protected]. Please do not submit travelogues or writing aimed at directing people to specific places in Wildernesses or trailheads.
Also, we encourage readers to engage the authors and other commenters through the comment feature. Please be respectful and thoughtful in your response, and focus your comments on the issues/experiences presented. Please refrain from personal attacks and harassment, using rude or disruptive language, providing misinformation, or promoting violence or illegal activities. We reserve the right to reject comments. Thank you for your cooperation and support.
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Among the grizzlies in the Denali Wilderness
A light-colored sow grizzly and her two darker cubs of the year watch us from across the gravel bar as we wade the calf-deep creek. We are too close for comfort, but we’re at a narrow bottleneck of the valley bottom. The only alternative would be to detour away from the bears by climbing the…
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Jets and a busier but still wonderful Wilderness
For the most part my long-term commitment to Wilderness Watch has been philosophical—I want to be sure that the Wilderness is there, for all of us, and that the government (in all forms) is following the rules that are laid out to protect that resource. I’m very proud to be a part of our ongoing…
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An early July trek into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
The last time I attempted to hike through the saddle, it snowed heavily, and I was forced to retreat back to the lake and build a fire to warm up. That was September though, and this was July. Rain was in the forecast this go-round, but I was determined to make it over the saddle,…
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Sharp-edged oasis
Perched uncharacteristically silent atop a twisted juniper, a Townsend’s solitaire scans the snow-encrusted sagebrush sea for rivals. At the base of the solitaire’s tree, juncos glean seeds from the barren ground. High above the cinder cones where brilliant cotton candy blue sets an edge against pinkish gray storm clouds, a pair of rough-legged hawks soar…
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Wilderness perspectives, old and new
“Let it burn,” I said, referring to wildfire in the Wilderness. I almost reacted to Bob’s (unsure of his real name) retort. “NO!” he snapped and walked on up the trail. My wife, Ellie, and I were on our fifth day in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness when we had run into “Bob” and his wife…
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Secrets of the Siuslaw—An exploration of the embattled Drift Creek Wilderness in Oregon
The rusty Jeep creeps around potholes deep and wide enough to bathe a Sasquatch family in. A windowless Winnebago with a hot pink penis Kryloned onto its aluminum siding and an incinerated Toyota MR2 languish together on the brushy, broken glass-littered shoulder…
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The desert is a lot like beer
By Jack Smith “The desert is a lot like beer; it’s an acquired taste.” That’s what a friend of mine told me some years ago. I think he may have been onto something. However, these northern cold desert areas of Wyoming are neither a smooth lager nor an easy-drinking American pilsner. Rather, I seem to…
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Postcard to the Superstition Wilderness
By Jeri Lewis Edwards How could you have known we wouldbecome utterly, inexplicably lostwithout that misplaced map? And that razor cut trail cloaked in dust,talus, edged felsite, gneissic-banded rubble.We witnessed those tumbled stones—they weren’t cairns from your past,no markers to guide us. We couldn’t help but notice your narrow gameswaths, up boulder jutted cliffs—too exposed.We…
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The valley they call fire
By Frank Keim Thinking back…deepinto the heart of these arctic mountainsknown today as the Brooks Range,I rememberthe long windy solitude of the valley,where gray river cobbles collidewith a braided maze of ancient caribou trails,and pink fireweed blossoms brushthe wide antlers of a bull moosebrowsing nonchalantlybelowme,as I clamber up to the tip of the tailof the…
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Rain Shadow Light: Drying out in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness
By Michael Edwards “The fine gravel made this hike feel a lot like walking through sand – not super fun for 7 miles. And not a whole lot to see, pretty mundane until you get to flat rock, which is kinda cool to explore, but not for that long of a hike.” Online reviewer bringing…
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Big Tom and other Wilderness cougars over the years
By Jim Peek I’ve seen quite a few cougars over the years, but the biggest one was in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho. My way to cool off from the spring semester at the University of Idaho was to borrow Maurice Hornocker’s two pack mules, saddle my horse, and have the agriculture school’s stock truckers…
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Highlighting the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness (even if the National Park Service won’t)
By Kevin Proescholdt This fall, my wife Jean and I visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Though we had driven through the area on I-94 in the past, we had never explored the park, nor visited its designated Wildernesses. We had a wonderful time visiting and hiking in the park, and exploring…
Photo: Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona by Bob Wick/BLM