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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.

  • Rene

    The Wild Emigrant: Cows, Dams, and Damn Mosquitoes

    By René Voss So now I know why people came up with the idea of aerial spraying DDT to kill pesky bugs … like the thousands of mosquitoes that attacked me over the summer solstice in the Emigrant Wilderness.  Relentless beasts! As I was walking out of the Wilderness I struck an interesting conversation with a…

  • Brett

    Wolf Sightings, Bear-Baiting, and Landing Strips: A Week in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

    By Brett Haverstick I just returned from a recent backpacking trip into one of our nation’s first Wilderness areas, the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of north central Idaho and western Montana. It was a typical June trip in the Northern Rockies with thunder, lightning, rain, hail, clouds, and sun. The forests were greening up, the rivers and…

Photo: Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona by Bob Wick/BLM