The Future of the Wild?

Frank Church Wilderness Of  No Return, Idaho

One of my go to companies for river gear is sponsoring a photo contest.  They say there is no limit to how many photos one person can enter.  I hope that their email is filled every day to overflowing of people of all ages enjoying  the rivers and waterways of this world. I hope they collect these pictures, all of them, and send them to the people in congress who think giving the control of public lands to the state to sell off and limit public access is a good idea.. Let's show the few in congress a sampling of how many of us use these public lands.  How important these lands are to help keep us sane by allowing nature to refill our internal gas tanks with, sun, wind, water and quiet.

I have this idea that we as a population have become very unattached to the real life. Internet, facebook, virtual games,. they have replaced our need to get out and experience with our own eyes the wonders of this great world.  I can see pictures of the garbage floating in the ocean, or take a u-tube adventure down the Grand Canyon, or watch a wolf pack in Yellowstone, all from the screens of our computers.

 Don't get me wrong these virtual experiences are important.They should inspire us to get out and make our own experiences.  We should desire the complete package.  The feel of the sun, the cold wind, the adrenaline of rowing thru a rapid, the peace of the evening shared with good friends.  It should not be enough to experience this from the living room. If we do not protect our public lands this might be what we have left.

Main Salmon River, Idaho
 Future River Guides

I believe that the Outdoor Recreation industry has a  very important job.  Not only do they provide opportunities for people to have great adventures, they provide opportunities for people to make solid emotional connections with nature. We need these connections if people are going to stand up for our National Parks, our Wilderness Areas, our Wild and Scenic Rivers, our National Forests and Grass Lands. (There are more, please excuse me if I did not mention your favorite public land area.)

When I run into scouts or city recreation or Church  groups on the river, backpacking or just hanging out on the beach, I want to hug the leaders!   They are giving this next generation opportunities now. They are unknowingly teaching these young people what it is to be a part of nature. A part of something bigger than themselves.

Hiking in the Snowy Range Mountains
Medicine Bow/Routte National Forest

I know for myself, I have been out since before I can remember.  My family has a great multi generation tradition of exploring the Beartooth Mountains in Montana. I lived my early years in the Red Dessert of Wyoming. It has been a natural transition to bring my children into these places, to let them explore.  They are now almost all grown up.  One is a River Guide,  one lives in a big city and is now understanding the need for quiet weekends camping.  The youngest, you can predict will pick up trash from the road or trail anywhere and put it in the garbage can.  Though she has Down Syndrome she can  read a river, paddle a SUP,  or hike with the best of us. Out doors is where she is her best.

We need to make efforts to unplug.  We need to take our families to the wild.  We need to make memories with them there. These are the times we will cherish most later in life.  This is why we need our public lands.

A New Hat is Not Just a Hat.

July 26, 2017

I received a box via UPS today.  I had been expecting it.  But not this kind of wonderful box.  Inside was my new custom made for me, straw sun hat.  It was placed inside the box with such care I could imagine hands placing the foam form inside it to start the shaping process, wrapping it in plastic and then laying it in the hat form inside the box.  I could imagine the same hands placing the receipt and a personal note to me on top of the hat.  The box itself is gold embossed with “Jaxonbilt Hats” on the top.

 How can one purchase, one delivery, make me feel so special?  My hat was not expensive or fancy, but it was treated that way.

This new hat is a replacement for a hat I have worn on every adventure not requiring a helmet or ski cap.  A hat that has been through thousands of miles of rivers, (swimming with me through many of those miles), countless hikes in the mountains and hills, Girl Scout Camp and many lawn mowing experiences.  It keeps my head cooled on the playground at school, when my heart and mouth are sometimes hot.  It is a hat worn out by building memories.

This first hat was bought 7 years ago after a guided trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon.  The guides on that trip had wonderful straw hats.  I had a wimpy something that allowed me to get very sunburned hat, if you call it that.  I asked about the guide hats and when we got to Salmon ID, I went in search of the hat maker.  What I found was a shop, a man and many hats.  Right before my eyes, I was part of  transforming of a blank straw hat form into my very own hat.  Baptizing it fully in water then caressing it onto my head.  "Wear it until it is dry, it will be yours till the end of its life.”  And it has been.

So, when I decided it was time for a new hat, I could have gone to any store for a cowboy hat.  I do live in Wyoming and cowboy hats are everywhere.  I tried.  NRS or Cascade Outfitters, Sylvan Peak, they all have great sun hats.  It was not the same.  They were just that generic hats.  I wanted something more.

My old hat, when I put it on, it filled me with memories, it hummed with excitement for more adventure.  It smells of rivers.  It is colored from the mud of the Green River, the San Juan River. My buffalo horn hatband combined with my sweat made it mold.  (nasty) Yeti rode down the Main Salmon with me last year, hanging on to the new and improved stampede strap.  It fits my head, and stays on even in the Laramie winds.  It loves me. I wanted a hat that I could be to this again with.

There was no choice.  The Salmon ID hat maker it had to be for a replacement.

 As time and distance are a real issue, I googled Hat Makers in Salmon, ID hoping for online ordering.  I got so much more.  I found somebody who wanted to talk to a real person.  Wanted to hear desires and needs.  I feel like in talking to this real voice on the other end of the phone call, I was able to long distance, blow life into the spirit of my new hat.

My old hat will hang in place of honor in my Happy Room. This room is filled with photos, memories, many taken while shaded by my hat.  My new hat is ready to make new memories.  It does need to be broken a bit.  I have a river trip in 2 weeks, that should do it! Or maybe like in the case of a newly built African Drum, I need to burn sage and let the smoke bless the life of my hat. Maybe both.

I am excited to see what the next seven years brings.

  

My perfect Day

Recently I watched a short video filmed by a Facebook friend of mine.  "The Search for the Perfect Day".( https://vimeo.com/129534163) It is about finding one spot on this earth, one moment in time, where garbage, especially plastic garbage, is absent.   This film is the brain child of three sea kayakers that truly make their living in the sea.  They see the effects of litter pollution every day. They decided to do something about it by starting a pick it up campaign, a facebook page for people to post their clean up efforts.  They have created a small army of picker uppers.  Why then is there still garbage on the beaches, on the river beds, in the water?  Where is it coming from? The video is about their search, then discovery and then an idea of education.

The conclusion of the video is that it is not the consumer, the common person who puts recyclables in the proper containers to be recycled, or even the overloaded system that only recycles about 1/3 of all disposed of properly.  It is the lack of education to the common public.  It is the lack of connection to the outside world we have as a society.  The solution would be to get people to really see mother nature and what is happening.

In the field 1/2 block from my house.
It is now in the trash can at my house.

I have been told by friends not to encourage my daughter to pick up trash in the gutters on the streets, that there are people paid to do this.  It is dirty,don't touch.  I want to meet this person paid to pick up trash around town.  It is not the guy (or gal) who drives the garbage trucks.  They put away only the trash that  falls out of the garbage cans their automatic claws can grab .  They never even get out of their trucks to see if the wind has blown refuse down the street.  If a garbage can is tipped sideways because of the winds it does not get emptied into the collection truck, the garbage just blows to vacant lots and is forgotten there.  I am not passing judgment, but I cannot understand how people can look out their front windows of their  homes to this every day. So, it was not in their garbage can, it did not come from their kitchen.  It is in their front yard.  I picked it up. I live on another block.

Happy Jack Ski Trails.  My office.

Just like my kayaking friends, I too make my living in the outside.  I depend on the natural elements to bring people to me.  I coach Nordic Skiing.  I am in the mountains and on the trails 4 month of the year.  In the Off Season I am out as much as possible taking photos of Mother Nature.  Some I actually sell.  I worked at a Christian retreat Center in the Snowy Range Mountains for 5 years. Until even there, the litter and garbage that people dropped on the ground or walked over was too much for my heart.  It was the main reason I left.   People do not ski to find litter, or want a photo with plastic bottles in it.

I feel as if my soul is connected to the land.  The relationship I share is so deep in me that it is hard to see or understand others viewpoints.  Or their lack of wanting to take care of the thing that gives us life.

The Video I watched was a kick starter for me.  I need to be doing my part.  Not walking past litter but picking it up.  I need to be looking for ways to reduce my consumption of single use plastic. I need to think of ways to educate people about how they can help.  Mostly I need to find a way for them to want a relationship with Mother Nature.  A desire to take care of her.  This means getting more people in the wild, making memories and teaching them how to use it but leave it untouched as much as possible. A No Trace Motto of, "Take Only Pictures Leave Only Footprints."

Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.

Thank you, Jason Self and the OSOM team, Who I only know via Facebook.  You took an idea and made it an action.  You are making a difference.  Now I join you from the High Plains of Laramie, WY.

P.S. My perfect day: Any day outside, working, enjoying, or picking up garbage.