2017 Summer Mountain Outlaw

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MOUNTAIN

FRE E

SUMMER 2017

MAX BAUCUS

finally walks home Yellowstone embraces China

NICARAGUA Discovering ‘Tranquilo’

WHITEWATER REBIRTH MIDDLE FORK METAMORPHOSIS

BIG SKY | BOZEMAN | JACKSON

KAYAKING WITH WOUNDED VETERANS

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MAX BAUCUS FINALLY WALKS HOME

By Todd Wilkinson After more than four decades in the political arena, Montana’s longest serving senator and the former U.S. ambassador to China reflects on civil discourse, compromise and the rise of partisan politics, from the “radical middle.” Todd Wilkinson documents the elder statesman’s story in “Max Baucus Finally Walks Home.”

Holder Johnna LaPlantt helps rider Narcis Reevis mount during an exchange at the 2016 All Nations Indian Relay Horse Racing Championship. The sixth annual relay will be held September 20-24 at the historic Yellowstone Downs at Metra Park in Billings, Montana.

PHOTO BY ALLEN RUSSELL

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FLIGHT OF THE RED DRAGON

By Claire Cella The most populous country in the world is launching its own national park system, and it’s looking to the United States for guidance. Claire Cella tracks the rise in Chinese visitation to Yellowstone National Park in “Flight of the Red Dragon,” and discovers what park officials and gateway communities are doing to accommodate this growing economic force.

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THROUGH THE DARKNESS

By Seth Dahl Lonnie Bedwell, the first blind person to kayak the Grand Canyon, introduces other visually impaired veterans to paddling on the Yellowstone River, in the ultimate exercise in trust. For “Through the Darkness,” Seth Dahl tags along with Team River Runner to reveal how running whitewater promotes independence and supports recovery.

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TRANQUILO: DISCOVERING NICARAGUA, CENTRO AMERICA’S HIDDEN GEM

By S. Jason Moore Nicaragua has what most of the world’s best places have already lost: the calm, the peaceful, the “Tranquilo.” S. Jason Moore explores why you should get in on the secret before everyone else does.

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TRAILHEAD 20 Events: The Yellowstone Boat Float, where the water’s mellow and the crowds are rowdy, and Wydaho Rendezvous, a festival in the Tetons for the cycle-obsessed 21 Recommendations: Kevin Canty’s literary account of a mining disaster in a fictional town, and Charged, an incredible documentary about a man who survived 2,400 volts of electricity 22 Cause: The Station Foundation supports special-ops veterans and the families of fallen soldiers 23 Visit: Ekalaka, a tiny town on the Montana Dinosaur Trail where the Old West lives on

GALLERY 26 Max Lowe, Forrest Woodward and Charles Post follow the “highway in the sky” to document the migrations of winged predators

NOW 36 Max Baucus finally walks home 46 To find a voice, an extraordinary story from the TEDx stage 50 Reports: Young people find new peaks to climb with Wilderness Adventures, and filmmaker Greg Cairns on what it means—and what it will take—to preserve the wild

YELLOWSTONE 56 Flight of the red dragon 65 Humor: Fighting off Yellowstone’s flying fauna

LAND 70 East Helena sheds its mining past with a massive restoration project 74 Rock Ringling and a million Montana acres

CULTURE 78 Through the darkness 84 A new take on an old film genre, with ladies in the lead 90 Greater Yellowstone’s summer music roundup 98 Life advice from little experts 103 Mouth-watering grilling recipes from local restaurants and gourmet retailers

GEAR 113 All gussied up: Kick up a little dust in your cowboy boots and best pearl snap shirt

ADVENTURE 122 Tranquilo: Discovering Nicaragua, Centro America’s hidden gem 132 A transformative trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River

OUTLAW 140 Writer-turned-activist Rick Bass pulls no punches

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SECTION: SUBBozeman, Montana’s legendary mountaineer Conrad Anker climbs the Grand Teton outside of Jackson, Wyoming. Anker has summited Mount Everest three times—once without supplemental oxygen—and has numerous first ascents under his belt, including the 2011 summit of the Shark’s Fin in the Himalayas with Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk that was documented in the awardwinning film Meru.

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MOUNTAIN Owned and published in Big Sky, Montana.

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Tyler Allen

PUBLISHER Eric Ladd

SENIOR EDITOR Amanda Eggert

SALES AND OPERATIONS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Megan Paulson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sarah Gianelli STAFF WRITER Doug Hare EDITOR-AT-LARGE Joseph T. O’Connor CREATIVE ART DIRECTOR Kelsey Dzintars LEAD DESIGNER Carie Birkmeier

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SALES AND MARKETING E.J. Daws EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Alexis Deaton MEDIA AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Ersin Ozer DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Doug Hare

SENIOR VIDEO EDITOR Ryan Weaver CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Claire Cella, Seth Dahl, Kate Hull, Max Lowe, Marisa Megan, S. Jason Moore, Yogesh Simpson, Caitlin Styrsky, Ednor Therriault, Todd Wilkinson, Jessianne Wright CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS/ARTISTS Phillip Baribeau, Lowry Bass, Pat Burns, Greg Cairns, Kevin Cass, Jimmy Chin, Seth Dahl, Margaux D’Altena, Carl Davaz, Tuck Fauntleroy, Jeanne Gaisford, Cristina Gottardi, Neal Herbert, Justin Howells, Mary Keating-Brutona, Allen Kennedy, Max Lowe, Jessica Lowry, Larry Mayer, Alex Mckendrick, S. Jason Moore, Wes Overvold, Casey Page, Eric Peterson, Charles Post, Ryan Richards, Rick Rose, Paul Ruhter, Allen Russell, Pete Souz, Kevin Stacy, Jeremy Wallace, Wesley White, Cody Whitmer, He-Myong Woo, Forrest Woodward

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On the cover: Boundary Expeditions guide Jake Peavey and guest Andy Reiner paddle through the spray of Cutthroat Cove Rapid on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho.

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C O N T E N T B Y L O C AT I O N

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M O N TA N A

MISSOULA p. 95

LEWISTOWN p. 21 EAST HELENA p. 70 BUTTE p. 90

BOZEMAN p. 36, 93, 104, 107, 114, 116

THREE FORKS p. 90, 95 BIG SKY p. 46, 92, 93, 104, 105, 107

MIDDLE FORK SALMON RIVER p. 132

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS p. 91 LIVINGSTON p. 20, 91

COLUMBUS p. 20, 117

EKALAKA p. 23

PARADISE VALLEY p. 21, 78, 140

YELLOWSTONE p. 56, 65

IDAHO ALTA p. 20, 91, 93

JACKSON p. 10, 50, 91, 103

WYOMING

NICARAGUA p. 122

Living a life of art and adventure, Jimmy Chin is a photographer, documentary filmmaker and 15-year veteran of The North Face Athlete Team. In the past decade, Chin has collaborated with, filmed and photographed some of the world’s most progressive athletes (p. 10) while participating in breakthrough expeditions around the planet. His photography has graced the cover of National Geographic and garnered recognition from the American Society of Magazine Editors, among others. He splits his time between New York City and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

S. Jason Moore is a freelance writer and photographer based out of Red Cliff, Colorado. His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and when he’s not navigating the world of healthcare as a clinician or researching adventure sports injuries, he can be found exploring small towns like Ekalaka, Montana (p. 23), or the remote beach breaks of Nicaragua (p. 122).

Starting his career as a violent crime reporter in Chicago, Todd Wilkinson has been a Montana-based national environmental journalist for more than 30 years. His work has appeared in publications ranging from National Geographic to The Washington Post.

In 2016, the National Newspaper Association named Wilkinson’s “The New West” the country’s best serious column for small-town papers. He is also the author of Last Stand: Ted Turner's Quest to Save a Troubled Planet. (“Max Baucus Finally Walks Home,” p. 36)

F RO M T H E E D I T O R A river runs through these pages In a former life, I spent three summers guiding backcountry trips on Oregon’s Rogue River and the Lower Salmon in Idaho. It was a small slice of my time on this planet but one that left a profound impact. A river exposes your strengths and weaknesses, tests your ability to adapt, and trains your diplomacy—there’s no choice when you spend six days with a collection of diverse ideologies and nowhere to escape.

Diplomacy, comity and the art of negotiation are at a premium in today’s political culture, as the longest-serving U.S. senator from Montana told Todd Wilkinson in “Max Baucus Finally Walks Home” (p. 36). The political powerhouse from the Treasure State ascended to the U.S. Congress in 1974 by walking 630 miles from Gardiner, Montana, to the Yaak Valley, talking to voters in the rural towns he visited along the way. His longevity as a Democratic politician in a red state was buoyed by his commitment to reach into the rural corners of Montana.

No matter our political persuasions, rivers connect us here in the Northern Rockies. We’re collectively aware of how much precipitation falls on our arid landscape, and when our snowpack begins to melt. Sportsmen, boaters and farmers alike watch these dynamic seasonal patterns.

Rivers can also empower us, as Seth Dahl documented in words and images for “Through the Darkness” (p.78). Team River Runner was founded in 2004 to create innovative paddling programs designed to assist the recovery of those injured while in service of our country. The story of blind kayakers following the sounds of their sighted guides through roiling rapids is a profound demonstration of both trust and independence.

Sarah Gianelli experienced “Metamorphosis on the Middle Fork” (p. 132) during a six-day adventure in Idaho’s wilderness—a transformation that could happen in few places but a wild river.

When she reported back to her friend Katie Lee, a 97-year-old legend of anti-dam activism, Lee told her, “A river can change your whole life and everything you thought about that life before you met the river.”

It certainly changed mine. Stories of rivers course through this 14th edition of Mountain Outlaw and we hope they encourage you to get your feet wet this summer.

Tyler Allen tyler@outlaw.partners

F E AT U R E D C O N T R I B U T O R S

A Texas native, Kate Hull lives in Victor, Idaho, where she works as a freelance travel and lifestyle writer and is the associate editor of Teton Valley Magazine. An avid fly fisher, she can be found spending her summers on the South Fork of the Snake River and exploring her Teton backyard. (“Wilderness Adventures,” p. 50, “A Space for the Unconventional,” p. 84)

Claire Cella (“Flight of the Red Dragon,” p. 56) grew up in New York's Catskill Mountains before moving to Austin, Texas, to pursue degrees in English, journalism and information science. In 2010-2011, she lived in Thailand and developed a lingering fascination for the breadth of culture she found traveling across the Asian continent.

She now lives and works in Lander, Wyoming.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Doug Hare attended Princeton University where he played soccer and majored in Religious Studies. He also studied philosophy and cosmology at Harvard Divinity School.

Currently working on a book about the logician Charles Sanders Peirce, he also writes a column about Western literature for Explore Big Sky newspaper. An avid skier, he is steadily improving his fly fishing and still trying to give up the game of golf. (“Recommended Read,” p. 21, “Rick Bass” p. 140)

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P H OTO B Y K E VI N CAS S

EVENTS

WYDAHO RENDEZVOUS

Alta, Wyoming / September 1-4

For nearly a decade now, a more colorful and probably less hirsute set of mountain men (women and children) from around the West have gathered in the Tetons, just like their French forebears did over a century ago. Rather than swapping furs, however, they come to ride bikes.

Cranking through Labor Day weekend, the Wydaho Rendezvous: Teton Valley Bike Festival touts four days of mountain biking mayhem in the Teton, Snake River and Big Hole mountains of Wyoming and Idaho.

Whether you’re camping at the Grand Targhee Resort festival grounds or lodging slope side, you can partake in a stacked lineup of two-wheelin’ fun, fitness and education— and plenty of live music, beer and reverie to boot. –Sarah Gianelli 20 MOUNTAIN

PHOTO BY LARRY MAYER

YELLOWSTONE BOAT FLOAT

Livingston to Columbus, Montana / July 7-9

The Yellowstone Boat Float celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013.

For many years, the three-day, 83-mile float between Livingston and Columbus was called the Mayor’s Float in honor of former Billings mayor Willard Fraser, who started the tradition in 1963 to protest the potential damming of the Yellowstone River.

These days a spirited melting pot of tourists and locals alike keep the tradition alive and growing. Last year, approximately 300 rowdy boats— not only rafts, but kayaks and even a barge fit for pirates—were counted during Saturday’s float.

Whether or not we have Fraser to thank, the Yellowstone remains the longest undammed river in the lower 48, and that seems cause enough to celebrate. And why not with hundreds of your newest friends? –S.G.

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THE UNDERWORLD MONTANA COWBOY POETRY GATHERING Lewistown, Montana / August 17-20

Held annually since 1986, the Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Western Music Rendezvous spins four days of poetry, Western music and good ole fashioned storytelling into a living narrative of cowboy culture.

The event convenes more than 100 cowboy poets, Western musicians and artists to share their talents and tales in celebration of the traditions long honored in the American West.

Staged in Lewistown, Montana, the state’s geographical center, the festival provides an immersive opportunity to step back to a slower, simpler time. The Gathering kicks off Thursday with a Chuck Wagon Supper and closes Sunday with Cowboy Church. In between, more than 50 hours of music sessions, a Western art and gear show and two dances top the docket. – S.G.

Entertainer Dave Stamey headlines the 32nd annual Montana Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

P H OTO CO UR T E SY O F N E ET S PHOTOGR APHY

Kevin Canty’s ninth book, The Underworld, might take place in a READ fictional, blue-collar Montana town, but the events of the novel closely resemble the 1972 Sunshine Mine disaster in Idaho that claimed the lives of 91 men.

Silverton, Montana, is a hardscrabble, hard-drinking town where the priests and prostitutes are kept busy. The toxicity of the mine eventually spills out into the town: “There was arsenic in the smoke, chromium, cadmium, lead … people died here after a while, lung cancer, liver cancer.”

A contributor to The New Yorker and an English professor at the University of Montana, Canty is not as concerned with the cause of the tragedy but with the guilt, grief and despair of those who survived it.

Three characters take center stage and in their respective attempts to cope with

catastrophe, they become more empathetic as we are confronted with an unsparing account of hope in small-town America.

Despite being set 40 years ago, the insights into working-class families and the complexities of socioeconomic status are illuminated in the aftermath of the fatal fire in ways that seem as topical as ever. Only a masterful writer could lead us down, like Virgil, into the Cimmerian darkness of a silver mine ablaze and lead us out again, affected but unscathed, with such economy, delicacy and precision. – Doug Hare

CHARGED: THE EDUARDO GARCIA STORY In October 2011, while hiking in Montana’s Paradise REEL Valley, 34-year-old Eduardo Garcia stumbled upon the remains of a bear.

Curious, he pulled out a knife and touched the carcass.

It was lights out.

The bear had been lying on a live power source and shocked Garcia with 2,400 volts of electricity.

Despite nine exit wounds caused by the jolt, Garcia limped three miles to civilization and was airlifted to Salt Lake City where he was described as a “dead man with a heartbeat.”

What follows is the most compelling kind of survival story—a documentary film that takes viewers to the brink of death and back, culminating in a mind, body and

spirit triumphant. Filmed by Bozeman director Phillip Baribeau and funded in part by a Kickstarter campaign, Charged incorporates footage from Garcia’s vibrant life as a Bozeman chef and athlete before the freakish incident in the wilderness, and chronicles the long road to true rehabilitation. – S.G.

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CAUSE

THE STATION F O U NDAT I O N Healing families touched by combat For 11 years Kevin Stacy served as an officer and pilot in the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. After 12 deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations in support of contingency operations and the global war on terror, he was confronted with re-entry into civilian life.

As Stacy and his wife, Shannon, researched programs to aid in managing the stressors of reintegration they found minimal support for service members who had no diagnoses or physical injury. And they felt compelled to address it.

“I had worked with the best people in the world, doing work I thought was extremely important and meaningful,” Stacy said, “but my family was a wreck. That was enough for me to shift directions and focus on the wellness beyond combat. How do you fight in combat and come

home intact, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well?”

For the past five years, the Stacys have dedicated their lives to answering those questions.

Since 2011, they have grown their nonprofit, The Station Foundation, from helping a handful of veterans into a comprehensive web of programs and services designed to aid special operations vets, and with equal focus, their families.

Based in Gallatin County, The Station now works with 270 special operations veterans and families across the country, but the unique outdoor adventure retreats designed especially for Gold Star Kids all take place in the greater southwest Montana region.

The Station Foundation’s Gold Star Kids initiative offers an array of services to children who have lost a special operations parent in combat, and is tailored to meet the challenges

Above: Mentors and Gold Star children embark on a backcountry honor hike. Each participant carries a large river rock to place at a private location, creating a cairn to mark the “way” and the memories they carry of their fallen special operations fathers and teammates.

Below: A Gold Star son practices primitive weapon skills during the survival portion of their wilderness training in July 2016.

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Aside from the make of the automobiles, not much has changed in downtown Ekalaka since the 1914 image was captured above.

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EK AL AK A , M O N TA N A youth face as they transition from childhood into adolescence and beyond.

Gold Star Kids’ first introduction to The Station is The Crossing—a 12-day wilderness survival experience during which youth aged 9 to 16 are paired with a mentor who had served with their fallen parent. Participants in The Crossing have rafted the Yellowstone River, summited Ramshorn Peak, canoed the Gallatin River, and conducted long distance navigation through the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park.

High-school aged Special Operations Gold Star Kids have the opportunity to participate in a one-year leadership development program, and The Station now offers continued support through college and into the professional world.

“To watch [our Gold Star Kids] grow up is awesome,” Stacy said. “My hope is that they come out with a better appreciation for who their dads were and what they did for their country … that they live lives of meaning of purpose, and that we’ve helped them find that for themselves.” – S.G.

In the mid 1960s, Bill “Sweet Willie” Carlisle and his crew of cowboys took flight in a Cessna 182 across the American West, bronc riding in the early years of the professional rodeo circuit. Tales of these cowboys sleeping in the dirt and of their worldfamous Tooke bucking horses add fuel to evenings of lore in Ekalaka, Montana.

It’s OK if you don’t know much about Ekalaka. Nestled in the southeast corner of Montana, with just over 300 year-round residents, there isn’t much in the Lonely Planet guidebook about Ekalaka, which is exactly why it’s worth the trip.

Located in Carter County, the town was named after a Sioux woman, Ijkalaka, who married a scout by the name of David Russell in 1874.

This agricultural town now serves as Carter’s county seat and is also home to the famous Carter County Museum, one of 14 museums along the Montana Dinosaur Trail. Ekalaka

has been showcasing Old West and Native American artifacts since the 1930s and is described as “an epicenter of dinosaur discoveries for the last century,” by the Carter County Geological Survey. Exhibits of Triceratops, T. rex and duck-billed dinosaurs highlight what remains of these storied creatures.

Theodore Roosevelt is said to have carved his initials in the sandstone formations of Medicine Rocks State Park, 11 miles north of town. Considered a holy place by indigenous tribes, Medicine Rocks has the feel of a time long gone by, and if you look closely you might catch a glimpse of the dwarves rumored to inhabit the rocks.

Locals celebrate Ekalaka’s founding in early August each year during The Days Of ‘85 Fair and Rodeo. Featuring a parade, barbecue, local artists and live music, the festival heralds the lore of this true Western town. –S. Jason Moore

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G A L L E RY

A researcher releases the captured golden eagle after banding it. The raptor will continue its travels south during its epic migration.

P H OTOGR A P H B Y F OR ES T WOODWA R D

A sharp-shinned hawk looks on fiercely as he is held for measurements and banding in one of the blinds at the Goshute Mountains HawkWatch research station in Nevada.

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RAPTOR RECONNAISSANCE

HELD TIGHTLY BY THE STEADY HANDS

CHASING THE ANNUAL SOUTHERN MIGRATION OF WINGED PREDATORS ALONG THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

of several HawkWatch International field biologists and volunteers, a massive golden eagle swivels its head looking at each person in our group, its cadmium-yellow irises growing and contracting to focus on us, its momentary captors.

“These big raptors don’t even really struggle once they are caught; they just don’t have the hardwiring to understand the concept of being prey,” says Mike Shaw, a long-time volunteer for the raptor migration-banding program operated each year by HawkWatch.

Along a series of remote mountaintop research stations, from northern Washington to Texas, HawkWatch International collects data to inform land management and policy. Since 1986, this organization has counted and banded millions of birds that embody the wild spirit of our natural world.

In fall 2016, my friends Forest Woodward, Charles Post and I set out to trace part of this migratory route by boot and wheel, to tell the story of the lives and landscapes that are bridged by one of the largest migrations on the planet.

Shaw admits that there are selfish moments in this work for him.

“The privilege of holding something so wild in your hands—a creature that travels thousands of miles every year across multiple hemispheres of our planet—it’s a feeling that can’t be matched in this life,” he says. – Max Lowe

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A HawkWatch International field researcher holds up a red-tailed hawk to take its measurements at the Goshute Mountains site.

P H OTO BY CH AR LE S POST

Above: Charles Post walks to a cliff’s edge overlooking the Great Basin stretching out below Nevada’s Goshute Mountains and into the sunrise.

Below: A field researcher holds a young sharp-shinned hawk before its release at one of the Goshute blinds.

P H OTO S B Y MAX LOWE

A researcher releases the captured golden eagle after banding it. The raptor will continue its travels south during its epic migration.

P HOTOGRAPH BY FOREST WOODWARD

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OUTBOUND GALLERY

SONGBIRDS MAKE UP APPROXIMATELY 90 PERCENT OF A SHARPSHINNED HAWK’S DIET, BUT THEY’VE ALSO BEEN REPORTED TO EAT SHOREBIRDS, WOODPECKERS AND EVEN FALCONS.

Above: Charles Post scans the sky for incoming raptors in one of the Goshute Mountains blinds.

Center: Field researchers and volunteers sit around a glowing campfire at their encampment, high in the Manzano Mountains of New Mexico.

P H OTOS B Y F OR R ES T WOO DWARD

Below: Charles Post puts up one of the nets used to catch smaller raptors as they come into the blind sites.

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GOLDEN EAGLES WILL TRAVEL AS FAR AS 1,900 MILES DURING THEIR ANNUAL MIGRATION.

A HawkWatch field researcher holds the legs of a massive golden eagle captured for banding at the Manzano Mountains HawkWatch research site in New Mexico.

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OUTBOUND GALLERY

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OUTBOUND GALLERY

Above: A camper van filled with fellow wanderers parked at a rest stop on Highway 191, the north-south route we followed through the Southwest U.S. P H OTO B Y C H A R L ES P OS T

Below: A young Cooper’s hawk is held by one of the field researchers at the Goshute site.

P H OTO B Y F OR R ES T WOODWA R D

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A HawkWatch field biologist releases a golden eagle after it was captured, banded and measured.

P HOTO B Y F O R R E ST WOODWARD

MANZANO MOUNTAINS HAWKWATCH COUNTED

5,196 RAPTORS IN A SINGLE DAY IN 1993.

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Watch video about Max Baucus at mtoutlaw.com/baucus

MONTANA’S LONGEST SERVING SENATOR REFLECTS ON TODAY’S POLITICAL CLIMATE FROM THE ‘RADICAL MIDDLE’

MAX BAUCUS FINALLY WALKS HOME 36 MOUNTAIN

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BY TODD WILKINSON

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Max Baucus at Bozeman’s Baxter Hotel on March 7, 2017.

he elder American statesman, looking deceptively younger than the mileage on his political odometer, strides forth in a flannel shirt, jeans and running shoes. All week he’s been appearing on national television news programs. In the hours of this early March day still to come, Max Baucus will be interviewed by more talking heads in New York and Washington, that distant capital city where he wielded tremendous power and clout.

Now, as he turns off a Main Street sidewalk, slipping into the lobby of the Baxter Hotel, few in Bozeman, Montana, appear to immediately recognize him. For the first time since 1972, he is no longer a man with a formal political title attached to his name—not “Ambassador,” “U.S. Senator” or “Congressman,” state legislator, or even candidate Baucus. He is in a new unfamiliar phase he calls simply “Ordinary Citizen” Baucus—and he is ebullient, “darned glad,” he says, to finally be home.

“Within a day or two after Mel and I returned to Montana, I emailed a friend back in Beijing telling him I had just gone on a run outside in the clean air. I typed the words ‘CLEAN AIR’ in all caps,” he notes.

For Max Sieben Baucus, the notion of breathing freely again isn’t merely literal.

At age 75, he still boasts the good knees that enabled him to complete eight marathons and countless 10-kilometer races, giving him the prestige as a diehard harrier on Capitol Hill.

His recent stint as former President Barack Obama’s U.S. Ambassador to China (20142017) is likely to be his last as a civil servant.

Born a Helena rancher’s son in 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Baucus and his third wife Melodee are now building a home along the western foothills of the Bridger Mountains north of Bozeman, seeking what they hope will become a slowerpaced life.

Yet on the day we meet, major media outlets are hounding him, wanting to know: What does he think about President Donald Trump’s unproven accusations that Obama, while still in the White House, wiretapped

Trump’s phone lines? What does he make of the GOP’s initial failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the health care law Baucus had been instrumental in crafting? And what dangers does he see gathering on the horizon with the Trump administration disavowing key trade and climate agreements?

Relaxed, jocular and maybe exerting bolder candor than he’s wielded in half a lifetime, Baucus let loose on topics ranging from the rise of neo-populism to the state of democracy.

“I think the more our president makes statements that, off the top, seem totally ridiculous, the more it tends to damage our prestige worldwide,” says Baucus, freshly returned from a three-year post in Beijing.

Normally, Baucus’ understated way of doing things could drive zealots on the far right and far left crazy. And yet today in our deeply divided country, he could be regarded as a poster child for the “radical middle” of American politics. It’s a realm of centrism where things historically got done but no one anymore, he notes, seems to want to go there—to that dreaded place of compromise.

As a Treasure State Democrat cut from the cloth of his idol Mike Mansfield, Baucus has reverence for the art of political deal-making that puts country before party loyalty or personal profit. It is the only kind of legislating, he says, that lasts.

Mansfield was the Brooklyn, New York-born, Butte copper miner, who served in the U.S. House and Senate from 1943 to 1977—16 of those years as the longestserving senate majority leader—and capped his career as both Democrat Jimmy Carter’s and Republican Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Japan. Mansfield was also a dear friend of President John F. Kennedy.

Other party giants Baucus reveres are Pat Williams, a Buttean and cousin of Evel Knievel, who served nine terms in the U.S. House, and the late Lee Metcalf, a fourterm congressman who went on to become acting pro tempore of the U.S. Senate before he died in 1978. >>

P H OTO B Y WE S OV E RVOLD

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THE ORIGINS OF A TREASURE STATE GIANT

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ne of the retired ambassador’s oldest and closest friends, Mike Miles, also grew up on a ranch outside of Helena.

“Granted, ours was much smaller than the Sieben Ranch where Max spent his formative years,” Miles explains, noting his grandmother babysat Baucus as a child.

They attended Helena High where Baucus played fullback on the football team and when he wasn’t a starter, his hard work and enthusiasm made him a natural team leader.

A former Catholic priest who went on to become an author, instructor at Carroll College and today is professor emeritus in Montana State University’s Honors College, Miles served as a special assistant to Baucus when he became senator.

In temperament and disposition, Miles says, Baucus is a reflection of his mother Jean and adopted father John.

“His mother was educated and well read, an elegant, strong and very refined person,” Miles said. “Max would say he saw her as a combination of Grace Kelly and Katherine Hepburn and you know what, it was darned accurate. She had a graciousness and like many Montana ranch women, was tough, no pushover. Politicians who visited Max in Montana loved her.”

Baucus’ stepfather was tall both physically and in the way he rode in the saddle. “He was quiet, kind of a Gary Cooper type but transparent and dignified,” Miles says. “He didn’t believe in sharing his opinions unless he thought he had something useful to say and when he did offer something, you knew it had been well considered and you’d be wise to listen.”

Like his mother, Baucus attended Stanford University where he also earned his law degree, then was tapped in 1972 to be among a crosssection of citizens who assembled Montana’s first constitutional convention, considered one of the most progressive in the country.

“Max was the one who wanted to walk across Montana both to reconnect but also because he believed every county mattered.”

From 1972 forward, Baucus never lost a political race.

When he ran a successful long-shot bid to fill Metcalf’s seat in 1978, he commenced a tenure that made him Montana’s longest serving U.S. senator in history—holding a seat that had continuously remained in Democrats’ hands since 1952.

Republicans won it back in 2014, when Bozeman businessman Steve Daines prevailed in a special election held after Baucus became ambassador. Many say it is indicative of a political shift in the state.

Miles points out that Montana has changed from being a progressive, pro-labor bastion owed to jobs in the resource extraction industries and sprinkled with prairie agrarian populists. Even as rural areas in eastern Montana have emptied and more of the state’s 1 million denizens cluster in cities closer to the mountains, the Treasure State has turned redder.

NOW: BAUCUS

Left: Baucus walked 630 miles from Gardiner to the Yaak Valley in 1974 to connect with voters before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

LEVERAGING THE RURAL WEST IN D.C.

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P H OTO COU R TES Y OF M A X B AU CU S

n Capitol Hill, Baucus readily admits he was far better at formulating strategy than attaining distinction as a grandstanding orator. He still exudes a kind of bashfulness.

“Max is actually a nice guy, but to some that made him come across as an intellectual lightweight. He wasn’t a man in love with the sound of his own voice and, so compared to others, he seemed like a mumbler who speaks only in abbreviated, incomplete sentences. He didn’t behave like a cowboy, strutting and acting macho and stuff as some Western politicians do,” says Tim Crawford, a Gallatin Valley businessman, farmer and conservationist. “His critics often said he was aloof. He isn’t.”

In Washington, many politicians rise or fall based on the competence of their staff. Many of the people Baucus gathered around him went on to hold leadership positions in politics, business and academia, and reflect on their tenure with Baucus as being an important training ground.

Jim Messina, one of the senator’s acclaimed hires, became the mastermind behind Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012 by using sophisticated data crunching to reach voters, especially young people.

Messina says that connecting with the entire electorate matters and Hillary Clinton’s inability to do so cost her the 2016 presidential election.

Right: Baucus with constituents in Missoula in 1984, the year he was elected to his second Senate term.

P H OTO B Y CA R L DAVA Z / M I S S OU LI A N

A legendary moment in Baucus’ career came in 1974, when he waged an underdog’s bid and walked 630 miles over eight weeks from Gardiner, Montana, until he reached the Yaak Valley on the Canadian border. The purpose: to listen to Montanans along the way. Some of them chewed Baucus’ ears off but were grateful that he heard them.

Baucus repeated the trek again in 1995 and 1996 to realign himself with the sentiments of constituents. He narrowly won his re-election bid over Denny Rehberg, who was aided by millions of dollars poured into the race by the Republican National Committee, a harbinger of how costly campaigns have become.

When Miles and Baucus barnstormed across the state in the ‘90s they never stayed in hotels but often on couches at constituents’ homes. “He might be Montana’s last great retail politician. Jon Tester gets out there and does a great job, but Max was old school,” says Miles, comparing him to Montana’s current populist Democratic U.S. senator, a grain farmer from Big Sandy.

Messina notes that Baucus had a sign on his desk in D.C. that read, “Montana Comes First.”

“Max really lived that, every day. Much like now, when I went to work for him there was all this buzz about micro targeting and giving up on rural areas,” Messina explains.

“Max was the one who wanted to walk across Montana both to reconnect, but also because he believed every county mattered.

We built these things called ‘Baucus Barbecue Bonanzas’ which were fun picnics with a band and beer in rural counties where Dems hadn’t campaigned in years. … He won every county we did a BBB in.”>>

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“I

think of Mike [Mansfield] often,” Baucus says. “He was a role model because of his decency, courtesy, respect, honesty and humility. To be a good public servant, he said, you’ll always know who you are and what you ought to stand for, if you remember who you work for.”

Baucus heeded Mansfield’s advice by making time for his constituents. “Every couple of months, Max would have a work day in Montana,” said Brian Kuehl, who served as both Baucus’ legislative director and acting chief of staff. “These were opportunities for him to step into the shoes of people working in Montana.”

Baucus stacked wood products in timber mills, slung food in greasy spoon restaurants, and mended barbed wire fences on ranches.

Baucus believed he could have his greatest influence by serving on committees setting tax policy and he became a gatekeeper of funding.

Every day, Montanans enjoy the work of Baucus’ unrelenting push to secure billions of dollars in federal highway funds. Montana is a “net donee” state, meaning that it gets far more from the federal government than it generates in taxes. Baucus made no apologies for using his authority on the Senate Finance and Environment and Public Works committees to give Montana a disproportionate influence.

Although he started his career as an unapologetic progressive, Miles said, Baucus knew that as the years wore on, appearing to be in lockstep with liberal Democrats from the coasts would never fly

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with his constituents. While he voted in favor of a ban on assault rifles, he resisted most curbs on gun ownership.

Politics is a blood sport. Although Baucus was a pragmatist, not a purist, he played the political game to win. He amassed enormous war chests, so that every six years he could make expensive media buys and fund grassroots campaigns to counter an inflow of

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Republican PAC money pouring into the state to beat him.

“Max was a fierce campaigner but also willing to leave campaigning behind once he was reelected,” Kuehl said. “That’s a lesson many other politicians could learn.”

As Baucus notes now, with pride, his fundraising acumen profoundly benefitted other candidates down-ticket in the state.

Above: President Barack Obama talks with the Congressional delegation aboard Air Force One on April 19, 2009, following the Summit of the Americas. Participants include Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Sen. Max Baucus (center) and Rep. Sam Farr.

NOW: BAUCUS

O FF ICIAL WHIT E HO USE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZ

Below: Secretary of State John Kerry chats with U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus and Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Cai Wei after arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China on November 7, 2014, in advance of President Obama’s visit to the Chinese capital.

S TAT E DE PAR T M E N T PHOTO

“Max was a giant.

He was probably one of the three or four most powerful people in Washington for years and continually used that power for his state.”

He laments the widely perceived softening of the Democratic Party’s grip in Montana, as evidenced by the GOP’s control of the state legislature. As senator and the party’s senior figurehead, he implemented a playbook not different from the current Republican Party. He insisted that candidates carry forward an integrated message where the success of one reinforced the success of another.

Baucus has huge admiration for the populist campaign of Bernie Sanders, who prided himself on receiving only small contributions from millions of supporters.

“I think one reason Bernie Sanders did so well in the Democratic primary, and Donald Trump did so well, is because a lot of people, Republicans and Democrats, are kind of ticked off. They’re angry,” Baucus said. “In the last 10 years, average incomes of Americans in real terms—that’s after inflation—have not risen, whereas most wealthy folks have done pretty well …

Of course people should be upset about that.”

He deeply regrets the tidal wave of “dark money” in politics and yet he profoundly benefitted from it, in the form of liberal political action committees. Pulling no punches, he says there’s too much money in politics and it has resulted in a serious breakdown of comity, or respect between the parties, nationwide. The rift, he says, has been building for years, worsened by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision of 2010. It’s accelerated with the advent of social media loaded with calculated fake news, the decline of the Fourth Estate (watchdog journalism), and the dumbing down of complicated issues into TV sound bites.

Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, a Republican, believes that Congress should pass a 28th Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution that would overturn Citizens United and set limits on election spending. Baucus likes the idea but he says money will always be a corrupting factor in politics, one way or another. Despite this incendiary time of alternative facts, he has faith that truth eventually prevails.

“Americans aren’t dumb,” he says, claiming too that, over time, the composition of the Supreme Court will eventually reach a point where the corrupting influence of dark money will be contained.

Mike Miles’ late son, Sean, interned with Baucus, and tragically died in a car accident while on college break from Princeton University. The young man, who had worked for the Wilderness Society, left a profound impression on Baucus, so much so that the senator created a conservation fellowship that brought young Montanans to Washington to experience democracy in action. It was the only one of its kind. When Baucus read a tribute to Sean into the federal register, Ted Kennedy, out of respect for Baucus and Miles, was there to listen.

Baucus openly expresses his admiration for Kennedy’s lyrical displays of forensics, “the liberal lion” that fired up the Democratic base and, with remarkable rhetorical pugilism, could eviscerate opposing positions.

Part of Baucus’ marvel for Kennedy stems from how he got along with perceived political foes and had their respect.

After Kennedy’s theatrics were done, he and Republicans would retreat to chambers, Baucus said, carrying on debates respectfully, even socializing with each other. Simpson says the same thing and laments the erosion of comity in Washington.>>

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WHAT HAPPENED?

“I

ask myself that question often,” Baucus says. “I don’t have a good answer.” He tells the story of how the private Senate dining room served as a sanctum for lawmakers to get to know each other personally. It fueled the spirit of working together, but the dining room closed down a decade ago as senators began spending time on fundraisers, and with lobbyists and party strategists. And mass media created feedback loops so that people only listen to those who reinforce their own views.

“Part of it is on us, too,” he says, meaning citizens.

“If we want those in Washington, D.C., to exercise more comity, citizens have got to push for it and exercise more comity themselves.” The future of the U.S. will be more assured, he asserts, by maintaining an educated electorate.

Baucus, a lifelong hunter, angler and outdoor recreationist, is a fierce defender of the First and Second amendments. He points to the important role of the media but also expresses alarm over the epidemic of fake news. He found himself on the receiving end of it as debate over Obamacare hit fever pitch in 2009. Baucus went to the floor of the Senate and repudiated claims from Republican Sen. Roger Wicker that Democrats had frozen the GOP out of talks and were trying to “Europeanize” American health care.

After Baucus challenged Wicker and others, saying their claims would be considered libelous were they not protected by Senate bylaws, he soon got a dose of retaliation. The conservative Drudge Report posted a video on YouTube, which quickly went viral, claiming Baucus had been drunk while delivering his dress down of Wicker. Print media picked it up, but no one bothered to ask the senator himself, and the claim reached newspapers across Montana. It wasn’t true.

Veteran Montana journalist Mike Dennison looked into Wicker’s allegations and wrote: “Baucus, whose public speaking style can be halting and awkward, is not slurring his words …”

Baucus called newspaper editors demanding to know why they published it, without verification, and was told because everyone else had. Being a lawmaker in the age of social media is not something he misses.

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What Wicker apparently didn’t realize when he invoked Kennedy’s name, outlandishly claiming he wouldn’t have approved of the Democrats’ tactics in passing Obamacare, is the full extent of Baucus’ friendship with Kennedy and the pledge he made.

Kennedy’s dream was seeing universal health care but knew he wouldn’t live long enough to see the Affordable Care Act passed. He summoned Baucus to his home in suburban Washington, as he was in hospice with brain cancer, and made him promise that, as Finance Committee Chairman, Baucus would ensure the football got carried over the goal line. The moment, many said, represented a passing of the torch.

With Obama’s election in 2008 and the volcanic eruption of the Tea Party, the GOP enforced a code not to cooperate with anything Democrats did.

Shaking his head in disgust, Baucus said President Trump’s tweeted declaration that he would rather see Obamacare explode in order to blame it on Democrats, instead of working in a bipartisan way to serve the public interest, is shameful.

“Sometimes I’ve thought the U.S. Congress rallies together and Washington gets together only if there’s a crisis that demands extraordinary political leadership to be displayed, like when we responded together during the Great Depression, after Pearl Harbor, the Russian launch of Sputnik and 9/11,” he said. “I hate to say it, but it may have to get worse before it gets better and really hit rock bottom before we realize we can’t keep going on like this.”

In debates over prescription drug legislation and the deeply partisan question of whether the federal government should establish a single-payer health care system, Baucus was accused of being in the pocket of the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries.

“I hate to say it, but it may have to get worse before it gets better and really hit rock bottom before we realize we can’t keep going on like this.”

NOW: BAUCUS

Above: Sen. Max Baucus running in the Montana Marathon on Sept. 21, 2008. At age 66, he finished the 26.2-mile course in 4:57:25.

P H OTO B Y PAU L R U H TER / B I L L I N G S G A ZE T T E

Below: Baucus greets supporters at the Two Dot Bar as he makes the traditional stop on his trip across Montana in 2014.

P H OTO B Y CAS EY PAGE/ B I L L I NG S G AZE T T E

The amount of campaign contributions he received during the first decade of the new millennium attracted intense scrutiny from the media and public interest watchdogs. Baucus vehemently denied any conflict of interest existed (note: he is not a multi-millionaire) and self-imposed a moratorium on receiving contributions from those industries in the months leading up to passage of Obamacare.

“Some would criticize Max, suggesting his moderation was really about political survival and that he lacked an ideological core,” says Montana State University political scientist David Parker. “I would disagree that his moderation lacked principle; rather, a willingness to find common ground is the height of political principle in an institution and political system that requires mediation and listening to function.”

Besides the Affordable Health Care Act, he lists the cleanup of toxic asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana, as one of his greatest accomplishments. With tinges of anger, he mentions the W.R. Grace Company that tried to evade responsibility for generations of Libby residents exposed to deadly asbestos fibers related to mining—he fought to get them medical treatment.

He also mentions federal acquisition and protection of 300,000 acres of land owned by Plum Creek Timber, known as the Legacy Project—a deed that Eric Love, formerly of the Trust for Public Land, called Baucus’ greatest conservation achievement. Kuehl

adds Baucus’ work in creating the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in the Madison Range, and securing funding for the cleanup of the Clark Fork River and copper tailings sites in Butte, which together formed the largest EPA Superfund complex in America.

Baucus doesn’t think the push to sell off public land will work because politicians know—or at least they should—that Westerners aren’t in favor of giving up the places they like to hunt, fish and recreate.

A voracious reader and avid student of history, Baucus has studied the ascents and declines of civilizations. He made eight trips to China as a senator to promote trade with the most populous nation on earth. Serving as ambassador reinforced his belief in the Thucydides Trap. “It’s a reference to circumstances that when a rising power causes fear in an established power, it escalates toward war,” he says, noting that China is the rising power.

Had Baucus not accepted Obama’s invitation to be the ambassador to China, many believe he could’ve served in the Senate to the grave.

“Max was a giant. He was probably one of the three or four most powerful people in Washington for years and continually used that power for his state,” Messina said. “For a rural state, his legacy will be felt for generations to come.”

But Baucus isn’t leaving public life completely. He donated the $850,000 remaining in his campaign funds to archive all of his papers related to his political career at the University of Montana.

In the future, he’ll be commuting from Bozeman to Missoula to lecture at the Baucus Institute, part of the UM law school, and established to be a forum on the law, trade and cultural sharing.

Reflecting back on his career, he remembers nights sleeping on the couch at Mike Miles’ Bozeman house and interacting with Sean, the young man who understood that the future is created by being present in the here and now and making it count.

“Sean Miles, being the bright young conservationist he was, reminded me before he died, that we are but a part of nature and the circle of life. We are only on this Earth for a speck of time in the sweep of history and we’ve got to make the most of it,” Baucus said. “If we can all remember that, it will help us do the right thing.”

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NOW

T O F I N D A V O I C E FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, 14-YEAR-OLD PAYAM KHOSRAVI HAD A VERY POWERFUL MESSAGE WITHOUT A WAY TO SHARE IT. HIS NAME, IN FARSI, MEANS “MESSAGE.”

BY AMANDA EGGERT Parisa Khosravi spent nearly three decades covering major world events, closing her career with CNN as the network’s head of international newsgathering. She directed coverage of the Arab Spring, the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami in Japan, among other breaking news stories. The most challenging responsibility she’s undertaken, however, wasn’t in a war zone or at ground zero of a natural disaster, but at home.

Giving a voice to the voiceless was Khosravi’s joy and passion as a journalist. During a January 28 TEDx event in Big Sky, she gave voice to someone very close to her: her son, whom she calls her “ultimate teacher in life.”

Khosravi, a U.S. citizen who moved with her family from Iran to Chicago in1979, became concerned when her only child Payam started disengaging and remained silent leading into his second birthday.

Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by age 3, Payam Khosravi was unable to express himself fully for more than a decade.

Payam is verbally limited to just a few basic words, which left Parisa with little information about what her kind and gentle son—she thinks of him as “my little Buddha”—was thinking or feeling.

At one point, Payam worked with dozens of teachers and educational therapists per week as part of his mother’s commitment to help him meet his full potential. A given day might include swimming, speech, music therapy or horseback riding. “You name it, he did it,” Parisa said. “He’s the hardest-working person I know.”

Then, in a turn of events Parisa calls serendipitous, Payam was introduced to the Rapid Prompting Method at age 14. RPM helps nonverbal individuals share their thoughts letter-by-letter on an alphabet board. “From the very first session, Payam started showing

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us that he understood everything and comprehended everything that [his teacher] was reading to him,” Parisa said. “Finally, finally we were getting a glimpse inside his thoughts.”

Once he had the means to unlock his inner world, Payam revealed a depth of compassion that lives up to his given name and his mother’s little Buddha characterization. His letter board writings appear below in all caps.

“I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE WHO SEES THIS AND BEGINS TO SHIFT THEIR PERSPECTIVE TO HAVE MORE BELIEF IN ALL OF HUMANITY,” Payam wrote during an RPM session before the Big Sky event.

“DESERVING THE WORLD SHOULD NOT BE GRANTED TO ONLY THOSE WITH RESOURCES, BUT INSTEAD TO EVERY PERSON THAT EXISTS.” OVERWHELMED WITH EMOTION SINCE EVERYONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO SEE THE TED TALK AND MY STORY. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING ME TO DO THIS. EVERYONE DESERVES TO HAVE THE SAME OPPORTUNITIES MY GOOD FORTUNE HAS GRANTED ME. DESERVING THE WORLD SHOULD NOT BE GRANTED TO ONLY THOSE WITH RESOURCES, BUT INSTEAD TO EVERY PERSON THAT EXISTS.” Three months after the TEDx event—during April’s Autism Awareness Month—Parisa spoke about the repercussions generated by the talk, titled “The Power of Finding Your Voice.”

“It’s gone past our borders,” Parisa says. “I’ve heard from people from Australia, South Africa, India, the Middle East, Europe.” Some people contacted her to learn more about the alphabet Left: Parisa Khosravi speaks at the “How many times have we board method. Others simply want to share how inaugural TEDxBigSky on January 28, 2017. been told not to judge a book by Payam’s message has shifted their perspective.

PHOTO BY W ES OV ERVOL D its cover?” Parisa asked the TEDx The YouTube video of “The Power of Finding audience, the words catching Your Voice” has nearly 20,000 views. One viewer Right: Parisa’s son Payam uses an alphabet board to spell out his thoughts, in her throat. “How often do described Payam as “a prophet of our time.” letter by letter. we fail and completely judge Another wrote, “I will never look at another The letter board writings of Payam others based on what we think is person with autism again without remembering Khosravi appear in all caps in the text of normal?” this talk and silencing my initial judgment. I the story.

Rich Addicks, a friend of the will remember the wisdom and love that Payam Khosravi family, describes their demonstrated after years without being able to story as “almost cosmic” in scale, communicate and I will know that a loving, caring yet Payam nearly missed experiencing the full gravity of its first and intelligent person lives inside ...” public presentation that day in January.

Parisa describes Payam as a philosopher interested in the bigger Payam watched his mom deliver her talk during a January 27 questions of life. “The level of books we read to him now, they’re dress rehearsal. The following day he attended TEDxBigSky to not only age appropriate, they’re much more thought provoking,” watch the other speakers, but planned to leave the room before she says. Payam enjoys learning about space, the environment and his mother presented their story to a full house. Just before Parisa history, and he’s deeply interested in the experience of others. stepped on stage, Payam’s teacher asked one last time if he wanted He also loves music, riding his bike and breathing fresh air in to stay. the outdoors. “I think he’s a Montana kid,” Parisa says.

He did, and describes the decision as one of the best he’s ever During their January visit, Parisa and Payam went snowshoeing made. Parisa didn’t know Payam stayed until after she finished and spent a clear, cold day in Yellowstone National Park. They speaking. visited the Old Faithful geyser, a place whose name holds profound “For him to witness first-hand the appreciation, the significance for them both. acknowledgement of the audience ... was incredible,” Parisa says. “I To avoid disappointment, Parisa set low expectations for could have never described it to him appropriately or fully.”

RPM. It wasn’t until she observed Payam’s eighth alphabet board Back home in Atlanta, Georgia, at the close of a February session, one about geysers, that she allowed herself to absorb the 22 lesson about Ellis Island, Payam wrote the following to his momentous shift in their ability to communicate, and recognize teacher: “JESS I AM READY TO ENJOY THIS MOMENT what had been there all along.

OF GRATITUDE WITH YOU. RIGHT NOW I AM It just needed a key.

THE NEXT TEDXBIGSKY WILL TAKE PLACE JANUARY 27, 2018

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NOW: REPORTS

A Launch Pad for Exploration Wilderness Adventures challenges students to reach new heights

BY KATE HULL

IN SUMMER 2011, A THEN 17-YEAR-OLD STUART AGNEW

was nearing the end of a 28-day summer camp with the pinnacle of her experience: summiting the 13,775-foot Grand Teton towering over Jackson, Wyoming.

Just a few days before, Agnew received word that nearly 2,000 miles away in North Carolina her much-loved grandmother had passed away. Far from family and about to embark on a climb considered mentally testing even in the best of circumstances, she made the excruciating decision to forgo returning home and to finish what she had started.

“I was able to turn to my group and my experience, and the climb became my grieving process,” she said. “It was a really defining moment for me.”

Agnew now lives in Jackson Hole where she spends her winters as a ski instructor and her summers as a trip leader for Wilderness Adventures—the same organization she climbed the Grand Teton with, and that left such a big impact on her life six years ago.

Mike and Helen Cottingham founded Wilderness Adventures in 1973, focusing their attention on common problems students might face in a school setting—stress, bullying, socializing—through the lens of an outdoor experience. Notable alumni include actor Edward Norton and drummer Jon Fishman of the jam band Phish.

In more than four decades, the program has grown to include 45 trips across six continents with more than 25,000 former students. In 2016, the Cottinghams handed the reins over to Tom Holland and his wife Catherine.

“We might churn out the world’s greatest mountaineer, but our focus is on giving students life and leadership skills,” says Holland, who is also an alumnus of the program.

Above: Wilderness Adventures students near the summit of Wyoming’s Grand Teton.

Below: Students scramble during a day hike in California.

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P H OTOS COU R TES Y OF W I L D ER NES S A DVE N T U RE S

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L-R: Wilderness Adventures directors Tom and Catherine Holland and founders Helen and Mike Cottingham

A camper may leave the program with a better feel for navigating whitewater. They likely will have also spent a day mapping the route for a group hike, planning the meals for a day or thinking of games to inspire morale. The goal: leave campers with a better sense of responsibility, collaboration and competence they can then take back to the indoor classroom and the rest of their lives.

From fifth graders to freshmen in college, students spend two to six weeks exploring iconic national parks from Wyoming to Hawaii, as well as global destinations including Vietnam, Costa Rica and Austria.

Like many Wilderness Adventures students, Agnew’s trip was her first exposure to the backcountry. She was part of a unique trip that consisted of rising juniors and seniors from her Alexandria, Virginia, boarding school.

The first few days were spent learning the gear and preparing for the excursions ahead, like climbing and kayaking. Despite knowing her group members, they had to work to find their stride as a team.

“There was no sense of hierarchy; we learned together,” Agnew says. “Being in the backcountry makes you be yourself; you don’t have a choice. If someone doesn’t do something, it doesn’t get done.”

This message resonated with her while she finished high school and went on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Now, Agnew aspires to help students find their own sense of confidence. But the biggest lesson Holland hopes trip leaders pass to their students?

“There are other peaks to climb,” Holland says. “Don’t let this be your pinnacle experience. Keep going.”

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NOW: REPORTS

Preserving ‘out there’

Bozeman filmmaker shoots to protect wild places and his own peace of mind

BY SARAH GIANELLI

W H E N DOC UM E N TARY F ILM M AKE R G R E G CAIRNS

isn’t dashing off to cover the Dakota Access Pipeline protests; on location in the Utah desert or Montana backcountry; or rafting the many rivers in between, he makes his home in a quiet cabin nestled in Bear Canyon, where the sound of a rushing creek drowns out any sense that Bozeman, Montana, is a mere 8 miles away.

The choice to live outside of town speaks to the 28-year-old’s contemplative nature, and an appreciation for the natural world that has flowered from the deeply personal into the professional and political.

“The quiet is important to me,” says Cairns, describing the wild places that inspire his filmmaking. “It’s important, in a selfish way, to my mental health to know those places exist and that I can go there.”

Cairns’ short film Out There, a poetic tribute to the elixir of the outdoors that received a Jury Commendation Award at the 2017 Durango Film Festival, provides a window into Cairns’ desire to protect the world’s wild, beautiful places. Shot during a backcountry ski trip in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains and narrated with Cairns’ description of a more internal landscape, the film is a visually stunning and touching ode to how crucial getting “out there” is to his own well-being.

“I hadn’t been outside much, and was kind of depressed,” Cairns said of the January 2015 malaise that gave rise to the film. “As I got 52 MOUNTAIN

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Above: Documentary filmmaker Greg Cairns at the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in February 2017.

P H OTO BY HE -MYO N G WOO

ASTOUNDING FINISHES

Below: Durango rock climber-poet Luke Mehall gazing out from the big rock at Indian Creek inside Bears Ears National Monument. Both Mehall and the region have been the subject of Cairns Films.

P H OTO BY GR E G CAIRNS

moving, I kept thinking ‘this is really good for me; I need to do this more.’”

Cairns’ dedication to bringing awareness to the public lands that give him solace continues with The Durfees, a 2017 feature-length film about a hotly contested public land swap in central Montana proposed by the state’s largest private landholders, the billionaire Wilks brothers. The Durfees illuminates the larger concerns over the privatization of public lands while following a group of Lewistown, Montana, hunters who comprise the Wilks brothers’ principal opposition.

Cairns partnered with Bozeman producer/journalist Elliot Woods to make The Durfees and cites it as his most significant work to date.

Two of Cairns’ “Film is the most short films employ the powerful tool I poetic to influence the know of that I political in service of can use to help a drastically different educate people parcel of the West— about what I think southeastern Utah’s are very real, very Bears Ears National serious problems.”

Monument.

Despite staunch opposition from Utah’s conservative politicians, former President Barack Obama designated the region a national monument with one of the last strokes of his presidential pen, but concern lingers that the new administration will try to revoke the proclamation. Featuring Durango, Colorado, rock climber Luke Mehall and his Jack Kerouac-inspired prose, Last Thoughts on the Dirtbag celebrates the climbing lifestyle, while Just a Climber, for Bears Ears is a heartfelt reminder that the protected area may not be been secured indefinitely.

“The most important thing to me is nature and the health of our planet,” Cairns said. “Film is the most powerful tool I know of that I can use to help educate people about what I think are very real, very serious problems. And if I can encourage people to get outside and learn to value being outside, that in turn will make them more respectful and appreciative of nature.”

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p ro n o u n c e d : h u ò r á n k ā i lǎng t r a n s l a t i o n : t h e re f re s h i ng and liberating f e e l i n g y o u g e t w h e n y o u see a beautiful, o p e n a re a

FLIGHT OF THE RED DRAGON

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HUMOR / P.65

Y E L L OW S TO N E As China seeks to launch its own national park system, Chinese tourists are flooding into U.S. national parks in unprecedented numbers. Yellowstone and its gateway towns aim to adapt.

BY CLAIRE CELLA

The U.S. lays claim to the world’s first national park: Yellowstone. This symbol of conservation and history was established in 1872 when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. The park blankets more than 2.2 million acres across parts of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, and contains one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. And the planet—particularly China—is fascinated.

In 2015 alone, the U.S. welcomed 2.6 million Chinese tourists and the U.S. Travel Association expects a 97 percent increase within three years. The sheer numbers alone are staggering, but these waves of Chinese visitors, who often travel in tour groups of 50 or more, are affecting America in unlikely and sometimes underprepared places: regions in more rural landscapes such as the Greater Yellowstone.

Brian Riley, owner of Old Hand Holdings, a Jackson, Wyoming-based marketing firm, says a trip to Yellowstone allows Chinese visitors to breathe in the wide-open American West.

“Yellowstone is an icon. It’s famous,” says Riley, whose company works closely with Chinese tour groups and American businesses. “It’s also the antithesis of what they experience every day in large Chinese cities that are plagued with pollution and swelling populations. This is a chance to experience wide-open space, stunning scenery and diverse wildlife.”>>

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A CRESCIVE AND CURIOUS CHINA

T

he People’s Republic of China is the most populous country on Earth, its 1.4 billion citizens accounting for over 14 percent of the world’s total population. This rising global powerhouse also boasts the second largest economy, behind only the U.S., and has seen the fastest expansion in GDP by a major economy in history, according to the World Bank. China’s economic success and rapid advancement, however, may be threatening a more precious form of the country’s capital: nature.

While China has 225 “national parks,” they don’t resemble a coordinated system with central management and funding like the U.S. National Park Service, but rather a patchwork of forests and reserves. The Chinese government is in the process of building its own national park system and by 2020 hopes to launch a pilot park that will help pave the way for dozens of others down the road. The new system aims to develop a link between what currently exists, while also establishing new parks that take into consideration environmental protections, national regulations and development. Designed as a preserve for the Siberian tiger and Amur leopard among other wildlife, the park will straddle the Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces near the Russian border, encompassing 60 percent more land than Yellowstone National Park. As usual, China is ready to compete.

But until the park gates open, Chinese citizens will continue to travel internationally, visiting ecologically rich natural areas that have the proper infrastructure to accommodate tourists.

Three years ago it became easier for the Chinese to visit what is universally regarded as the world’s best model for a

58 MOUNTAIN

national park system: America’s.

In late 2014, despite more than 20 years of a complex and often contentious relationship, the U.S. and China shook hands in a rare pact, vowing to curb greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades.

It was significant news, but because of its prominence a series of other deals between the two countries largely went unnoticed.

One agreement in particular outlined that both countries extend the validity of short-term business and tourist visas from one year to 10. In the past, for instance, Chinese citizens could only stay in the U.S. for a year on B-1 and B-2 visitor visas before having to exit the country. Under new visa regulations, they are allowed multiple entries of up to six months over a 10-year period— making it more reasonable to take not only longer trips to the States, but to return more frequently as well.

Within a year of the accord, Chinese visa applications to the U.S. spiked over 58 percent, according to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Currently, China trails only Mexico and Canada in terms of visitor numbers, but it may not be in third place for long. By 2021, the U.S. Travel Association expects China to take the lead in international travel to the States.

While popular metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles can easily absorb these influxes, it’s a different situation for Yellowstone and the humble gateway communities that border this impressive stretch of wild land. And even though the region is no stranger to tour buses and summer crowds, there’s now an additional and accelerated pressure to adapt to a new cultural diversity, one that’s forcing area stakeholders to rethink their approach to tourism and communication.

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A crowded boardwalk in the Lower Geyser Basin NP S P H OTO B Y NEA L H ER B E RT

In 2015 alone, the U.S. welcomed

2.6 million Chinese visitors.

This number is expected to increase

97% by 2020*

*ACCORDING TO THE U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION

YELLOWSTONE: FLIGHT OF THE RED DRAGON

YELLOWSTONE’S STEWARDS AND SAFEGUARDS

M

any Chinese are introduced to Yellowstone through textbook pictures as schoolchildren, and grow up dreaming of crossing this natural wonder off their bucket lists.

Over the past few years, they’re doing just that, and joining a growing list of tourists seeking Yellowstone’s splendor every year.

In 2016, the park reported 4.2 million visits, a 4 percent increase over 2015 and 21 percent higher than 2014. While its personnel expected larger-thanusual crowds due to the Park Service’s 100th anniversary in 2016, they also noticed a dramatic surge in the number of commercial tour buses that pulled through the park. Last year, 12,778 buses entered Yellowstone, a nearly 50 percent increase over 2014. And while these buses do not solely serve Asian clientele and the NPS does not record visitors’ country of origin, park employees speak anecdotally to the noticeable rise in Asian visitation via these bus companies.

As overall yearly visitation continues to climb, Yellowstone staff is aware of how this trend is testing the park’s infrastructure and management—from

transportation to safety to lodging to conservation. In an effort to prevent any diminishing visitor experiences and to better understand guest needs, Yellowstone launched a social science study in August of 2016, gathering information about visitor demographics, experiences, opinions and preferences, with results to be released later this year.

The management also became proactive, publishing a Mandarin translation of their Old Faithful Area Guide and unveiling “The Yellowstone Pledge,” or a standard of conduct that outlines ways in which visitors should act in the park to maintain safety and protect natural resources. It was created in hopes of preventing behaviors that have caused incidents in the past, such as approaching wildlife, leaving boardwalks in thermal areas and being unprepared in bear country.

In visitor centers and wayside exhibits, new signs have been added and older ones updated, based on the park’s constant evaluation, says Yellowstone public affairs specialist Morgan Warthin.

The new signs incorporate foreign language translations—Mandarin included—to explain safety, regulatory and

educational messages and alleviate cultural misunderstandings.

“We are constantly evaluating signs based on visitation,” Warthin says. “We certainly saw an increase in Asian tourists and wanted to be able to share information with them.”

One example of new signage involves the pit toilets in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, which instruct visitors on how to use them. They were installed after park officials, according to the Jackson Hole News & Guide, noticed the toilets were continually breaking as a result of Asian visitors squatting with their feet on the seats as they are used to doing in their own countries.

To the south, Grand Teton National Park has also taken steps to welcome the ever-growing and ever-diverse crowds the two parks share. The Grand Teton Association, a nonprofit that helps support the park, worked closely with Old Hand Holdings’ Riley to develop Mandarin materials for the park’s bookstores, while hosting webinars with other park nonprofits about marketing to and serving Chinese visitors.

Riley developed his company in the early 2010s specifically to help local businesses surrounding Yellowstone market their services to the Chinese, like the GTA. In the years since, his presence has grown—physically and virtually. He has VIP tour businesses based in L.A. and Las Vegas, and in 2015 launched Escape, Jackson’s first and only magazine printed entirely in Mandarin. In 2016 the GTA published its book, The Best of Grand Teton National Park, in Mandarin and hopes to provide it to Chinese travelers before they even arrive in the U.S., says Jan Lynch, GTA’s executive director.

Lynch sees the experience as a way to understand other cultures as well as to reflect on our own.

“There are different ideas about respect and politeness and traffic and lines and even bathroom etiquette,” she says. “The little things we don’t think about until someone is from a different place. In certain situations, they don’t understand and neither do we.”>>

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W

hile there have been incidents, people behaving badly is universal. Among other offenses within the park in 2016, a Chinese tourist was fined $1,000 for walking off a boardwalk to collect thermal water, and three Canadians were sentenced to jail time and issued heavy fines for walking onto the Grand Prismatic Spring.

More often than not, episodes involving international visitors are a result of curious naïveté or cultural difference, especially if the visitor comes from a country where the customs and landscape vary dramatically.

For many Chinese, it’s their first time traveling outside China, let alone seeing a herd of bison or vibrant neon rings of steaming water. Eric Schluessel, assistant professor of history and political science and the director of East Asian studies at the University of Montana, explains that it’s a geographical difference in interpretations of nature, too, as many Chinese grow up in the countryside where nature is inherently touchable.

“In the U.S. we have this sense of the outdoors can be foreign, hostile and sacred in the sense that you aren't allowed to touch it,” Schlussel says. “But in China, that’s often not the case.”

Yellowstone’s public education component becomes critical, then, as park officials are tasked with explaining etiquette to those being exposed to something for the first time, who hold divergent worldviews or who may not speak English. Last year, Yellowstone hired three Mandarinspeaking staff to manage visitor centers and conduct ranger programs, and Warthin expects the park to hire three or four again to work the 2017 season. The park also developed wildlife-warning flyers and safety cards, specifically about bison, and wraps their newspapers in safety information—all of which are translated in Mandarin and other languages.

But, even though park rangers and documents warn visitors to remain at least 25 yards from bison, visitors often don’t listen or don’t understand the dangers due to gaps in culture, in language, or both. In 2015 alone, bison gored five visitors who wandered too close—a particularly high number since the average is usually one incident per year. It serves as an example for the importance of clear communication.

Which is what Jennifer Thomsen, from the University of Montana’s Department of Society and Conservation, found after she conducted a study in West Yellowstone

In 2016, 12,778 BUSES entered Yellowstone

in August 2016 in collaboration with the town’s chamber of commerce and Yellowstone. The study involved interviews with 13 local business owners and workers in West Yellowstone, seven tour operators and 33 Chinese tourists.

Her results illuminated the critical importance of communication between the park, gateway communities and visitors.

Responses from tour bus operators and visitors, in particular, indicated that park messaging is often miscommunicated or not communicated at all. Thomsen will present these findings at the end of this summer, and says they will help inform Yellowstone’s gateway communities and the Park Service how they can better reach, communicate with, and ensure the safety and satisfaction of this group of clientele.

“This research will serve as a stepping stone to develop further resources and to open a forum for dialogue,” she says. “We’ll be able to analyze how useful our interpretive materials are ... and how we can be more successful at linking the needs and cultural differences we’re seeing with these groups to the communication and resources we’re providing.”

50 a nearly

% increase from 2014

BEYOND BOUNDARIES: GATEWAY COMMUNITIES

O

nce visitors leave one of the five gates of Yellowstone, they often stay in the communities that lie at these boundaries—Cody and Jackson in Wyoming, and West Yellowstone, Gardiner and Cooke City in Montana.

Because of its proximity to Old Faithful and interstate highways, and the fact that it’s the first gate open and the last to close each season, nearly 40 percent of the park’s traffic comes in and out of West Yellowstone. As a result, West, as the 1,500 year-round residents colloquially refer to it, has seen the most impact from the pronounced increase in Chinese tourism, according to Wendy Swenson, marketing director for the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce. The increases began about three years ago, she says, right around the time they heard the visa rules were changing.

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In response, Swenson and the Montana Office of Tourism began hosting workshops and seminars for local businesses in West and other tourist centers across the state, and Wyoming has done similar work, according to Ken Elliott, director of global sales at the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. This year’s Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Conference included a panel called “China Ready” to provide an overview of Chinese tourism trends and recommendations for how to better attract, serve and communicate with Chinese tourists.

During these workshops, local business owners gain specific insights into Chinese culture, including, for example, what amenities to have on hand: Chinese prefer tea over coffee; they’re known to heat up instant noodle cups with hot water to take on the go; and access to fresh fruits and vegetables

NP S P H OTO B Y N EAL HERBERT

YELLOWSTONE: FLIGHT OF THE RED DRAGON

“WE DON’T CHANGE WHEN WE VISIT THEIR COUNTRY, SO IT’S NOT RIGHT TO EXPECT THEM TO CHANGE FOR US HERE.” is important. With this information, businesses in West have, for the most part, adjusted to accommodate: translating road signs into Mandarin, including more pictures and less text on their menus, and putting hot-water kettles in their lobbies.

Many businesses are hiring Mandarinspeaking employees for the summer season and in 2015, the public library in West started holding Mandarin classes.

Bullwinkle's Saloon & Eatery, a familyowned restaurant in operation for over 20 years in West, has always offered short ribs, bison burgers and elk ravioli, but now also serves tuna sashimi and Szechuan green beans. At Yellowstone Lodge, the management tweaked breakfast offerings to avoid confusion (hard-boiled eggs were being microwaved so now they only offer the scrambled variety) and they make hot water available in the lobby 24/7.

This mostly quiet Montana town still finds the new demands challenging, though. Jeremy Medeiros, assistant general manager and sales manager of Yellowstone Lodge, says language barriers can be frustrating for business owners and their employees. “When these customers make up the bulk of your business and you cannot communicate with them, it’s hard,” he says. “You end up speaking a sort of sign language with them just to find out that they need an extra pillow.”

Swenson also notes that while larger, national chains have the ability and the finances to make quick and sometimes extensive updates, other family-owned businesses that have been operating in the community for decades, express difficulty in trying to keep up with escalating crowds, divergent cultural values and the extended summer travel period.

“The season starts the day the park opens and it just doesn’t stop, for seven months out of the year,” said Jacob Dibble, the head chef of Bullwinkle's, which has a separate catering hall that can fit up to 70 people. Elliott, of Jackson’s Chamber of Commerce, also noticed that summer is markedly busier and longer. For the past three years, tourist buses have pulled up to storefronts in Jackson as early as May, capitalizing on more room availability and lower prices.

Swenson reminds local owners and managers to be patient with cultural differences, too; that often the behavior of international visitors is not meant to be rude. “It’s a part of their culture and their country,” she said. “Everyone has their own way of thinking and looking at things. We don’t change when we visit their country, so it’s not right to expect them to change for us here.”

An example of this is the variance in acceptable amounts of personal space.

Americans tend to value elbow room and don’t enjoy when this space is infringed upon. However, when the Chinese face crowds—which they encounter much more frequently at home—there tends to be more pushing and jostling, as the Chinese don’t shirk from being in close contact, Swenson says.

Schluessel, the East Asian Studies director from UM, explains that Chinese tourists are not familiar with the politics of the Western queue. “That’s the experience of the last 100 years of Chinese history: there's an entire generation of Chinese who experienced collective and centralized food distribution,” he says. “If you’re the last person in line, you won't get anything, so you strategically find the best place to stand. There’s a sense that lining up is arbitrary and a tool of power. It has nothing to do … with respect for the people around you.”

Schluessel also pointed out that large numbers of Chinese live in dense urban centers where there’s a forced need to use space differently. “Many of the tourists you encounter in these parks have had to share a room with three other people. It’s not a thing of culture, but of historical experience.”

While the easing of visa restrictions remains a primary reason Chinese tourists can more readily travel to the U.S., there’s another plotline, too. In recent years, the growth of China’s middle class, and their increasing affluence, has also made travel abroad more accessible. And research shows they’re spending more money when they visit—on average, more than any other country. In 2015, that was about $7,201 per trip to the States, according to the U.S. Travel Association.

These high numbers make this particular market something U.S. businesses are picking up on. In West, shops started advertising “Made in USA” products, noticing that Chinese travelers seek authentic Western culture and enjoy buying related items (cowboy hats, boots, leather, belt buckles).

At the end of the day, Swenson says, “tourism is what we do,” and the extra visitation has been an economic boon for the small town of West and the other gateway communities. >>

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老忠诚间歇泉 INFORMING CHINA’S NATIONAL PARKS

步行道指南

A

s it becomes easier for the Chinese to travel for less and for longer, doors will open for a richer experience with what Dwight Pitcaithley calls a “world-class collection of science, history and archaeology” in the U.S. national parks.

Pitcaithley worked for 30 years with the Park Service, 10 of that as its chief historian. His biggest concern, too, is not the number of people flooding into the parks, but how much of the Park Service’s educational mission is being communicated and understood; how much cultural and historical knowledge is being exchanged.

“Have we created every opportunity to slow them down and understand this historical or natural park?” Pitcaithley wonders.

“You can take the bus tour through Zion [National Park in Utah] and be flabbergasted by the scenery without knowing about the geology. But to really grasp what [national parks are] about, you have to slow down and see the film and look at the exhibits.”

This may not be a simple fix, however. “The Park Service doesn’t have a lot of money,” Pitcaithley adds. Based on current

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Old Faithful guide in Mandarin COU R T E S Y OF NP S

The world’s first national park.

An experience you’ll never forget.

Help us preserve the Yellowstone you love for generations to come.

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YELLOWSTONE: FLIGHT OF THE RED DRAGON

reports, it’s not getting more anytime soon, either.

In mid-March, President Donald Trump released his “America First” budget blueprint for 2018, which outlines proposals for downsizing government spending. Included was a budget slashing of nearly 12 percent (or $1.5 billion) from the Department of the Interior, which supervises the NPS. While ultimately Congress will determine the final plan, these initial cuts are worrisome, and the NPS is already struggling to reduce its $12.5 billion backlog in maintenance and operations.

The through-line? This leaves little money, if any, to help the Park Service cater to its growing number of visitors’ increasingly diverse and specific needs.

“The worst of the squeaky wheels gets the grease,” says Pitcaithley, and most of the budget is devoted to salaries and benefits before covering operating costs to keep current facilities running: installing

new roofs, updating sewage systems, fixing elevators, mowing lawns.

In the end, Pitcaithley remains optimistic. “It could be worse,” he says with a small chuckle. “You could’ve opened the doors and nobody came.”

For the Park Service, the question over the next few years will become one of cost-benefit analysis: How can it creatively maximize funding to ensure visitors get through the park safely, enjoy themselves and feel good about their experience? If it can be successful in this endeavor, challenging as it is, Yellowstone visitors—in this case, the Chinese—can bring home this experience to their country. They can inform their fledgling national park system with similar values of conservation, stewardship, wildlife protections, an appreciation for vast green spaces and clean, clear air, a love of nature—and the importance of sufficiently funding this critical system.

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YELLOWSTONE: HUMOR SECTION: SUB-

A Fish Tale

L’eggo my Rainbow: Competing for dinner with Yellowstone’s hostile fauna

BY EDNOR THERRIAULT

What better way for my wife and me to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary than going full-on tourist mode and camping our way, sans kids, through Yellowstone National Park?

Shannon and I dropped our two high schoolers off at summer camp in Powell, Wyoming, and drove the 60 miles from Cody to the east entrance of the park. Our elderly 4Runner bristling with bikes, rocket box, camping equipment and a canoe, we were looking forward to a leisurely second honeymoon, moseying around Yellowstone and just digging each other.

What we didn’t count on was being thrust into a shocking, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom moment.

We’d spent four nights in the tent before we finally found some appropriate water for the canoe. Yellowstone Lake? Not a chance. Those massive whitecaps looked like they’d cause the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I’d begun to think that we were just giving our battered 16-foot Coleman a sightseeing tour around the West, but on our last day in the park we decided to try our luck at Lewis Lake. Located in the southern end of the park, the lake is far away from the famous thermal features like Old Faithful, which attracts crowds of thousands who gather around waiting for the chance to look at their cell phones. >>

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YELLOWSTONE: HUMOR

We set up the tent in a secluded campsite, unfolded our chairs and cracked open a couple of adult beverages to toast our good fortune.

We sipped, looking out over the road to the gorgeous little valley bisected by the winding Lewis River, which, like the lake, was named for Meriwether Lewis—a generous gesture, seeing as how Lewis and Clark never came within 50 miles of Yellowstone.

The iconic duo are so revered in the West that I wouldn’t be surprised if they got credit for building Devils Tower and installing Old Faithful.

After lunch it was time to launch the canoe. The lake was empty save for a couple of boats laden with ice chests and camping gear. Shannon and I discussed the challenges of canoe camping, and decided that it wasn’t for us. For one thing, the canoe would be tough to handle with a couple of bikes strapped to it. No, we like the relative comfort of our queen-size air mattress lying in our big tent, just a short extension cord away from the 4Runner stuffed with half of our possessions.

We like to get away from it all, as long as we can bring most of it with us.

Shannon sat on the back seat, languidly paddling as I cast a tiny spinner from the front of the boat. Yes, I’m a spin-fisherman and I don’t care who knows it. The fishing regs in the park require barbless hooks, and cutthroats and a few other species are strictly catch and release.

I had dutifully snipped off two of the three points on the lure’s tiny treble hook, and squeezed the remaining hook’s barb shut with pliers. This would give the trout a fighting chance, and almost certainly guarantee that we’d be eating canned chili for dinner.

We talked quietly, soaking in the beautiful late July weather and the good luck that had been following us around the park that week. It was the first time we’d camped without the kids since before we took our 10-month-old son and his playpen to Branham Lakes near Sheridan, Montana. Now that baby was about to start his last year of high school and we were getting a tantalizing glimpse of the empty nest that lay ahead.

I was looking back at Shannon out of the corner of my eye, entertaining the idea of an afternoon tent siesta when I got a bite. I set the hook and reeled in a small rainbow trout, maybe 10 inches.

At the shoreline, a magnificent bald eagle lifted off from the snag where he’d been watching our progress. He soared overhead, then banked wide and returned to his perch. I released the trout with an admonition to dive down and send his big brother up.

“He wants your fish,” Shannon said. She turned the canoe to float past the spot where I’d hooked the trout, and I made another cast. I got a bite right away, and he was a fighter. Shannon maneuvered the canoe to keep the fish in front of me, and I was finally able to play him into the net.

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It was another rainbow, bigger than the first, but I’d foulhooked it through the gill. I removed the hook and it was bleeding pretty good. The trout went limp, and I leaned over the side, holding it underwater and moving it back and forth to resuscitate it. It twitched, so I released my grip and let it slide away.

“Hey, babe,” I said over my shoulder, “you should grab the …”

I didn’t get the word “camera” out because the eagle swooped down on us like a kamikaze coming out of the sun at Pearl Harbor. Shannon dropped her paddle and scrambled for the camera. The canoe rocked violently as I twisted in my seat and ducked, covering my head with my arms. Somewhere a little girl screamed, and I realized it was me.

My spinning rod clanged off the gunwale and somehow bounced back into the boat as I kicked over my justopened can of Hamm’s. The eagle streaked past the canoe, 6 feet away, and plunged its talons into the water with a mighty splash. We felt the wind from its broad wings as it lifted off the water, the wounded rainbow firmly in its grasp.

We were scrambling and jabbering, trying not to capsize the canoe, as “Circle of Life” from The Lion King was playing in my head. The bird pumped the air with its enormous wings and hauled the hapless prize up to his roost. I might have spilled my beer, but I was still having a better day than that trout.

“Whoa,” I said to Shannon as I grabbed my hat from the puddle of warm Hamm’s. “Did you see that?”

She looked at me as if I might have taken a paddle to the melon, and just shook her head, smiling. She hadn’t had time to grab the camera, and the whole episode was over so quickly that we weren’t sure we believed our own eyes. Did this really just happen? We looked up to the eagle atop his snag, and on the tree a few yards away sat a second eagle.

“He’s new,” Shannon said. “Think he wants a fish too?” She grabbed the paddle and propelled us toward the pair of opportunistic raptors. “At least somebody’s eating fish tonight.”

Ednor Therriault, a seasoned indoorsman, lives in Missoula, Montana, with his adventurous wife.

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MONTANA’S PRICKLY PEAR CREEK SEES NEW LIFE AFTER INDUSTRIAL PAST BY CAITLIN STYRSKY

Prickly Pear Creek now meanders closer to its natural course through more than 100 acres of restored flood plains.

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ROCK RINGLING / P. 74

LAND PRICKLY PEAR CREEK flows out of Montana’s Elkhorn Mountains and winds through the scenic countryside of the Helena Valley.

Although the creek primarily passes through bucolic pastures and grasslands, a portion of the waterway washes through rehabilitated habitat at the former American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) facility in East Helena.

ASARCO began operating here in 1888 and for more than a century the smelter refined ore to produce lead bullion, an impure blend of lead, gold and silver.

The smelting process also yielded valuable byproducts, such as copper, zinc and sulfuric acid, which were shipped to other refining facilities for further processing or sold as commodities to manufacturers.

At the time, lead was used to produce goods such as batteries, ammunition, lead-based paints and leaded gasoline. Although the East Helena facility employed generations of area residents, smelter operations also threatened the safety of the community by leaching arsenic, heavy metals, and other potential drinking water contaminants into the surrounding soil and groundwater. The Environmental Protection Agency added the ASARCO facility to its National Priorities List in 1984, but the site remained operational until 2001.

ASARCO declared bankruptcy in 2005 and the resulting court settlement placed the nonprofit Montana Environmental Trust Group in charge of evaluating the site’s environmental impact and cleaning up the property.

This multi-year project includes the rehabilitation of a 1.25-mile stretch of Prickly Pear Creek.

“When we started, Prickly Pear Creek was just this long channel that had been moved and relocated by ASARCO going back to the 1800s,” said Cindy Brooks, METG director. “The condition that it was in when we started was very unnatural.”

The Prickly Pear Creek rehabilitation project began in 2009 as part of the demolition and restoration of the former ASARCO facility. METG created a diversion bypass to redirect the creek away from contaminated areas on the south end of the smelter site, and the remaining slag pile next to the northern stretch of the creek.

Two man-made lakes, which ASARCO created to store water for the smelter’s treatment and cooling operations, were drained in order to reduce groundwater levels and prevent the spread of contamination. The smelter dam was also removed, which reopened passage for brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout along Prickly Pear Creek toward Lake Helena.

In August 2016, the creek was finally diverted into a realigned channel, and it now follows a more natural, meandering route through more than 100 acres of newly created floodplain. Fifty acres of wetlands now occupy the drained lakes and a 62-acre evapotranspirative cover, a natural soil barrier, blankets the toxic soil and prevents the remaining contaminants from coming in contact with precipitation, wildlife or people. >>

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LAND: FREEDOM TO FLOW

NEARLY 35,000 PLANTS WERE HARVESTED

Left: The American Smelting “At this stage, we’re very and Refining Company began happy with the progress that nearby and replanted at the site, and willows, chokecherries operations in East Helena in 1888.

METG has made,” Schell said. and alders are beginning to take hold—deer, elk, beavers and Pictured here in 1905, the plant leeched dangerous contaminants “We’re waiting, as a city, to see foxes have returned to the area, according to Brooks. The only into the surrounding soil and where the project goes. Who indication of the area’s past use is the 16-million ton slag pile, groundwater for more than a might be interested in the land? century. a towering dark mound of glassy smelter byproduct that now Who might be interested in the Right: The Prickly Pear Creek looms a safe distance from the banks of the creek. rehabilitation project began in Project results are already measurable: Groundwater levels have long-term care of the area?”

2009 with the demolition of the One interested party is the dropped throughout the property, precipitation runs cleanly off ASARCO facility.

Prickly Pear Land Trust, a Heleof the evapotranspirative cover, and soil contaminant levels have na-based nonprofit that aims to diminished by 75 percent in places. Biologists have also seen an preserve public access to open spaces in Lewis and increase in the number of trout that inhabit Prickly “In the last Clark, Jefferson, Broadwater and Powell counties.

Pear Creek. couple of The group has expressed interest in incorporating “In the last couple of years, we’ve actually seen years, we’ve approximately 200 acres of the realigned corridor demonstrable improvement in water quality, which actually seen into the Prickly Pear Creek Greenway, a proposed is amazing,” Brooks said. “There are very few hazarddemonstrable trail through open land that would link the Helena ous waste sites where you can have that outcome so improvement in airport, East Helena and Montana City. quickly.” water quality ...

“If the Prickly Pear Land Trust could step in and METG will continue to monitor groundwater hold these lands now [and] accomplish our vision quality and contaminant plumes on the property over there are very few hazardous for the proposed greenway, and the city of East the next several years. The group is also exploring waste sites Helena could ultimately be the best holder for the proposals to help mitigate contamination from the where you lands down the road, we think that could be a great slag pile and is investigating options for recycling or can have that partnership all around,” said Andrea Silverman, reprocessing the material. outcome so land protection coordinator for the Prickly Pear With the bulk of the creek restoration complete, quickly.”

Land Trust.

METG and the East Helena community can begin Given the project’s successful restoration, looking toward future uses of the restored waterway.

Brooks is confident that community stakeholders will arrive at an METG’s vision for the area surrounding the realigned channel approach to integrate the creek corridor. includes dedicated open space with public recreation access to the “A big part of the success of East Helena is the alignment of so creek. Brooks hopes to manifest this vision by transferring the land many different stakeholders with the goal of protecting public to a long-term steward, such as a government agency or nonprofit, health and the environment, and restoring and revitalizing the that could establish a community space and preserve the area for future generations. land,” Brooks said.

While a city park along the corridor is one option, East Helena Mayor Jamie Schell cautioned that the small community’s tight Caitlin Styrsky lives in West Yellowstone, Montana, where she can municipal budget would make it difficult to acquire the property in usually be found writing, fly fishing, teaching yoga and exploring the near future. with her German shepherd Stella.

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LAND

MONTANA MILLION Rock Ringling guides land trust to milestone via the ‘trout route’

BY TYLER ALLEN

The Ruby River is running high for trout fishing on this late April day, but so are Rock Ringling’s spirits. He steps out of the car with waders on and a large cigar stuffed in his mouth.

“It’s snowing. That’s a good sign right?” he deadpans. Knee deep in the small river, Ringling casts a wooly bugger a foot off the bank with the precision of a marksman, mixing in effortless roll casts to keep the ugly, dark fly in the feeding line. He’s done buying $1,000 fly rods, he says, favoring $250 Moonshinebrand rods instead.

If Rock’s last name rings familiar, it’s because his great-grandfather and four brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus before Thomas Edison patented his incandescent light bulb, and on this day “The Greatest Show on Earth” was nearing its Montana Land Reliance Managing Director Rock final performance on Ringling in the Ruby Valley May 21. on April 28, 2017.

“Unfortunately, P H OTO B Y W ES OV ERVOL D after 146 years it [ends] this year,” he says later that day. “It’s a little nostalgic for the family.”

But the managing director of Montana Land Reliance has much to rejoice in this year. He turns 65 in July, when he “gets to go on socialized medicine,” and in August the land trust celebrates 1 million acres conserved in the state. When Ringling joined MLR in 1990 the organization had just 27 properties under easement for a total of 24,000 acres statewide. The mark he’s left on Montana’s landscape will far eclipse the impressive longevity of his family’s famous circus.

When a property owner donates an easement to a land trust such as MLR, it legally binds the owner’s intentions on the land permanently—it not only preserves conservation values, but may have financial benefits as well. It can qualify as a charitable deduction that may reduce the donor’s income, estate or gift tax burden.

Here on the Woodson Ranch, now owned by the Ruby Habitat Foundation, a conservation easement protects 1,150 acres, about 4 miles of the Ruby River and the same distance of its natural braid called Clear Creek.

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eventually had an office in Helena, where he Ringling comes here to fish just about MONTANA LAND RELIANCE moved to in 1986. In the same building were every week, and says he’s closing in on

BY THE NUMBERS the “most standoffish folks down the hall,” he fishing all of the nearly 1,700 miles of In August, the largest statewide said. These folks were running Montana Land angling waters conserved by MLR. land trust in the country will Reliance at the time: Bill Long, John Wilson Ringling has seen the Montana landscape celebrate 1 million acres protected and Jan Konigsberg. change in his 65 years. Born in Bozeman in on 840 conservation easements across Montana “One day they walked down the hall and 1952, he grew up in White Sulphur Springs, offered me a job. Frankly, I didn’t know what a where both sides of his family purchased 1,675 miles of stream bank protected statewide conservation easement was,” Ringling said. “I ranches around the turn of the 19th century. was like, ‘Who in the hell would do this?’” At He began fishing there around age 4, with MADISON COUNTY: the time, however, his father’s neighbor was a willow branch, some monofilament on a 132,023 acres and 231 miles of negotiating with MLR to put his ranch under Schnell hook and worms. The family moved stream bank protected an easement and avoid the estate taxes to keep in 1959 to Springdale, near the banks of the it in the family. Ringling saw the light.

Yellowstone River, and then in 1967 to the GALLATIN COUNTY: Today, Ringling heads a land trust with southeastern corner of the state near Ekalaka.

35,921 acres and 66 miles of stream bank protected an annual operating budget of more than $2 Ringling started college in 1971 at million, and he says that fly fishing has played Montana State University in Bozeman, a major role in the organization’s fundraising when the city’s population was less than success—the MLR board of directors fondly refers to it as the 20,000. It’s more than doubled since. “trout route,” he says.

He traveled the state extensively in his younger years—and “When you live in Montana and work for a nonprofit and during his “brief and undistinguished rodeo career”— watching you need to raise a million and a half, or $2 million a year, you the steady fragmentation of farmland. can’t do it in state. There’s just not the wealth here to do that,” “I understand people want to live in the country and stuff, but I think one day we're going to regret growing houses … in the Ringling said. “People from big cities around the country came to Montana to fish and we just made that connection … under Gallatin Valley, when we need food and fiber.”

Ringling started running statewide political campaigns the old adage that philanthropy should be fun.” at the behest of U.S. Senator Max Baucus in the late ‘80s and

Montana is home to approximately 90 millions acres of land, of which 60 million is private. Montana Land Reliance will celebrate its 1 millionth acre under conservation easements in August. I MAGE COU R TES Y OF M ONTA NA L A ND R EL I A NC E

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CHALLENGES AWAIT WOUNDED VETERANS RETURNING HOME FROM THE RAVAGES OF WAR. ONE GROUP OF BOATERS TOOK NOTICE AND AIMS TO LEAD WILLING SOLDIERS …

THROUGH THE STORY AND PHOTOS BY SETH DAHL

F ROM THE 10,915-FOOT SUMMIT OF EMIGRANT PEAK,

serrated mountaintops loom in all directions. Far below, the great Yellowstone River flows among green cottonwood trees as it cuts through Montana’s Paradise Valley. It’s July and the golden-brown landscape surrounding the river corridor appears brittle and thirsty in contrast to the green, irrigated fields nearby.

On the summit and facing the wide-open valley stands Lonnie Bedwell, who sports a graying and welltrimmed mustache and black sunglasses. Beside him is Dustin Sene, a local who lives outside nearby Gardiner and offered to guide Bedwell up the mountain that day.

Sene describes the named mountain ranges: Crazy Mountains to the north; Tetons to the south; Absarokas to the east; Spanish Peaks to the west.

Left: The mid summer storm clouds illuminated pink and orange under Montana’s big sky in Paradise Valley.

Right: Lonnie Bedwell attempts to surf his kayak in a standing wave feature on the Yellowstone River under the guidance of Rachael Ward in the background.

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From this vantage, Montana holds true to its name and Bedwell breathes deeply the cool mountain air. The sun is high in the sky and in between wind gusts against his face he hears the unpolluted silence that high places offer.

Bedwell’s senses are heightened atop this lofty perch.

All save his vision. He can’t see the mountain peaks, valley or wildness around him. Bedwell has been blind for 20 years.

But this doesn’t slow down the 51 year old, who in 2015 was named among National Geographic’s Athletes of the Year. Bedwell is a kayaker who, as a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, now introduces other blind vets to the sport. On this Montana summer day, however, he wanted to climb the prominent mountain he’d heard so much about.

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C U LT U R E JOE MORNINI IS TALL AND ESPECIALLY FIT

for his 63 years. His former career is evident when his voice booms across the yard as he shouts dry-land kayaking instruction to Team River Runner’s Outtasight participants.

Mornini retired in 2014 after working 40 years as a Maryland public school teacher and special education program coordinator. He stays active by kayaking the Potomac River three to four times a week and has been doing so for about 30 years.

In the summer of 2004, with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan well underway, Mornini and his kayak partner Mike McCormick began noticing scores of soldiers recovering from battle injuries at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center just down the road from Mornini’s current home in Rockville, Maryland. By fall, the duo decided to pitch in the best way the knew how: on the water.

“We felt we could outfit and adapt boats for them,” Mornini says. “Get them out of wheelchairs and into paddling.”

Around 2.5 million service members have deployed to the Middle East since the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. To date, roughly 52,500 service

members have been physically wounded in action and out of those, 1,645 came home missing limbs.

The partners founded Team River Runner in September 2004 with the vision to create a healing and empowering program for veterans.

“Moving is living,” Mornini says. “Most individuals in the military love the outdoors, they love adventure and they love excitement.

Kayaking involves all three of those.”

Currently TRR has over 55 chapters in 31 states, and during its 12-plus years has worked with more than 10,000 veterans. Mornini’s mantra is “butts in boats,” and he often visited injured vets at the Walter Reed hospital to chat with them about his program. >>

“THAT IS THE ULTIMATE ACT OF TRUST: SENDING [BLIND KAYAKERS] DOWN A CLASS THREE [RAPID] ON YOUR VOICE COMMANDS.”

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Outtasight kayak clinic participant Adam Rowland learns how to roll his kayak in a pond with help from Chris Price and Rachael Ward.

It was at Walter Reed in 2005 when U.S. Army infantry veteran Mackay Mathiason urged Mornini to start a program in Mathiason’s home state of Montana. With few rocks choking the rapids and numerous access points, Mathiason said the Yellowstone River was the ideal waterway to learn basic kayak skills. The program that followed aligned sighted woundedveteran guides with their visually impaired comrades.

“That is the ultimate act of trust: sending [blind kayakers] down a class three [rapid] on your voice commands,” says Mathiason, who today lives in Billings, Montana, and runs a custom metal fabrication shop with his wife, Leslie. “Once you establish that trust, the rest is cake.”

In 2010, the current TRR Outtasight Clinic was born, and Mornini discovered the kindness of area residents. “The Paradise Valley community is active and engaged in the needs of veterans,” Mornini says. “Word travels fast … and any needs any group or program might have results in support.”

Folks in the communities lining the Yellowstone donate food, time and housing, and hold an annual pig roast fundraiser at the River’s Edge Bar and Grill to keep TRR coming back.

“Among my friends and family in the valley there is extremely strong feelings of support and gratitude for these guys,” says Sene, Bedwell’s guide who was raised in Paradise Valley. “Not only for what they have done and sacrificed for our country but for how they are living their lives today and moving on.”

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Above: Team River Runner cofounder, Joe Mornini, smiles during a beautiful July day kayaking the Yellowstone River.

Right: Mike Malarsie learns the feel of his kayak as Lonnie Bedwell holds the stern of his boat steady. Mike was able to roll his kayak by the end of the day.

CULTURE: THROUGH THE DARKNESS EVERY JULY, LONNIE BEDWELL PACKS HIS KAYAKING GEAR,

cowboy boots and overalls, and flies to Bozeman, Montana, from his southwest Indiana home in Dugger. Occasionally he boards the plane wearing his lifejacket, just to get a rise out of travelers. A former Navy submariner, Bedwell feels teaching other blind vets to kayak is his duty now.

On May 4, 1997, Bedwell was turkey hunting a mile from his house when his partner accidently shot him in the face, blinding him instantly. The recovery road was long and dark, but with the help of his three daughters Bedwell relearned how to negotiate day-to-day life. A year later, he shot a turkey under his friend’s guidance.

Bedwell first tried kayaking in 2012 at a TRR pool event at the Disabled American Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass, Colorado. In July of that year he

attended his first TRR Outtasight Clinic and brought a natural athleticism and iron will that caught Joe Mornini’s eye. “Right from the start line he showed no fear and took to kayaking like a duck takes to water,” Mornini says.

It wasn’t long before Bedwell was setting ambitious goals for himself. In 2013, he became the first blind person to kayak the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River, a total of 226 miles. He only swam twice. He paddled the Grand again the following year with sightless adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, who in 2001 became the only blind person to summit Mount Everest.

Then, in 2015, Bedwell traveled with guides to Africa and took on the massive rapids of the Zambezi River. “I like running whitewater just about as much as anything that I do,” Bedwell muses. “It’s the most independent thing that I think I do since losing my eyesight.”

“IT’S THE MOST INDEPENDENT THING THAT I THINK I DO SINCE LOSING MY EYESIGHT.” MIKE MALARSIE RECALLS THE AMAZEMENT

he felt after hearing of Bedwell’s first Grand Canyon trip. “He’s an example setter,” Malarsie says, “not just for people that are blind and visually impaired but for everybody.”

On January 3, 2010, Malarsie was on foot patrol as part of a U.S. Air Force Tactical Air Control Party in Afghanistan, when an Improvised Explosive Device, known as an IED, blew him backward and into a canal.

The ambush killed four men in the patrol and Malarsie returned home completely blind.

“When I woke up and heard that they weren’t coming home I knew I had no right to feel sorry for myself,” he says. “I vowed to … live my life as a tribute to them.”

Malarsie had never kayaked before attending the 2016 Outtasight Clinic, but was Eskimo rolling his boat in the pond on day one. As the clinic progressed, so did the vets’ skill levels and in a few days they entered Yankee Jim Canyon, the biggest whitewater they had ever encountered. The roar of the river crashing through the canyon is amplified by sheer Precambrian rock walls, and deafening. The whole experience intimidates new kayakers, even the ones who can see.

“It’s kind of run the whole spectrum of emotions and sensations,” says Malarsie, about kayaking a river blind. “Once I’m in the middle of it, all those sensations are gone and I’m literally just present. I get to the bottom … and feel on top of the world, like I just did something kind of remarkable.” >>

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Sighted guide, Chris Price, assists visually impaired participant, Adam Rowland, back to their kayaks during the 2016 Outtasight Clinic held on the Yellowstone River.

THE YELLOWSTONE RIVER FLOWS WITH A STEADY

and natural pull, undisturbed for 692 miles. It’s the longest undammed river in the Lower 48 and a highlight of the region. It doesn’t discern between sighted recreationalists and those who see only the scars that war leaves behind. And neither do the residents of Paradise Valley.

“When I think about that community,” Bedwell says, “I think about the peacefulness of the valley and the acceptance of the people. They’re constantly thanking us for our service and they never treat us like we’re blind.”

The Outtasight Clinic, which now has branches in Florida, Michigan and North Carolina, is a platform for recovery; a program for personal growth. For a moment in time, a kayak and a river offer veterans freedom from their dark worlds. Carried by the Yellowstone’s wild and free current, these vets push into the darkness one paddle stroke at a time. At the takeout, their grins and stories shatter misconceptions of what is possible.

Raised in Great Falls, Montana, Seth Dahl served in Iraq with the 1-163rd Infantry Battalion. He currently lives in Boise, Idaho, where he shoots and edits videos and short documentary films under his company name, Big Cedar Media. Watch the TRR Outtasight kayak video at bigcedarmedia.com.

This article is dedicated to the four service members killed in the IED explosion that blinded Mike Malarsie: Sergeant Joshua Lengstorf, Specialist Brian Bowman, Private John Dion, and Senior Airman Brad Smith.

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WOMEN IN WESTERN FILM LIVING LIFE ON THEIR OWN TERMS

BY KATE HULL

P H OTO BY CR IST IN A G OT TARDI

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CULTURE: SECTION: FILM SUB-

F

ilmmaker Kelly Reichardt may not carry the recognition of a big-name Hollywood director, but her films’ subjects are rooted in one of the best-known themes in American cinema: the West.

Her 2016 film, Certain Women, depicts the loosely intertwined stories of women living in rural Montana: an unfulfilled lawyer played by Laura Dern, an unhappy wife (Michelle Williams), and Lily Gladstone’s portrayal of a sequestered rancher seeking out a relationship with a young lawyer played by Kristen Stewart. Based on short stories by Montana-raised author Maile Meloy, the Montana landscape is the thread that ties the narratives together.

Like many of Reichardt’s films, including Meek’s Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy, Certain Women has been labeled a feminist Western for its unassuming, relatable and at times heartbreaking renderings of everyday life in the Rockies.

NPR pop culture critic John Powers noted on Fresh Air that its “heroines, all tremendously well-acted, are marked by their bottled-up uncertainty.” Alice Gregory celebrated Reichardt’s ability to portray “women moving through an uneasy world,” in The New York Times Magazine.

Presenting Western life through the lens of its notable women is not new; Reichardt just accomplishes it without the romance.

The opening shot of Certain Women offers an expansive panorama of a long train zipping through a beautiful sweeping vista, with a hint of decayed urbanization visible on the edge of the frame. Kirk Ellis, a celebrated screenwriter and producer, as well as the president of the Western Writers of America, knew right away what Reichardt intended to do.

“She is going to take the classical aesthetics of a Western and spin them ‘round in a totally contemporary way, with characters you aren’t used to seeing in classic Western films,” he said.

Dern’s character is tangled up in a messy romantic relationship and dealing with a bluecollar client who won’t take her legal advice, until a male associate echoes her assessment.

Williams plays a busy wife, with an uninterested husband and a brooding daughter, fretting over building an authentic Montana home.

Gladstone, the isolated rancher, stumbles on a night class at the local school, taught by a young lawyer discouraged by her four-hour drive from Livingston to the small town of Belfry, just to teach a handful of students. After each class, the rancher and Stewart’s character forge a connection at a nearby diner.

Marked by the somber and pristine Montana winters, rugged landscapes and sparsely populated towns, the locale is as important as the plot, setting the tone for the challenges each character faces.

“It is the expansiveness of it; it means different things to different people,” says Ellis. “For some, it is the untouched, before the hand of man has corrupted it.

For others, it is the physical manifestation of the spirit of independence.” >>

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A MODERN WOMAN’S WESTERN

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he vast landscapes and mountainous backdrops paint a picture of a traditional Western motif, and Reichardt’s character portrayals showcase unassuming, lonely protagonists, reminiscent of classics like William Wellman’s Westward the Women or Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (an adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s famed novel).

Certain Women lacks shoot ‘em up action, brave heroes or a gripping resolution, but it does offer lonercowboy characters set in the rural West. This time, those characters are everyday women. Andrew Nelson, a professor at Montana State University, film historian and self-proclaimed Western purist, argues that the film cannot be considered part of the genre’s canon.

“If calling it [a Western] helps us understand the film more, I am all for it. But I am a traditionalist about Westerns being set in the past,” he said. “Although place is an important part, it is not about the clash between savagery and civilization; it is about the possibilities these women have in one particular place.”

Ellis disagrees.

“The Western has simply evolved into something that is less traditional than it used to be, but still relevant because it is dealing with, as Certain Women does, as [The] Last Picture Show did, the realities of the modern West,” he says.

Both men agree, however, that whether it’s an indie film that happens to be set in the West or a modern take on a classic Western, the film gives its female characters powerful roles.

But the concept of a feminist Western is nothing new.

Recent additions to the subgenre are turning heads for depicting authentic stories through a unique lens, but similar efforts in this immense film category have been around for the better part of a century.

“The women of Westerns in the 1950s may pale in comparison to female leads we see today, but the Western has always presented strong female characters with a lot of agency,” Nelson said. “They are just subject to the conventions of the time.”

As far back as the early 1950s, films like Westward the Women were placing female leads in typically male-centric roles. In Wellman’s film, 86

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Above: Browning, Montana-native Lily Gladstone garnered accolades for her performance as a sequestered rancher in Certain Women, a film based on the short stories of Montana-raised author Maile Meloy.

P H OTO B Y R I C K R OS E

Right: A scene from the 1951 film Westward the Women.

COU R TES Y OF DOC TOR M AC R O.CO M

the male protagonists set off to bring back more than 100 mail-order brides to become suitable wives and settle a community.

“The audience saw women on a trail drive in roles you were used to seeing men play,” Ellis said. “The great thing about the genre is that, when working with the tropes and the archetypes, you can do a lot with it. You can be very subversive.”

For Laura Pritchett, a Colorado-raised author whose writing focuses on the American West, the expansion within the genre is welcomed growth.

“I am glad the stories of real women—not just the silent and stoic, but real women—in all their complexities and complications are being told,” Pritchett said.

For every portrayal like this, Ellis says there are plenty of other Westerns that don’t provide such a space for its female characters to break the mold.

“That isn’t to say that there aren’t a lot of Westerns that have women in the weeds or treat them as anything other than props for the men to fight over. Even in something as

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Cody,Wyo. on September 22 & 23, 2017 recent as [Clint Eastwood’s] Unforgiven, the whore characters set the plot in motion, but the emphasis shifts to the men gunslingers.”

What is catching the attention of critics about Certain Women is its genuine depiction of modern life in the Northern Rockies, most notably in the third segment featuring Lily Gladstone as a ranch hand.

A Browning, Montana native, Gladstone took a small part and left a big impression. Vogue called her role one of the “13 Best Film Performances of 2016,” saying, “Here, her character’s yearning and fragility is almost painful to watch, but watch it we do.”

Drawing on her upbringing—Gladstone lived on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana until she was 11—it wasn’t a stretch to develop her character, who lives by herself on a ranch in the frigid Montana winters, and begins to crave human connection.

“I grew up in a population of scarcity but not poverty.

We lived within our means and our resources,” she says. “I saw few people around me, but you got used to distributing wealth and taking care of one another and living that way.”

Gladstone’s character begins each day with the same routine: load hay, ride the ATV, tend to the horses, repeat.

“You get the sense of the monotony and why someone would look for a kind of adventure,” Ellis says.

In Meloy’s original short story, the ranch hand is male, but Reichardt cast Gladstone and lets the viewers decide her intentions in befriending the young lawyer.

“When I was cast in the part, [Reichardt] said to me, ‘When you are reading it, you know the cowboy’s intentions are good, but you know he is attracted to this woman, and he is looking at her in a way that makes him a bit uncomfortable,’” Gladstone said. “He is the perfect broken cowboy who needs and wants and is lonely.

By changing it to the woman, [Reichardt] took that agenda off the table.”

The film ends almost as it started: Each woman is left with a sense of unrest and unhappiness, with no real resolution, and returns to life as it has always been. It isn’t sentimental or particularly dignified, but an excerpt of their everyday.

“Each woman is playing that lone cowboy who is living her life on her own terms,” Gladstone said.

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CULTURE: MUSIC

HAIR BANDS TO HIP-HOP A N D

E V E R Y T H I N G

I N

B E T W E E N

A SUMMER MUSIC ROUNDUP IN THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE

H E A D WAT E R S C O U N T R Y J A M / J U N E 1 5 - 1 7

A few weeks later and a little farther west, the Montana Folk Festival also celebrates its 10th anniversary July 7-9, with typically eclectic offerings on seven stages in uptown Butte. Distinctly American folk traditions like gospel, cajun and Western swing music will be on display, as well as a cornucopia of international acts like Tuvan throat singers, Brazilian tap dancers and a Venezuelan tambor ensemble. Tireless reggae giant Clinton Fearon will headline with his Boogie Brown Band.

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of many diverse music festivals happening throughout the Greater Yellowstone.

The Headwaters Country Jam will have “The Bridge” swarming with Wranglers, cowboy hats and sleeveless denim shirts as fans flock to see some of country music’s biggest names. Former “Nashville Star” reality TV show contestant Chris Young headlines, as well as his doppelganger Randy Houser for the festival’s 10th anniversary. Other highlights include Tim Montana and The Shrednecks, and Missoula’s The Cold Hard Cash Show.

BUTTE MT

M O N TA N A F O L K F E S T I VA L / J U L Y 7 - 9

PH OTO BY PAT B UR N S

THREE FORKS MT

As the Gallatin Valley shakes off its annual winter coat, local mountain bikers itching to get back in the saddle typically head for the arid trails of Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. If you’ve ever taken part in this annual migration through Three Forks, Montana, you’ve probably noticed the strange sight of a trestle bridge marooned in a field next to scores of porta-potties huddled in penguin-like colonies.

This curious plot of land lies dormant for much of the year, but will come to life this summer on June 15, when it transforms into the setting for the Headwaters Country Jam, the first

P H OTO COU R TES Y OF WA L L AC E.P H OTO

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COU RT E SY OF G RA N D TA R G H EE R ES O R T

CL OC K W IS E F R OM TOP L EFT : P H OTO S CO U R TE S Y O F GR A N D T ETO N M U SIC F E ST IVA L, G RA ND TA RG H E E RE SORT , E RIC PE T E RSON/ RE D A NT S PA NTS FESTI VA L, C I TY O F LI V I NG STO N

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Unlike the other weekend festivals, the Grand Teton Music Festival is a summer-long series of events running from July 7 to August 20 in Jackson, Wyoming. Free family concerts, open rehearsals and regular appearances by the Festival Orchestra fill out the impressive schedule. Notable performances include classical/pop crossover cellist Ben Sollee on July 12, and Yo-Yo Ma on August 1.

Just on the other side of the Tetons in Alta, Wyoming, Grand Targhee Resort is home to two great music festivals and a recreational playland for outdoor enthusiasts. Music stages and camping at the base of the ski area offer opportunities for mountain biking, hiking and trail running. First up this summer is Targhee Fest, July 14-16, with a decidedly funk-infused lineup. The three nights of the festival will feature headliners Michael Franti and Spearhead, North Mississippi Allstars and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, respectively.

Over on the Yellowstone River the town of Livingston will host its hometown heroes The MAX, and Belgrade’s Western Skies, to provide the nightly entertainment for their July 21-22 celebration Summerfest.

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SUMMERFEST / JULY 21-22

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The following weekend, and just one hour north of Livingston on Highway 89, the tiny town of White Sulphur Springs will come to life for Red Ants Pants Festival. Established in 2011, it has fast become a crowd favorite for its community feel and for drawing big names including Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris and Taj Mahal. This year the festival brings seasoned performers Lucinda Williams and Shooter Jennings as well as rising stars like Lydia Loveless and Darlingside. The festivities begin Thursday, July 27, with a free street dance. >> M T O U T L AW. C O M / MOUNTAIN

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WITH JAMES MCMURTRY

BIG SKY MT

On the upper reaches of the Gallatin River, Big Sky will play host to the world’s top professional bull riders for the Big Sky PBR event. In addition to testing the mettle of some bold cowboys, the weekend also features three nights of music. Oklahoma country-rockers the Turnpike Troubadours kick things off Thursday, July 27, with a free concert on Town Center Stage. Your PBR ticket will get you in to see James McMurtry and the Jamie McLean Band close out the party after the arena dust has settled Friday and Saturday nights.

Mountain Outlaw: How’d the hunt go this morning?

James McMurtry: I had one doe come up, but she had a fawn with her so I let her walk. It’s OK. They’re non-native so you can hunt ‘em year-round. If they don’t have predators [the population] can get away from ya. We have a few mountain lions down here, but we got lots and lots of rednecks to keep ‘em in check.

MO: You’ve played quite a bit in Montana over the years, what do you look forward to about performing in Big Sky Country?

BIG SKY MT

M U S I C I N T H E M O U N TA I N S / J U N E 2 2 - A U G U S T 3 1

And there’s free weekly music June 22 to August 31 in Big Sky as part of the Music in the Mountains Thursday night concert series on Town Center Stage. Bluegrass favorites The Lil’ Smokies and Gallatin Grass Project kick off the season June 22 and Bozeman’s The Tiny Band, with their big sound and dance-inducing covers, returns for the annual July Fourth celebration.

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JM: Well, people get up and move in Montana.

Montana festivals are nice because they do it right.

They usually have the dancers down front and the sitters and listeners farther back. It’s gotten where a lot of festivals do it the other way around. They put a VIP section up front, and that’s just wrong. It doesn’t sound very good front and center, it can’t.

Down front you get drums and guitar amps in your face, but that’s fine if you’re drinking and dancin’ and jumpin’ around.

MO: You have some fishing references in your latest record. Do you get to do any fly fishing when you’re up here?

JM: I haven’t fly fished since I was kid, most of my fishing is a lot more primitive. I float some jugs for catfish now and again.

You take a Clorox jug with a piece of cord, a hook and sinker, and put a big hunk of shad or something on it and let it blow around in the wind, then you follow it. It’s a good workout if you’ve got a canoe or some kind of man-powered craft.

It’s fun. Every now and then you get a 4, 5-pound blue cat [that] will drag that jug completely under.

Reminds you of Jaws.

MO: Your songs all tell compelling stories. Is there anything we can learn about you from listening to them?

JM: My songs are fiction, I write from the perspective of a fictional character generally. They may be loosely based [on], or conglomerates of, people I know. I start with a couple lines and a melody, and I think, “Who said that?”

Then I try to come up with a character who would say those lines. And if it’s cool enough to keep me up at night, maybe I finish the song.

MO: Your last record Complicated Game came out in 2015, are you working on a new record these days?

JM: Well, we need to cause the club draws are starting to fall off a bit. It used to be we’d tour to promote records. Now we make records to promote tours. Cause if you have a new record out then you guys will write about us and people will come to the gig!

P HOTO S BY O UT L AW PAR TNER S . M A RY K EATI NG- B R U TONA , L OV E S TR EET M ED I A

BIG SKY PBR / JULY 27-29

James McMurtry is an English teacher and the son of a novelist, Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry, so it’s no surprise that his story-like songs have been engaging listeners for over 30 years. McMurtry is also one of a handful of artists playing multiple festivals in Montana this summer, including the Big Sky PBR. Mountain Outlaw caught up with him in late April from his home in Austin, Texas, after a morning deer hunt.

Downtown Bozeman’s Sweet Pea Festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary on August 4. Starting the festivities in funky fashion Friday night is reggaeton/ hip-hop act Congo Sanchez—featuring the drummer from Thievery Corporation—followed by Colorado funk/ afrobeat veterans The Motet. The rest of the weekend is stacked with rootsy folk rock acts, including crowd favorites Charlie Parr, Laura Gibson and Cloud Cult.

Bozemanites can also expect a regular dose of outdoor performances on Thursday nights for the Music on Main summer concert series.

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PH OTO CO URT E S Y O F G R AN D TAR G HE E RE S O RT

L EF T: P H OTO B Y W ES L E Y W HI TE, PHOTO COU RTESY OF MA RY BOW D EN

CULTURE: MUSIC SECTION: SUB-

BIG SKY MT

B I G S K Y C L A S S I C A L M U S I C F E S T I VA L / AUGUST 11-13

On August 11, a classical-loving crowd will convene in Big Sky for an opportunity to hear Bozeman’s own world-renowned violinist Angella Ahn, in a recital with trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden, and pianist Molly Morkoski on the opening night of the Big Sky Classical Music Festival. The Mambo Kings will bring their contemporary afrocuban jazz fusion from upstate New York to Town Center Stage on Saturday, and The Big Sky Festival Orchestra will close out the festivities on Sunday.

ALTA WY

In the Tetons that same weekend, Grand Targhee Resort hosts the premier bluegrass festival in this corner of the country August 11-13.

Now in its 30th year, the Targhee Bluegrass lineup reflects a concerted effort to balance jamgrass staples, including Greensky Bluegrass and The Infamous Stringdusters, with members of the bluegrass old guard like Tim O’Brien, The Del McCoury Band and Peter Rowan.

For those who want to hone their bluegrass chops for the late-night parking lot picking circles, Targhee offers four days of music camps preceding the festival. >>

TA R G H E E B L U E G R A S S / A U G U S T 1 1 - 1 3

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THREE FORKS MT

But wait, there’s more! Only the most omnivorous music fan will be torn by the options on this busy weekend, but The Bridge will be rockin’ once again August 11-13 with the biggest hair and tightest pants in the Greater Yellowstone for the Rockin’ the Rivers music festival. This headbanging good time features the best named, if not the biggest, bands in metal. On the bill are “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” legends Blue Oyster Cult, ‘90s stalwarts Slaughter, all-female AC/DC cover band Hell’s Belles, and metal tribute band Hairball, among many other tattooed and pierced rockers.

ROCKIN’ THE RIVERS / AUGUST 11-13

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Winding down the festival season in the heart of Gallatin Canyon is the Groovin’On festival, September 14-17. It promises to be a groovy weekend, with acts like Kyle Hollingsworth of String Cheese Incident, Michal Menert, Blitzen Trapper and Exmag. Bozeman bands Laney Lou and The Bird Dogs, MOTH and The Hawthorne Roots round out the lineup.

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GROOVIN’ ON / SEPTEMBER 14-17

Also, the new KettleHouse Amphitheater will open to the public July 13 with a performance by Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. The lineup for the rest of the summer is shaping up nicely, including shows by Ween and the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

There are also some big names coming to the Missoula area that will be worth a road trip this summer. Montana native and MISSOULA MT Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy has put together a heavyhitting lineup of indie bands August 12-13 at the Big Sky Brewing Company Amphitheatre T R AV E L E R S ’ R E S T / AU G U S T 1 2 - 1 3 called the Travelers’ Rest Festival.

The Decemberists will play both days along with sets from Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires, However you like to get your live music fix, there’s no shortage of options in Belle and Sebastian, The Head the Greater Yellowstone and beyond this summer, so get out and get down! and the Heart, Shakey Graves, and Sylvan Esso.

Yogesh Simpson is a freelance writer and frontman for the Bozeman-based band Holler N’ Pine.

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CULTURE

life advice from little experts

CULTURE: KIDS

Life advice from Little Experts

P HOTO S C LOCKW I S E FRO M U PPE R L E FT : CO U RT E S Y O F B RI T TAN Y L A D D , KATH Y L Y NC H , J EA NNE GA I S F OR D , W ES OV ERVOL D

BY JESSIANNE WRIGHT

kelsey ladd, 8

will lynch, 5

Ivy Gaisford, 8

TOR dreisbach, 6

S

elf-identity is as much about the roles and relationships you occupy as the thoughts, emotions and world knowledge you have.

Adulthood offers us boundless insight, but the innocence of youth lends the bravery to share it.

In humanistic psychology, which emphasizes the whole person and the singularity of each individual, self-concept is defined as all of the thoughts and feelings that come in response to the question, “Who am I?” We are always looking for answers, from understanding our world to understanding our selves. Nothing is more indicative than the booming self-help industry. Having trouble sleeping? Want

to build stronger relationships? Do you want to understand your cat’s hoarding behavior?

According to a study done by the independent market research publisher Marketdata Enterprises, the self-help industry contributed nearly $10 billion to the U.S. economy in 2012. This self-help market includes infomercials, self-help books, weight loss programs, personal coaches and online education.

But rather than turning to Google or the trendiest selfhelp guru, why not ask the real experts?

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What’s something people should do every day?

Kelsey: Play outside.

Will: Get fresh air.

Ivy: I think they can do anything they want, but they should brush their teeth.

If you could have one superpower—or be one super hero—what would it be?

Tor: Superman. I like flying like a plane.

Ivy: I would want to rescue animals if I ever wanted a superpower … I would activate creature powers and then see whatever creatures need. I’d like to rescue animals because they are my favorite things in nature.

Kelsey: To fly. Instead of walking you could fly wherever you want.

Will: To use the Force. It’s from Star Wars.

kelsey ladd, 8

Kelsey Ladd is 8 years old and lives in Bend, Oregon. Kelsey is homeschooled, which allows her extra time to pursue her passions.

She is an artist, musician, dancer and athlete whose mission in life is to protect pigs and teach others kindness and compassion for animals.

She has one older brother and one younger sister and adores her dogs, fish and guinea pigs. Kelsey dreams of someday owning a farm and animal sanctuary.

“I would change [the world] so everywhere there would be someone nice.”

TOR dreisbach, 6

When Tor Dreisbach was 5 years old he named the new family dog Winston.

His parents and two older sisters were surprised, expecting him to vie for a name like Dump Truck, Cement Truck or Grater, given his passion for trucks. A Big Sky, Montana, native who turns 7 in July, Tor is a true adventurer, enjoying camping, skiing, hockey and biking. Tor’s favorite foods are mashed potatoes and pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles, probably served separately.

If you could meet the president of the United States, or a past president, what would you say?

Ivy: I would talk to Teddy Roosevelt and I would [tell him] he’s the best president in the world. He made sure that Yellowstone was actually Yellowstone.

Kelsey: Have a law passed about taking care of animals and not eating them.

Will: You have a nice house.

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? Why? Ivy: The first place I would go, of course, is California to see lizards and all sorts of things, like the Komodo dragon at the zoo. I’d like to see that [animal] again and learn more about it.

Kelsey: England. Because my mom was born there.

Tor: To Idaho because that’s where my

mom and dad first lived. It’s a fun place and you get to see things.

What do you see?

Tor: Hay bales.

“use the force. it’s from star wars.”

CULTURE: KIDS

What advice would you give people when they are sad?

Kelsey: By saying that everything would be alright. Every little thing’s gonna be alright. I got that from Bob Marley from [his song] “Three Little Birds.”

If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

Ivy: A fox. Because they are small, and I like that. They fit into tiny spaces and they make dens that can keep other animals safe when they move out.

Tor: A giraffe because they are my

favorite animal. They eat from trees and they have long necks and they drink water from lakes.

will lynch, 5

Kelsey: A bird because you can fly. I’d do tricks.

P HOTO S , L- R: W E S OV E RVO L D , KI M B E RLY T E I CHR OW PH OTOGR A P H Y , S ETH DA H L , J EA NNE GA I S F OR D

Will Lynch turns 6 in August and loves to build Lego ships, create art and spend time outside skiing, biking, playing soccer or boogie boarding. He is an adventurous eater and loves to travel. Recently he tried grilled octopus, capers and Brussel sprouts—and he liked them. Will lives in Jackson, Wyoming, and is the middle child of three boys.

Will: A falcon. They fly super fast when they dive.

What’s the most important thing you’ve ever learned?

Ivy: About Teddy Roosevelt. I think he is helpful to the world and [took] care of nature like I try to.

Tor: My ABCs. Will: That owls can’t roll their eyes. That’s why they can turn their heads around.

What is something you know how to do that you could teach someone else?

Tor: How to play hockey. I’d show you how to dribble and show you how to shoot.

Kelsey: Art. Sketching. You only need practice.

Will: How to ski.

How would you change the world if you could?

Ivy: If I could change the world, I wouldn’t change it at all. I like the world how it is.

But I would add five more animals—five more extinct animals.

Will: Put houses on wheels. If you wanted to be in your house and go on a trip you could move your house.

Kelsey: If people wouldn’t eat meat, then there would be more animals in the world.

I love pigs, they are my favorite animal, and I try to save lots of pigs.

Tor: I would change it so everywhere there would be someone nice.

“[people] can do anything they want. but they should brush their teeth.”

Ivy Gaisford, 8

Ivy Gaisford rarely leaves her house without a notebook and pen, pencil or marker. She is passionate about art and animals. At 8 years old she aspires to be an artist, an animal rescue professional who helps rehabilitate wildlife and a scientist who brings things to life. Ivy is homeschooled and lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her parents, brother, dogs, horses and chickens.

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406.993.2510 | santoshabigsky.com U TMT L AW. C O M 169MOUNTAIN Snowy Mountain Circle | / M BigT OSky,

The Spice & Tea Exchange® of Big Sky 47 Town Center Avenue | Big Sky, MT 59716 406-993-2163 | spiceandtea.com/bigsky

Also Located in Bozeman 18 East Main Street, Suite 110 | Bozeman, MT, 59715 406-219-2222 | spiceandtea.com/tste-bozeman

S PECI AL A DV ER T I S I NG SEC TIO N

GRILLS

CULTURE: RECIPES

J UST WAN T TO H AV E F U N AREA CONNOISSEURS THROW THEIR FAVORITE RECIPES ON THE BARBIE

ORSETTO ITALIAN BAR AND EATERY Orsetto Italian Bar and Eatery serves Italian-American classics in a contemporary setting on Jackson Hole’s historic town square. 161 North Center Street, Jackson, Wyoming. orsettojh.com (307) 203-2664 GRILLED SNAKE RIVER FARMS PORK CHOPS WITH ROASTED PEPPERS (Serves four) 4 bone-in pork chops 2 red bell peppers 2 yellow bell peppers 2 tablespoons sliced Calabrian chili 1 tablespoon shaved garlic 8 leaves hand-torn basil 2 tablespoons olive oil Pork brine: 1/2 cup kosher salt Bay leaves 2 lemons, halved 8 sprigs thyme 1/8 cup black peppercorns 2 tablespoons chili flakes 1/2 cup sugar Add ingredients to water in medium pot and cover. Bring to boil, turn off heat and let stand 30 minutes. Strain through colander and chill. Add pork chops to brine and refrigerate for six hours.

Char peppers over open flame, place in metal bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let steam for 20 minutes. Peel charred skin and slice peppers into long strips.

Pat chops dry, season with salt and pepper, grill for eight minutes on each side to internal temperature of 145 F. Remove chops from heat and rest five minutes. Sauté over medium heat, add two tablespoons olive oil. Add garlic, Calabrian chili and peppers, and cook five minutes. Toss basil with pepper sauté, place over chops and serve.

P H OTO BY T UCK FAUNTL EROY

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OPEN RANGE

CULTURE: RECIPES S PE CI A L A DV ER T I S I N G S EC TION

A favorite fish recipe at Open Range is our fresh salmon grilled on a cast iron plancha (griddle). This dish is inspired by the cuisine of Argentina, where cooking over open fires and outdoor grilling is a part of their culinary culture. 241 East Main Street, Bozeman, Montana. openrangemt.com (406) 404-1940 PLANCHA GRILLED SALMON WITH BASIL CHIMICHURRI SAUCE Salmon: one 6-8 ounce filet per person Chimichurri: 1 cup fresh basil leaves 1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley 3/4 cup high-quality olive oil 5 fresh garlic cloves 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

Combine chimichurri ingredients in a food processor and coarsely chop until a smooth consistency is achieved. Lightly brush the sauce on flesh side of the salmon filets and allow them to marinate while preheating the cast iron to the point of sizzling.

BUCK’S T-4 LODGE Buck’s T-4 has been in business since 1946, and serves contemporary Montana cuisine in a traditional Montana atmosphere. 46625 Gallatin Road, Big Sky, Montana. buckst4.com (406) 995-4111 ST. LOUIS STYLE BBQ RIBS

(Serves two to three) 1 St. Louis style pork rib, approximately three pounds 1 gallon water 2 ounces Buck’s proprietary brine blend, including but not limited to: • kosher salt • black pepper • brown sugar • chili powder 1 1/2 ounces Buck’s proprietary rib rub blend, including but not limited to: • kosher salt • black pepper • garlic powder • brown sugar • paprika Peel membrane off underside of ribs, which allows smoke and rub to properly penetrate. Combine rack, water and brine, then blend in large, shallow pan, and brine for 48 hours. Add more water to cover rack if necessary. Remove ribs and discard brine.

Rub ribs with rub blend, doubling amount on top of rack. Place rack on cookie sheet and refrigerate overnight.

Smoke rack in smoker at 215 F for six hours. It’s key to bring smoker up to temperature as quickly as possible for optimal smoke penetration. You should see “bone shrinkage,” where the bones stick out on the ends of the rib. Bones should not be mushy, but should be able to twist from meat easily.

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Place the filets herb-side down and sear for three to four minutes. Carefully turn the filets with a spatula, keeping the crust intact, and cook the skin side for five or six minutes.

Visually monitor and don’t overcook. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and serve with chimichurri on the side for dipping.

SUBHEAD THE SPICE & SECTION: TEA EXCHANGE OF BIG SKY

The Spice & Tea Exchange of Big Sky is your source for fine spices, herbs, blends, salts, sugars and teas. You will also find a wide range of accessories and gift ideas for cooks and tea lovers.

Our mission is to create and share the experience of a more flavorful life! 47 Town Center Avenue, Big Sky, Montana. spiceandtea.com/bigsky (406) 993-2163 BIG SKY BBQ SAUCE

(Makes approximately 30 ounces) 29 ounces tomato sauce 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1/8 cup molasses 1 teaspoon Dark Chili Powder* 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin 1/4 teaspoon Maple Syrup Granulated 1 1/2 teaspoons Paprika Smoked Sweet 3/4 teaspoon Yellow Mustard Ground 3/4 teaspoon Chardonnay Oak Smoked Sea Salt 1/2 teaspoon Aji Amarillo Pepper Powder 1/4 teaspoon Ancho Pepper Powder 1/4 teaspoon Vik’s Garlic Fix Spice Blend *All of the specialty spices listed are available at The Spice & Tea Exchange locations in Big Sky and Bozeman.

Add all ingredients together in a saucepan; stir well.

Simmer ingredients, stirring often for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat to cool. Store in refrigerator for up to three days.

Reheat and slather on grilled meat or use halfway through grilling, brushing sauce on meat as desired.

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Top Summer Events July 1 - 4

Teton Valley Balloon Rally

July 4

Driggs Independence Day Celebration

July 4

Victor 4th Of July Parade

July 14 - 16

Targhee Fest

July 23 - 29

Driggs Digs Plein Air

Aug 6 - 13

Teton County Fair

Aug 11 - 13

Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival

Aug 17

GeoFest

Aug 21

2017 Solar Eclipse

Sept 1 - 4

Wydaho Rendezvous Teton Mountain Bike Festival

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TORO

CULTURE: RECIPES S PEC IA L A DVE RT I SI N G SE CT I ON

Toro, Bozeman’s urban cantina, is an upbeat cocktail lounge serving Montana-inspired Mexican cuisine.

Our formally trained chef has created a menu utilizing as many local ingredients as possible. Toro offers a vast selection of beers, a quality assortment of wines and a variety of handcrafted Mexican cocktails using fresh-squeezed juices. 211 East Main Street, Suite 101, Bozeman, Montana. torobozeman.com (406) 577-2363 CARNE ASADA

(Serves five) 5 portions of flank steak (7-10 ounces each) Marinade: 1/2 cup chicken stock (from base) 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup lime juice 1/2 bunch minced cilantro 1 tablespoon black pepper Mix ingredients together for marinade. Put steaks in a large freezer bag and cover with marinade. Set aside in refrigerator for two hours.

Remove steaks from marinade, season with salt and black pepper, set over the hotter part of the grill. Cook the flank steak to desired temperature (around 4-6 minutes each side). Set aside to rest for five minutes before slicing into 1/4-inch strips.

Plate sliced steaks (use sauce if desired; we suggest a chimichurri) and serve with Toro’s Mexico City Style Street Corn.

P H OTO B Y W ES OV ERVOL D

EVERETT’S 8800 / BIG SKY RESORT

Perched atop Andesite Mountain at Big Sky Resort, Everett’s 8800 provides a lunch menu as rarified as the stunning views from the restaurant’s spacious deck. This summer, savor our Wild Alpine Game Burger topped with a lingonberry chutney, and pair it with a true Montana cocktail: Everett’s signature huckleberry martini. 50 Big Sky Resort Road, Big Sky, Montana. bigskyresort.com/everetts (406) 995-8800

WILD ALPINE GAME BURGER (Serves eight)

P H OTO BY CO DY WH ITMER

3 pounds bison, elk, lamb, ground 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped 3/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce 1/4 cup fresh herbs, chopped 2 teaspoons honey 2 teaspoons cumin 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 2 cups lingonberry chutney 2 cups micro-arugula

Lingonberry chutney 1 cup lingonberries 1 cup huckleberries 1 onion, finely diced 1 jalapeno, finely diced 2 teaspoons garlic, minced 1/4 cup white wine 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar 2 teaspoons mustard powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat grill to medium high. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well incorporated. Shape into eight patties and grill for six minutes on each side. Top with chutney.

Sweat onion, garlic, and jalapeno in tablespoon of oil.

Add wine and reduce to half.

Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low for 30 minutes.

Set aside to cool.

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SECTION: SUBHEAD

Gallatin Preserve B IG SK Y • M O N TA NA

IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL

• Gated, 160-acre tracts with a flexible 5-acre building envelope • Private Hunting and Fishing • 1600 acre preserve offer 10 trophy homesites

• Private access road to Yellowstone Club • Bordering Spanish Peaks Mountain Club • Located minutes from dining and entertainment in Big Sky Town Center

MARTHA JOHNSON FOUNDING BROKER | VP OF SALES MARTHA@BIGSKY.COM |406.580.5891

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All information contained herein is derived from sources deemed reliable; however, the content contained herein is not guaranteed by Lone Mountain Land Company LLC or its affiliated or parent companies, subsidiaries, officers, managers, employees, agents, brokers or salespersons and none of the foregoing make any representations regarding the accuracy of such information. Any floor plans, square footage, photos, illustrations/renderings, maps and features and amenities described herein are for illustrative purposes only and are subject to change without notice. Offerings are subject to error, omissions, prior sales, price changes or withdrawal without notice. Prospective purchasers are urged to independently investigate the property. No governmental agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. This material shall not constitute an offer to sell in any state or other jurisdiction where prior registration is required and shall not constitute a solicitation if you are working with another real estate agent. © 2016 The Big Sky Real Estate Co.. All rights in and to the content are owned or controlled by The Big Sky Real Estate Co.. Any unauthorized reproduction is expressly prohibited.

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• PA R K E R , C O

C E N T R E S K Y. C O M

B I G

S K Y ’ S

T EX T I LE C LE A N I N G S P E C I A L I S T SI NCE 1988 Carpet Cleaning • Soil & Stain Protectants • Spot Cleaning • Upholstery Cleaning • Leather Cleaning • Fine Area Rug Cleaning • Tile & Grout Cleaning • Hardwood Floor Cleaning & Conditioning • Odor Removal IICRC CERTIFIED FIRM

406.995.2811 M T O U T L AW. C O M / MOUNTAIN

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TICKETS & MORE INFORMATION AT BIGSKYPBR.COM

Ania Bulis

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PRG G

ETHICS

B i g S k y, M T

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(406) 995.3400

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EXPERIENCE

theprggroup.com

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Double D Ranchwear, Pendleton, Stetson, Ryan Michael Woolrich, Tasha Polizzi, Old Gringo, Corral, Handcrafted Jewelry, Leather Bags, Local Art and Montana Made Gifts!

Check out the Consignment Corral! Western Resale, Broken~in Boots & Vintage Clothing in the Basement. We consign too!

A Montana Lifestyle + Western Boutique

24 West Main St.| Bozeman, MT | 406.587.2153 Open 7 Days a Week! Located Downtown www.headwestbozeman.com

Creighton Block CREIGHTONBLOCKGALLERY.COM 406-995-3848

TRACIE SPENCE | KAMALI-SPIRIT GUIDE 1/3 60”X90” | Dibachrome

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GEAR

Handmade with supple cowhide by a couple of leathersmiths in a cozy Bozeman barn loft, the Two Fillies cross body fringe purse features the brand’s signature rhinestone detail. $185

Gussied UP ALL

The Papillion Ruffle Dress ($62) is flirty and fun, and pairs well with the Scully Beaded Leather Jacket ($525), a moto-inspired leather jacked with a beaded Aztec design on the back.

Westerners know that you’ve got to look good to feel good, and this guide will get you looking sharp for events of all stripes, from rodeos to outdoor weddings.

Button up that pearl snap shirt and slip your best boots on, it’s time to kick up some dust. – The Editors P HOTO S B Y W ES OVERVOLD

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The Highland Stetson Hat can take a little abuse without looking worse for the wear. A crushable wool cowboy hat, the Highland is made in the U.S.A. $79 There are few occasions in the Rockies too formal—or too casual—for a Pendleton Snap Shirt, which is designed to be both classic and lightweight.

Take it out on the town on a warm summer night. $50

TIP

Learn how to take care of your cowboy hat and it can last a lifetime. Place it upside down when you’re not wearing it to avoid misshaping the brim, and let it dry naturally if it gets wet; high heat will cause wool felt hats to shrink.

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GEAR: ALL GUSSIED UP

The hand-tooled design and vibrant coloring on the Old Gringo Abelina boots give them a timeless look that’s splashy enough for a modern feel. $799

TIP

When shopping for cowboy boots, look for a high stitch count, strong thread, quality leather and a solid welt—the place on the boot where the leather upper attaches to the sole.

The vertical oval pendant in the New Traditions Four Directions Necklace features traditional floral vines framed by an antique rope design. Points that allude to the four directions of the compass lend the pendant a timeless feel while a string of elegant turquoise howlite stones complete the refined Western look. $83

The Antiqued Walk of Faith Buckle features an antiqued silver finish and tilted cross design surrounded by curling feather plumes. Fan flourishes adorn each corner of this buckle. $126

The silver-finished scalloped cuff details and large oval turquoise stone on the Silver Pinpoints and Western Lace Cuff Bracelet create a stately, feminine look. Hand-painted black accents curl around the edges of a traditional Western engraving. $79

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Nothing says summer like a wide-brim hat.

Great for riding horses or just running around, the Atwood Hats Kids’ Palm Leaf Hat is rodeoready with its durable palm leaf construction and inner elastic sweatband. $23 Denim is a staple for any cowgirl. With cap sleeves, a collar and a snap-front design, the Wrangler Girls Toddler Cap-sleeve Denim Dress is perfect for a picnic or July Fourth parade. $30 Constructed with quality faux leather on the shaft and an ostrich pattern below, the Roper Little Bumps Cowboy Boots are built to be seen and to be worn. Padded insoles, a wide square toe and an inside zipper provide a comfortable fit. $60

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GEAR: ALL GUSSIED UP The Resistol Kids Brush Hog Jr. Palm Hat features a cattleman’s crown and eyelets for ventilation.

Toss on this rustic raw Mexican palm hat for running around the ranch or trail riding in the backcountry. $23 A long-sleeve button down means business. From roping calves and fixing fence to dancing in the barn, the versatile Cinch Dot Print Snap Front Western Shirt can do it all. $30 Every cowboy needs the perfect pair of jeans. These Cinch White Label Slim Jeans for boys feature an adjustable waistband and hand sanding for a broken-in look and comfortable fit. $35 A punchy cross-design shaft and wide square toe give the Ariat Tombstone Boot a true Western feel. Flexible Duratread outsoles resist wear and tear while Ariat technology secures and stabilizes the foot. Worn for work or play, these boots will get any job done. $85

HEAD WEST Bozeman’s Head West will take you from the bull-riding arena into an evening of country swing dancing. Stop in at the locally owned boutique for these items as well as a collection of authentic vintage and consignment pieces that have been hand-selected from across the country.

MURDOCH’S RANCH & HOME SUPPLY

TIP

A good Mexican palm leaf hat can withstand significant rain without losing its shape, making it a good choice for variable climates and days spent on the water.

A place where families are welcome and shoppers will find useful, traditional merchandise, Murdoch’s is the perfect place to outfit the whole family with attire that seamlessly transitions from work to play. Murdoch’s flagship store opened in Bozeman in 1994 and today there are 31 stores across a five-state area.

MONTANA SILVERSMITHS Montana Silversmiths has been creating exquisite Western buckles and jewelry for more than 40 years. Located in Columbus, Montana, and sold throughout the state, Montana Silversmiths’ designers are never far from the heart of Big Sky Country, where the silhouette of a horse and the rugged peaks of the Beartooth Mountains are always in sight.

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MISSED THE BOOM OF

COSTA RICA?

Here’s your opportunity to invest in Nicaragua, “the next Costa Rica”!

OCEAN FRONT CONDO Starting at $129,000 PRE CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITY

Own your Piece of Paradise!

Watch one of the best surf breaks in Central America from your deck!

Gran Pacifica is excited to announce the continuation of the Las Perlas Oceanfront Village, the gathering place and heart of this beach and golf resort by the sea. With guests and owners gathering daily to witness phenomenal sunsets from the infinity pool overlooking the crashing surf with drinks in hand. This is your opportunity to invest in and enjoy a growing beachfront community and earn rental revenue as well!

WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Info@GranPacifica.com | Sales 505 2254 7600 | From North America 786 738 6038 OUR SISTER PROPERTIES

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Belize | Costa Rica | Panama

/ M T O U Twww.GranPacifica.com L AW. C O M

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Photo: David Marlow Photography

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VOLCANO-ENRICHED

125-YEAR FAMILY TRADITION

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY. FLOR DE CANA RUM® RUM 40% ALC/ VOL | 80 PROOF | © 2017 IMPORTED BY WILLIAM GRANT & SONS, NEW YORK, NY.

DISTILLED WITH 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY. FLOR DE CANA RUM® RUM 40% ALC/ VOL | 80 PROOF | © 2017 IMPORTED BY WILLIAM GRANT & SONS, NEW YORK, NY.

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ADVENTURE

quiet, calm, still, tranquil

Discovering Nicaragua Centro America’s hidden gem

BY S. JASON MOORE

T

he deal was done late at night, standing on a beer-soaked floor in an old tavern on the Jersey Shore among the closest of friends: Someday, somehow, we would have glasses raised to a tropical sunset after a day of trading waves in perfect, warm water surf.

Where, and exactly how, this pact would materialize proved elusive for more than two decades, but a promise is a promise. Welcome to Nicaragua, amigos.

With its pristine beaches on both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, rich cultural history, jungles and volcanoes, Nicaragua is the perfect place for close friends and travelers alike to settle into the calm, the peaceful, the “tranquilo.”

What keeps us coming back isn't just the secluded, world-class surf or catching roosterfish from the beach. What gets in your blood is the fact that Nicaragua hasn't been found by the masses; it’s freedom in its most raw form, bathed in equal parts adventure and relaxation. It’s no secret that seasoned travelers will go to dramatic ends to find truly authentic experiences, and Nicaragua oozes authenticity.

We found ourselves succumbing to the rhythm of the country without even trying, and were immediately hooked.>>

A surfer strolls Mukul Resort’s Manzanilo Beach at sunset.

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Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral in the historic city of Granada.

A local artist shows off her painting.

THE BASICS

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America, bordered

by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south, is roughly the size of New York state and home to approximately 6 million people. Spanish is the official language and is spoken by more than 90 percent of the population, with pockets of English speakers, as well as surviving indigenous languages on the Caribbean coast.

The capital city Managua is home to about 1 million people, and has a defined resilience after enduring both a devastating earthquake and a civil war all within the last 50 years. Visitors are met with breathtaking monuments, museums, galleries, public promenades and nightlife. The international airport reveals its recent expansion and upgrades allowing for truly comfortable and efficient travel. Not to say it’s all easy going in Managua, as the traffic, construction, street vendors and brightly colored tree replicas lining the thoroughfares, all compete for your attention.

Politics

With the Sandinistas and Iran-Contra headlines long past, Nicaragua is enjoying a period of stable economic growth, as well as increasing foreign investments. In 2016, the country’s robust economic growth, coupled with one of the lowest homicide rates in Latin America—roughly 40 percent lower than that of neighbor Costa Rica—helped President Daniel Ortega win his third consecutive term.

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TERRAIN

Nicaragua’s geography consists of Pacific and Caribbean coastal plains that meet in the central highlands. Nearly 20 volcanoes dominate the western slope of the country with the 4,255-foot Momotombo, near the city of León, erupting as recently as 2016. Aside from the mountains, which reach nearly 7,000 feet in elevation, Nicaragua also boasts rainforests and the large freshwater lakes of Lago de Managua and Lago de Nicaragua (Lake Nicaragua).

The largest lake in Central America, Lake Nicaragua occupies more than 3,000 square miles and reaches a depth up to 200 feet.

It’s the nation’s largest source of fresh water and home to a variety of wildlife, including tarpon, sawfish and sharks. In addition to the lofty volcanic islands of Ometepe and Zapatera, Lake Nicaragua is home to more than 400 smaller land masses covered in dense vegetation and animal life. This could also someday be the site of a controversial shipping canal much longer and deeper than the Panama Canal, linking the Caribbean and Pacific.

"THE GROWTH IN TOURISM ISN’T SURPRISING WHEN YOU CONSIDER HOW MUCH THERE IS TO EXPERIENCE HERE "

ADVENTURE: NICARAGUA

A howler monkey captured in the act at Mukul Resort.

CLIMATE

The dry season extends from January into June when lowland vegetation withers and your primary goal will be swimming in, or sipping on, something refreshing. With the start of the rainy season, rain can be a daily occurrence but the showers are mostly brief and welcomed. Daytime temperatures can reach the low 90s F in most lowland areas with the central mountains being up to 15 degrees cooler.

Economy

Nicaragua blends both a contemporary and a colonial flair, which is impressive considering that behind Haiti it’s the second poorest country in Latin America. Although the vast majority of Nicaraguans live on less than $3 per day, Nicaragua has maintained economic growth levels above that of both Latin America and the Caribbean, largely due to sound economic policies and increasing foreign investment.

Recent World Bank statistics show a sharp decline in the country’s poverty rate over the past decade, coupled with a steep increase in the country’s gross domestic product over the same period. Despite positive indicators, much of Nicaragua is still poorly developed with significant needs, especially for rural infrastructure.

The economy of Nicaragua is based primarily on agriculture followed by tourism, mining and manufacturing. The advent of ecotourism coupled with the international appeal of pristine beaches, impressive natural beauty, and colonial history

all contributed to a more than 20 percent growth in tourism revenues from 2015 to 2016.

The growth in tourism isn’t surprising when you consider how much there is to experience here: coffee plantations in the hills outside of Matagalpa; the cigar factories of Estelí; tarpon fishing on the Rio San Juan outside of Boca de Sabalos; a swim in a freshwater caldera at Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve; the chance to stare into an active volcano at Masaya Volcano National Park; the classic colonial cities of Granada and León; and the not-to-be missed sunsets on the Pacific Coast are just the beginning. >>

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ADVENTURE: NICARAGUA

LEÓN

Located a dozen miles from the Pacific along the Río Chiquito, León is truly colonial at heart while being liberal in flavor. The city is home to impressive architecture, galleries, nightlife and multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites including the Ruins of León Viejo and the Cathedral of León.

If exploring the cobblestone streets is more your speed, enjoy a wide array of restaurants, cafes and art galleries with a free and easy feel, thanks to the artists and students who call León home. Nearby, the Cordillera de Los Maribios mountain range looms and features Cerro Negro—one of the few places on the planet where you can “volcano board” down the flanks of an active volcano (think snowboarding, but on volcanic rock).

GRANADA

HonDURAS

Located on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, the colonial architecture, archeological ruins and Mombacho volcano all vie for your attention while visiting this classic Nicaraguan city. You don’t need to be an architect or even particularly religious to be inspired by the Church of Guadalupe or the Granada Cathedral, as the colonial architecture is enough to take you back in time.

The petroglyphs on nearby Zapatera Island, as well as the island of Ometepe, hold archaeological remnants of the pre-Colombian past and are accessible by boat from Granada. On Ometepe, a hike up the dormant Maderas volcano or the more daunting—and active—Conceptíon volcano awaits those with good shoes and an even better sense of adventure.

After a day of exploring the oldest city in Nicaragua, the Calzada awaits—this restaurant- and cafe-lined cobblestone street offers a wide array of local fares, fine dining possibilities and truly indulgent options for dessert.

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"NICARAGUA HAS WHAT MOST OF THE WORLD’S BEST PLACES HAVE ALREADY LOST: UNSPOILED NATURAL BEAUTY, IDEAL SURF, AND THAT FEELING EVERY TIME YOU COME THAT YOU’VE TAPPED INTO A SECRET."

BOSAWAS BIOSPHERE RESERVE

CARIBBEAN COAST

JIQUILLO LEON MANAGUA GRANADA PACIFIC OCEAN

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LAKE NICARAGUA

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CARIBBEAN COAST

Classically Caribbean in flavor and named after the Dutch pirate Blewfeldt, the quintessential port town of Bluefields lies on the southeast coast of Nicaragua.

Besides being home to the endangered hawksbill turtle, the town serves as a scenic jump-off point for the local rainforests, the Corn Islands and Monkey Point. With the pervasive sound of reggae in the background, Bluefields knows how to throw a party. Each year, the May Pole festival, or El Palo de Mayo, not only celebrates fertility, but marks the beginning of the rainy season and is a celebration not to be missed.

When visiting Bluefields, get there early, as the “pangas” to shuttle you on the Escondido River fill up quickly. Still relatively secret, the Pearl Cays are a Nicaraguan gem. With their palm trees, great diving and turquoise water they’re as idyllic as they are threatened.

Suffering the plight of many of the world’s most tranquil and tiny islands, rising sea levels are slowly drowning the keys. Just off the coast lie the betterknown Corn Islands, where dense jungle, fresh lobster, and quintessential beachside cabanas await.

Nicaragua has what most of the world's best places have already lost: unspoiled natural beauty, perfect surf, and that feeling every time you come that you’ve tapped into a secret. Standing salt-crusted after another day of trading barrels, pleasantly oblivious to the pace of the lives we’ve left behind, we celebrate the sunset, a pact made decades ago, and raise a Macuá.

Ah yes, the Macuá, the national cocktail named after a native bird remains, arguably, one of the finest rum drinks on the planet and may just be reason enough to visit Nicaragua.>>

TRADITION, EXCELLENCE … FLOR DE CAÑA If a life is weighed by how great of a story it tells, then enjoying the venerable Flor de Caña rum is truly living the good life.

On a recent visit to Nicaragua, I was privileged to meet members of the Pellas family, hear their story and taste the tradition that is Flor de Caña.

You’d be hard pressed to find rum anywhere with this kind of pedigree. A winner of more than 180 international awards, including Flor de Caña 25 being named “No. 1 Rum on the Planet” by the Huffington Post in 2014, Flor de Caña represents 125 years of excellence while meeting the highest standards of quality.

The story of Flor de Caña began in the late 1800s in the shadow of the San Cristóbal volcano in northwest Nicaragua. The Pellas family would gather to celebrate the end of the sugarcane harvest, enjoying the fermented fruits of their labor. The rich volcanic soil and tropical environment provided fertile soils, successful growing seasons and arguably the world’s best rum.

Five generations later, Flor de Caña is still being made by the descendants of patriarch Francisco Alfredo Pellas, using only molasses from the family’s estategrown sugarcane. Although commercially available for nearly 80 years, it was political unrest in the 1980s that serendipitously poised Flor de Caña for success as decreasing domestic demand forced the Pellas family to warehouse their rum in the hopes of better days.

Today, Flor de Caña has one of the largest stores of aged rum in the world. After 1 ½ ounces Flor de Caña rum it’s quintuple1 ounce guava juice distilled, the rum 1 ounce orange juice is slow aged in oak ½ ounce lemon juice bourbon casks and 1/3 ounce simple syrup sealed with plantain ice leaves, giving Flor de Caña a balanced, smooth finish and deep amber color. The Pellas family heritage includes rums up to 25 years old, including the special “Family Reserve,” signed by CEO Carlos Pellas himself, and available only in Nicaragua.

MACUÁ RECIPE:

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Mukul Resort’s Casona don Carlos.

MUKUL & GUACALITO DE LA ISLA NICARAGUA’S FIRST LUXURY HOTEL, COMMUNITY The dazzling coastline of Guacalito de la Isla is home to hidden coves and the best beaches you’ve never heard of. The 4 miles of exotic Pacific shoreline with its turquoise waters give the Emerald Coast its name, and nearby resort Mukul epitomizes barefoot luxury at its best. Mukul Resort, Golf and Spa is consistently rated among the top resorts in the world and for those seeking an undiscovered paradise, this is it.

Adjacent to Mukul’s five-star resort is Guacalito de la Isla, a 1,670-acre, low-density private beach community.

The well-appointed development is the vision of Nicaraguan entrepreneur and businessman Carlos Pellas, who is best known for his 140-year old company, Flor de Caña rum. Juan Carlos Munoz and his wife Vivian (of the Pellas family) direct the project, and are hands on with all aspects of the community.

“It has what many places would dream to have all in one place,” Munoz says.

The Crystal Temple at Spa Mukul.

The 11th hole of Mukul’s Guacalito Golf Course.

“You can have surf and golf, spa and hiking, wellness and adventure. You can have a family vacation or a romantic getaway. It truly feels like home away from home.”

A 10-minute drive from Costa Esmeralda Airport, Guacalito is home to Nicaragua’s first beachside 18-hole golf course, a spa specializing in private treatment experiences, three beaches, rich fishing waters, and a stunning left-hand point break.

The Pellas family’s desire to preserve the beauty of the property involved bold decisions, including moving hundreds of native trees rather than cut them down during construction. Locals from nearby communities were hired and trained to work in all areas of the development, part of the family’s commitment to improving Nicaragua’s economy.

Juan Carlos and Vivian are raising their family here and he reflected on some of his favorite memories of Guacalito: “Hermit-crab chasing on our private Manzanillo Beach under the moonlight, sunsets while enjoying local oysters and Flor de Caña [rum] on Guacalito Beach, star gazing, releasing thousands of Paslama turtles into the ocean, and watching the children learn how to surf on our world-class point break.”

– Eric Ladd

WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?

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ADVENTURE: NICARAGUA

ESSENTIAL NICARAGUAN ADVENTURES

"IT TRULY FEELS LIKE A REMOTE WORLD."

BY MARISA MEGAN

BOSAWAS BIOSPHERE CARIBBEAN COAST It takes a full day of travel to get to the RESERVE Caribbean coast of Nicaragua—six hours

Traveling to the second largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere—only Brazil’s Amazon is larger—seems like a daunting task.

A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Bosawas is a protected forest spanning approximately 2 million hectares of north central Nicaragua.

Despite its size, the area is largely unexplored and tourism is spotty at best.

However, visiting this incredible Nicaraguan gem is easier than one might imagine. Bosawas is comprised of six unique nature reserves, one of which, Peñas Blancas, is fairly accessible.

The nearest tourist-friendly city is Matagalpa. From there it’s 64 kilometers down a rough road to Peñas Blancas. Take the road to El Cua, following signs for “CEN” (Centro de Entendimento de la Natureza) to Peñas Blancas.

Quiet, untouched nature and rich traditional life await you—not to mention the 800-meter, jaw-dropping Rainbow Falls. The forest is also a sacred Mayan site, so tread lightly.

on a bus and a few more down the River Escondido in a local “panga” boat—and it truly feels like a remote world.

The capital city is Bluefields, home to a historic mix of the descendants of indigenous people, Afro-Jamaican slaves, Dutch pirates and British colonists. Though rough around the edges, a certain charm exudes from the city's colorful streets.

Catch a boat to Rama Cay to see the last indigenous cultures in Nicaragua. Then head north to the Pearl Lagoon, where friendly Creoles will ferry you out to the Pearl Cays.

Floating in the crystal clear water, you’ll understand how the locals maintain this impossibly uncomplicated lifestyle in today’s modern world.

Finally, hitch a ride on one of the cargo boats leaving El Bluff to the Corn Islands, two of the last idyllic outposts in the Caribbean that tourism has hardly touched.

Bosawas is a largely unexplored UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

The Pearl Cay islands on the Caribbean coast.

P H OTO BY MAR G AUX D’AL TENA

PHOTO COU R TES Y OF NI CATI P S .COM

Marisa Megan is a Brazilian-American freelance travel writer who has spent the last 10 years exploring the untouched corners of Central and South America. She writes for Moon Travel Guides, Nature Airlines Costa Rica, World Nomads and occasionally for The New York Times Magazine.

JIQUILILLO

The dawn has barely broken in Jiquilillo, a tiny working fishing village in the northwest corner of Nicaragua, but it’s one of the busiest parts of the day. Fishermen push their boats onto the beach, dividing their catch among the locals waiting on the sun-soaked sand.

“Jiquilillo is a beautiful beach that hasn’t become exploited by tourism,” says Nate Yue, the owner of the area’s only eco-hostel, Rancho Esperanza. “You can really understand how people live and see them for who they are.”

Aside from a drop-dead gorgeous beach with enviable surfing, Jiquilillo is home to Central America's largest wetlands. The outside world slips away as you paddle through the labyrinth-like mangroves.

Wake up early to hike to the turquoise crater lake of Cosigüina volcano—the unparalleled views of El Salvador and Honduras, which only a lucky few have experienced, are more than worth the trek.

Jiquilillo is home to a gorgeous beach and Nicaragua’s largest wetlands.

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T H E

MIDDLE FORK T R I A L , T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A N D W H I T E WAT E R R E B I R T H

BY SARAH GIANELLI

Bursts of whitewater excitement and long stretches of tranquility define the Middle Fork experience, as boaters are carried through an ever-changing landscape of natural beauty.

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ADVENTURE

Prior to my first wilderness whitewater rafting trip, I looked to formidable river maven Katie Lee for words of wisdom to take with me. Once my neighbor, the prolific 97-year-old folk singer and author was among the first documented women to run all of the rapids in the Grand Canyon in 1953. Today she drives a Prius with Arizona plates that read “dam dam,” and is as renowned for her antidam activism as she is for her fiery, acerbic wit.

“Take what you already have,” she told me. “Open heart, open eyes—though they get mixed up every now and then.”

I also stuffed a copy of her memoir Sandstone Seduction into my dry bag.

One of the most euphoric memories from my six days on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River was reading aloud from Lee’s lusty passages as we slipped between sheer canyon walls, atop a turquoise river that sparkled like Lee herself.

On the oars was Boundary Expeditions guide Ben Hawkins, a big fan of Lee’s, keeping pace with the river’s hypnotic flow while a guest from Illinois blissfully cast his fly rod off the back of the raft. Together, we drank in the scenery along with Lee’s sultry description of a love affair that was not with a man, but with the rivers and canyons of the southwest.

Open eyes were easy. We were on the coveted Middle Fork—104 pristine miles of river that drops through hundreds of rapids in the heart of Idaho’s Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

This remote and rugged stretch of river runs Guide Lara Sagatov gracefully The night before we launched, 16 guests through alpine forests, high mountain desert ushers the author (waving) and a from both coasts and many points in between 12-time Middle Fork runner who and the third deepest rock-walled canyon in goes only by “Red” down Cramer convened in Stanley, Idaho, where we dined North America, affording views of bald eagles, Creek Rapid, the Middle Fork’s final against a backdrop of cow-dotted pastures rapid and one of its biggest. elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats and river and the jagged Sawtooth Mountains, and otters along the way. forged connections that would only deepen The Middle Fork of the Salmon was one of in the days ahead. At dawn, we soaked in the first of many natural the original eight rivers included in the Wild and Scenic Rivers hot springs we’d enjoy that week, each more picturesque than Act, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2018. One of the the one prior, before the bumpy hour-long drive to the put-in at most sought-after whitewater experiences in the world, with Boundary Creek. a strictly regulated permit system, it is also one of the most At some point during the ride we left cell service and all of its difficult to attain. entrapments behind, but were too distracted by the sight of three The natural beauty of the region captivated me before our white wolves streaking across in the distance to notice or care. >> confetti-colored caravan of rafts even left the pine-choked shore.

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Left: Boundary Expeditions guides prepare our caravan for launch at Boundary Creek.

“I KNEW THAT WHAT HAD TRANSPIRED HAD CHANGED ME SOMEHOW BUT THAT IT WOULD TAKE TIME TO FULLY PROCESS ALL I HAD SEEN, EXPERIENCED AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, LEARNED ALONG THE WAY.”

Bringing an open heart should have been just as easy—this was one of Boundary Expeditions’ specialty wellness excursions that incorporates riverside yoga, massage and healing workshops into the whitewater experience—but I was along as chef for the retreat, and had some hurdles to overcome first.

Although I had professional cooking experience, I knew nothing about cooking on the river, much less three meals a day for 26 people over six days. Always up for a challenge, I jumped at the opportunity nonetheless.

I was given the kitchen specs: four propane burners, a grill, and five Dutch ovens—whatever they were. (I would become well acquainted with the fabled coalheated cast-iron pots, but left them to the guides who have mastered the art of the one-pot meal and fancy pineapple upside down cakes they are known for.)

Planning the menu was simple, especially since I had no clue what was practical.

I provided detailed ingredient lists for each day, down to the number of tomatoes per meal. Not yet understanding the importance of “the pack,”—how provisions are organized across the boats—or the logistics of “the shop,” which ideally entailed only one trip to the boats per meal, I guesstimated.

Midweek on the river, locating a very important, single daikon radish in 12 jam-packed, industrial-sized coolers spread out over six boats, drove the lesson home.

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Ben Hawkins, a perennial favorite of guests for his easy-going charm, has been guiding trips for nearly a decade on the Colorado River and now the Middle Fork.

ADVENTURE: MIDDLE FORK During one of many “I know it’s in one of those picture-perfect riverside coolers, I saw it!” I yelled, when meals, guides Lara Sagatov Hawkins, my reluctant sous-chef, and Dagney Deutchman, and Sarah Gianelli take a returned empty handed. moment to goof off while “What does a daikon radish even setting up for a shoreline lunch break at Sheepeater look like?” he asked.

Hot Springs.

“Like a fat white carrot!” I replied and huffed down to the boats to find it myself.

Despite assurances that a mysterious flavor-enhancer called “river spice” would make up for the missing ingredient, I dug through the coolers until returning triumphant. Although I had no one to celebrate with but myself, I smiled smugly after the meal when multiple guests inquired about the interesting white vegetable in the quinoa and kale salad. For weeks I had been in the throes of trip planning, preparation and now, execution.

And on day three it capsized me. I decided to take a turn on the “ducky,” a one-person inflatable kayak that others had made look easy to navigate. Apparently not a natural, I struggled to keep up with my spotter raft, and as the distance between us increased, so did guide Lara Sagatov’s insistent gestures and shouts for me to close the gap.

Rationally I knew that she was only concerned for my safety, but my emotions churned more powerfully than the whitewater attempting to devour my ineffective paddle strokes.

“I don’t even want to be in this thing anymore!” I cried when I finally got within earshot of Sagatov. I traded the ducky off to a more skilled paddler and climbed into the large oar raft.

Once the tears started they wouldn’t stop, and kept coming long after we arrived on shore. >>

MIDDLE FORK OF THE SALMON RIVER • 104 RIVER MILES • CL ASS III-IV WHITEWATER • 2,400 FISH/MILE

The ‘shredder’—a three-person paddle raft that provides the rowdiest of rides— plunges through Rubber Rapid, one of the biggest rapids in Impassable Canyon.

LOCATED IN THE 2.5 MILLION ACRE FRANK CHURCH-RIVER OF NO RETURN WILDERNESS

B O O K A T R I P A N D F I N D M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N AT BOUNDARYEXPEDITIONS.COM

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P H OTO COU R TES Y OF B OU NDA RY EX PED I TI ON S

SECTION: SUBHEAD ADVENTURE: MIDDLE FORK

Katie Lee is renowned in river circles for her anti-dam activism, especially involving the Colorado River’s Glen Canyon Dam, which has been in her crosshairs since before its construction.

The 97-year-old spitfire is also a folk singer, author and one-time Hollywood starlet who was one of the first women to run all of the rapids in the Grand Canyon in 1953.

P HOTO CO UR T E SY OF KATI E LEE

P H OTO BY SAR AH G I ANELLI

“The river broke me down today,” I wrote in my journal that night, recognizing my outburst as a culmination of my self-imposed perfectionism, and trying to fit into a river culture I knew nothing about, and in all honesty, hadn’t given due respect.

That night marked a turning point.

The guides, seeing me at my most vulnerable, softened toward me, and I, toward them. They even invited me to sleep under the stars with them in “guide land.”

On the last morning of the trip, we roused before dawn to watch the sunrise kiss the near-vertical granite walls of Impassable Canyon pink, while the sky gathered into an ever-deepening blue.

Bedecked with cascading waterfalls, this dramatic, narrow chasm would launch us through Cramer Creek Rapid—the Middle Fork’s final rapid, and one of its rowdiest—before gently ushering us to the take-out.

As the canyon opened up and we neared the confluence with the Main Salmon, I was overcome with the eye-

Boundary Expeditions’ and heartpaddle raft team opening clarity powers through that immersive Marble Creek Rapid, a highlight of day three journeys on the Middle Fork. promise but don’t always deliver.

My throat tightened and I began to weep, but this time, they were tears of release. I felt like I was exiting a birth canal, a sensation reinforced by the geology of the canyon and the steady flow of the river carrying me through it. I knew that what had transpired had changed me somehow but that it would take time to fully process all I had seen, experienced and, most importantly, learned along the way.

When I reported back to Katie Lee, she wrote, “A river can change your whole life and everything you thought about that life before you met the river.”

“I can't wait to get back out there,” I wrote.

“That says it all,” she replied. “[The river] already has you ... now we wait to see what it does to, for, and with you.”

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SECTION: SUBHEAD

RICK BASS THE SAGE OF YAAK VALLEY ON WRITING, TEACHING AND THE

BY DOUG HARE LATE JIM HARRISON

fter his second year of a three-year stint as Montana State University’s first writer-in-residence, Rick Bass is having the time of his life. Living in a cabin outside Pray, Montana, Bass somehow manages to balance teaching responsibilities, environmental activism and his own writing projects, still finding time to hunt pheasants with his trusty birddogs, Callie and Linus.

“I’ve taught what feels like my whole life, and I’m having more fun this semester than ever,” says Bass, the author of more than 30 books of fiction and nonfiction. “I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s the students. Or maybe it’s me reaching peace with being an editorial badass.

If [the students] want to cry, they can cry,” he added in a wry voice.

Bass doesn’t pull punches when critiquing his pupils’ writing, but his teaching philosophy is versatile and reflects the humility he brings to his craft. Without putting in the effort, Bass says, even a seasoned novelist will fall short of strong writing. “If you have a student with a lot of talent as a writer, it’s more about coaching. If you have a student with good stories to tell without knowing how, then it’s more about teaching. But they have to want to learn. Writing is 90 percent desire.”

Bespectacled, unassuming with a wiry build, Bass can look the part of professor or an elk hunter returning to camp depending on circumstance. A native of Houston, Texas, Bass attended Utah State University in Logan where he studied petroleum geology, often slipping into

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the wilderness of northern Utah with little more than a sleeping bag and a backpack full of books.

He says the solace of these excursions eventually drew him back to the Mountain West.

After college, Bass took a job and spent seven and a half years digging around for gas and oil reserves in Mississippi and Alabama. Despite a grueling work schedule, he’d visit independent bookstores on lunch breaks and read voraciously: Southern literature, the Russian greats, and eventually he got his hands on Jim Harrison’s Legends of the Fall, a novella he credits with giving him the courage to try his own hand at putting pen to paper. He still writes longhand to this day.

As Bass tells it, one fateful afternoon he just “got in his truck and drove north and west.” He didn’t stop until he made it to the remote Yaak Valley in northwest Montana. Since answering the call to become a full-time writer in what’s left of the American frontier, Bass has spilled both ink and sweat trying to protect his chosen home from over-development. Most recently, he brought together dozens of Montana writers to defend public lands in the Treasure State against profiteering by multinational corporations.

Now 59 years old, Bass shows no signs of slowing the pace of his activism. “It’s amazing how much time I spend working on environmental advocacy pieces,” he said. “I’m still active with the Yaak Valley Forest Council: a lot of lobbying, fundraising and volunteering on the board.”>>

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O U T L AW “ [HE ] I S THE C UR R EN T GI A NT O F WES T ER N LE TTE RS AN D ACTI VI SM ... I DON ’T K NOW A B ET T ER CO NTE MPOR ARY W RI TE R OF S HOR T STO RI E S. ”

Rick Bass is seen on the porch of his home in Yaak, Montana. His fiction has received O. Henry Awards and his most recent nonfiction book was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

P H OTO B Y J ES S I CA L OW RY

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OUTLAW: RICK BASS

entor, now longtime friend, and fellow Montana writer and environmentalist Doug Peacock says that Bass has firmly entrenched himself in the pantheon of great writers in the West. “[He] is the current giant of Western letters and activism,” said Peacock, who continues his lifelong battle to protect grizzly bears. “He is the moral and logical successor of heroes like Ed Abbey and Jim Harrison as well as geezers like Tom McGuane and myself. I don’t know a better contemporary writer of short stories. But don’t lend him your rental car.”

When asked about his writing routine, Bass recommends getting an early start for clarity of mind. “Morning is best,” he says, “before the hard realities of the day intrude with their sharp edges upon the thin membrane of the dream world. I can write anywhere as long as it’s quiet. And the older I get, I find I can even write in places that aren’t quiet. Time is valuable, and I’m just not quite as particular as I used to be in that regard.”

In the hands of true craftsmen, the short story can have incandescent moments of revelation. With his keen eye for

observing the natural world, an ear for the rhythmic cadences of sparse prose, and ability to move from elemental imagery to the mystery and awe of being alive inside of a paragraph, Bass’ best stories can have a transformative effect. The reader is somehow lulled into a false sense of security by a deceptive simplicity and disarming authenticity, only to be struck with observations that burst like Roman candles across a still night sky.

How did a petroleum geologist transform himself into a major American writer? Talking with him about shop, it becomes apparent that his attention to tradition—his literary predecessors—his perseverance as a writer, dedication to his craft, and his immersive methodology of writing fiction were essential to his successful career change.

When Bass moved to Montana, Jim Harrison invited him and his wife, Elizabeth, to dinner. It was the beginning of a friendship that died only when Harrison did in the spring of 2016, pen in hand. “He was someone who made writing look like a lot of fun,” says Bass of his longtime friend. “He made living look like a lot of fun. He was a man who was not happily imprisoned in academia, nor were many of his friends … They were living the lives they

“N OW I T H I N K A B O U T TH INGS M ORE L I K E A PA I NTE R TH INKING ABO UT T H E COL O R S O N TH E PALETT E A N D T H E B R U S H E S .”

Rick Bass finds time to fish while waiting for a plane to pick him up from a remote location in northern British Columbia.

P H OTO BY LOWRY B ASS

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wanted to live, and writing about the things they wanted to write. He became a role model for me whether I knew it or not.”

While it would be nearly impossible to confuse their respective styles, Bass and Harrison share a kindred way of moving from specificity to generality, from “things” to cathartic realizations. Bass’ assessment of Harrison’s genius reveals where he was most influenced by the one-eyed bard of Livingston.

“His imagery was painterly and grounded in the five senses.

I like the delight he took in surprising the reader with offbeat sentences, coming seemingly out of left field, but before you even finish reading it you realize there is a logic behind the setup and that ambitious sentence.”

Bass is currently working on a novel he has been taking notes on for 20 years. It would come as no surprise if it turned out to his chef d’oeuvre. While his activism will never take a back seat to his literary ambitions, Bass’ latest collection of short stories in For a Little While, published in 2016, offers a portrait of an artist growing old, yet one whose imagination and craftsmanship only seem to grow stronger and more refined.

Bass himself sees little importance in being overly introspective. He has never been a navel-gazer, but quite the contrary, one of our finest observers of the natural world. “The tunnel vision that a writer brings to his or her craft is intense.

The focal point is binocular and precise. In the writer’s mind, the focus on each next word choice, each next value of positive or negative—in between the words, in the phrases, in the sentences, and then in the paragraphs—is so focused that you don’t think about things like, ‘How is this different than what I used to do?’ or, ‘What do I want to do next?’ That 30,000-foot view is not conducive to good writing. You want to be down in the subconscious, watching the dream of the real time of the story.”

So it seems for Bass that the act of writing is, like many art forms, a performative one. After some prodding on his evolution as a writer, he said that these days his perspective has shifted. “Now I think about things more like a painter thinking about the colors on the palette and the brushes.

And I have a greater sinuosity to the flow of the story and sedatives—less volatile, jagged, helter-skelter bombthrowing and pyrotechnics.”

As he continues to help produce Montana’s next generation of literary talent, Bass seems at ease, still perturbed by the degradation of our wilderness areas, but with a sense of serenity that one attains from fighting the good fight.

While his post-teaching plans are not set in stone, Bass will continue to travel, giving workshops, fighting for the causes he believes in, and return to the mountains in Montana where he feels most alive. “There’s that great William Carlos Williams quote: ‘No ideas but in things,’” Bass said in a pensive voice, and after a brief pause, “Montana is still a place that’s full of things. Things are good for writers. You can quote me on that.”

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LAST LIGHT The American West has long captured the imaginations of travelers seeking out its raw yet awe-inspiring beauty.

Scattered throughout the sweeping landscapes, the eye begins to discover hidden details dwarfed by towering peaks and rolling meadows: a quiet rail town, a hilltop beacon, a small farm that pre-dates statehood.

The details are what interest me the most—textures, characters, stories that exist in front of all of us, yet reveal themselves best through a camera lens.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUDREY HALL ARCHITECTURE BY PEARSON DESIGN GROUP

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