COMMUNITY ARCHIVES
Wilderness Teaches Life Lessons
Bonnie Ricord, 2013 Wilderness Ranger Fellow
This article was first published in the Missoulian July 11, 2014 and was submitted to help mark the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
What comes to your mind when you think about college? Did your experience include large lecture halls, dining hall food, pulling all-nighters to prep for exams, or maybe one too many nights of partying? When you think of your college-aged self, what would you tell them?
Well, since I’m 21, I don’t have the advantage of having quite the distance or life experience away from my university years to give myself advice – heck, I’m still in the thick of navigating class registration, renting my first apartment, and learning how to balance my social and academic commitments and interests. Like many a college kid, I’ve spent time wondering whether or not I am in the right major, and how there can never quite be enough time in the day to go to class, do homework, visit with friends, exercise, find jobs and internships, and manage to keep my clothes in a closet rather than strewn across the floor (from what I’ve heard, the concept of time just gets shorter and shorter with age).
However, I know that with certainty, when I’m older and have less time, mobility and/or desire, I will think this: My summer and autumn in Idaho changed me. It probably seems to be a little bit dramatic to state that two seasons in a different state changed me, but I know it’s true.
This past summer, I worked as a Wilderness Ranger Intern [now Fellow] for the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation in the spectacular Selway-Bitterroot wilderness. Coming from more populated hiking experiences in the East, I was initially astonished by the complete absence of visitors; I spent an estimated 50 days in the wilderness and saw about six wilderness visitors the entire time. Through lots of challenging trail work and the opportunity to explore the wilderness, I learned to not only accept but also relish the lack of people whom I saw.
For the past two and a half months, I have been living at the University of Idaho’s Taylor Wilderness Research Station in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho, as part of the university’s Semester in the Wild program. Eleven students, counting myself, have participated in river ecology, Western literature, environmental writing, wilderness and protected area management, and outdoor leadership classes. Besides living and learning in a vibrant community of professors, researchers and students, I enjoyed dabbling in fly-fishing and learning how to meditate. The people and the landscape surrounding me taught me to focus and enjoy the present, and place less emphasis on defining the future.
I hope that, when I’m older and hear more complaints from my knees, I’ll still adventure into wilderness in order to hike, backpack and do what I do best: wander around, sit by rivers, marvel at rocks and leaves, lie and watch the clouds, read late into the night by headlamp. My summer and Semester in the Wild have provided me with at least a dozen new companions – family members, really – who I can count on to remember what wilderness does for the human spirit.
Wilderness gives us hope for our children, space and understanding, and time to think (or not think, depending on what we need in order to refresh ourselves). These two incredible and vast wilderness areas became my place of serenity, a place where I could laugh with close friends, talk with my professors while hiking up a mountain, listen to wolves howl at a backcountry lake under a full moon, and watch American Dipper birds brave icy river waters. I changed from a person not quite sure what she believed in to someone who, although still unsure of a lot of things, believes in wilderness.
Through my time in both the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wildernesses, I have found friendship, solitude, beauty, resiliency and challenge. I know that I will need to return frequently to remind myself who I am.
Photo Credit: Bonnie Ricord
About Bonnie Ricord
2013 Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Bonnie Ricord was an SBFC Wilderness Ranger Fellow in 2013 on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. She majored in Natural Resources Ecology at the University of Vermont, where she took as many outdoor and lab-based courses as possible and spent a semester studying wilderness science and stewardship in central Idaho. Bonnie currently works in state government in Idaho, and has previously worked for a nonprofit wildlife organization. After several federal and state seasonal positions in Alaska, California, Idaho, and Montana, Bonnie fell in love with the western landscape and has a strong desire to play a role in improving public access to outdoor recreation, environmental education, and conservation efforts. In her free time, she enjoys exploring her local trails, identifying wildflowers, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends.