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M a y 2 9 , 2 0 1 3 • V o l . 6 • N o . 2 2 • w w w .T h e W e e k l y S u n . c o m
Nash Hartdegen Marches to
A Different Beat
New Outfitter, Picabo Angler Offers More Options for Fishermen, Hunters STORY & PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
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longtime fisherman in the Wood River Valley is trying to re-establish the sporting tradition that made Silver Creek the place to hunt and fish when Ernest Hemingway, Gary Cooper and others recreated there. John Huber staged a grand opening on Saturday for the Picabo Angler, a new outfitter using a “very old, extensive fishing license” that covers the area from Mackay to Silver Creek, the Little Wood and Big Wood rivers, the Salmon River from Torrey’s Hole to Challis, and Magic Reservoir. The full-service fly shop offers Orvis fly rods and a huge selection of flies for local waters. Plus, there’s a restaurant, grocery store, gas station and even hotel room on site. An English setter trainer, Huber also hopes to offer wing shooting for chukar, geese, pheasant and more this summer or next. “This is a one-stop shop, the first and only outfitter on Silver Creek to be physically set up there,” said Huber, who bought Ketchum on the Fly’s Picabo shop. “You go through Bud and Nick Purdy’s store and you can’t help but see the pictures of Bud Purdy, Ernest Hemingway and all the old celebrities who fished and hunted there.” Huber himself was a college kid when he came to Ketchum 22 years ago. He never left except to do some international fish guiding in Patagonia, the Himalayas and the Caribbean. A former guide for Silver Creek Outfitters and Lost River Outfitters, Huber has a special fondness for the area near Picabo. “The trophy trout are huge, they’re smart, they’re a challenge to fish,” he said. “And I’ve never seen the soft quality of light you get on Silver Creek elsewhere. I write magazine articles and books and it really inspires me.” Information: 208-788-3536 or picaboangler.com. tws
Nash Hartdegen works at Scoops ice cream parlor at the Senior Connection during his free time between school and boot camps. PHOTO: KAREN BOSSICK BY KAREN BOSSICK
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andall “Nash” Hartdegen just got his driver’s license last week. But, at 16, this Hailey boy has already ridden in a Black Hawk helicopter, rappelled down buildings, found himself under fire in simulated rescue missions and learned how to evacuate casualties during a terrorist attack. And come August 8 the Wood River High School sophomore will head for the U.S. Army and Navy Academy, a military boarding school in Carlsbad, Calif., where he will finish high school. “Every parent is proud of his child and his achievements, but there isn’t a prouder father anywhere on the planet than me. I can’t say enough about Nash,” said Chet Hartdegen, a Hailey builder. “He wants to be an officer and he will be an officer. And I expect to see this young man do something great—he’s going to help people.” Hartdegen has been marching to the beat of a different drummer since seventh grade when he saw “Saving Private Ryan,” an epic war film that vividly portrayed the Omaha Beach assault of World War II. “There was so much blood and gore. I thought: These people need help. I’m physically fit. I’m strong for my age. I love helping people. To know someone is going to be able to go home to their families because of my medical care is pretty neat,” said Hartdegen, who also counts “Black Hawk Down” among his favorite flicks. His older brother’s diagnosis of Marburg Variant Disease in 2009 only cemented Hartdegen’s resolve as he watched Zac combat a severe form of mul-
One of Nash Hartdegen’s favorites lines is from “Transformers”: “There’s a thin line between being a hero and being a memory.” COURTESY PHOTO
tiple sclerosis that left him paralyzed and requiring full-time care. At 12, Hartdegen organized a bike ride to help purchase equipment for his brother. At 13, he joined the U.S. Army Cadet Corps, spending the next two summers and Christmas holidays in basic training, ranger schools and simulated war scenarios in the swamps of Kentucky near Ft. Knox. Last summer he learned leadership training on the USS New Orleans in Seattle with the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps. And he learned field medical training at Camp Pendleton in California. He’s learned to wear uniforms, live the military code and handle assault weapons. He’s learned to go into combat situations and pick up people who are hurt. He’s learned to do CPR and triage, figuring out which wounded to care for first. And he’s learned how to cauterize a leg with a hot weapon and apply a tourniquet if an appendage is missing. “These simulations can get just like the real thing. You never know when something’s going to happen. All of a sudden, there are explosions everywhere and people getting shot up—it’s scary. But you can never have fear,” said the 6-foot, 175pound teenager who runs, bench presses 160 pounds and works out at 5B CrossFit to stay in shape. Only a few of the 11,000 cadets across the country make the military a career, said Nash’s mother, Kimberly Coonis, the director of the Senior Connection. “For a young kid to jump in at 13 and go be tortured in basic training and love every minute of it takes a lot,” she said. “He’ll have 20 years in by the time he’s 38.”
“I’m physically fit. I’m strong for my age. I love helping people.” –NASH HARTDEGEN “Here’s a kid who was born and raised right here in the mountains. Yet, when I went to get him after he’d spent the summer in 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity, which he isn’t used to, he said, ‘I can’t wait to do this again next summer,’ ” recalled Chet Hartdegen. Coonis acknowledges that it’s a little scary seeing her son get involved in something that could send him to war. But there’s a bigger chance of him dying on the highway between here and Twin Falls, she added. “A lot of kids poke fun at him because of his short hair and the uniforms he wears. But when they have their 20th class reunion and he comes in wearing all these medals, they’re going to say, ‘Wow!’ said Chet Hartdegen. For now, Nash says he’s just focused on working as hard as he can to go and do what he needs to do. “Leaving my parents is going to be really hard. I love my parents—I owe my life to my parents. And they made the ultimate sacrifice letting me do something that’s hard and scary,” he said. “But there’s no sacrifice too great in the name of freedom. This is a stepping stone to the tws future.”
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