Walt Emann
Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Hitch #2: June 22-30 (Goat Ridge Trail #526 in partnership with the Idaho Trails Association)
Nez-Perce Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
After a short 25 minutes of flight, the grass and flowers in the meadow below us came into focus at a rather nauseating speed. With my legs tucked tight against my chest, my crew and I watched out of the Cessna’s windows as the wheels thudded against the dirt airstrip at the Shearer Guard Station. As quickly as we had arrived, the plane was roaring across the clearing again and quickly disappeared into the clear and sunny sky. It was a quick change of scene; what seemed like seconds ago, we were on the highway, but we were now here in the wilderness for the next nine days. So, we marched through the grass and made our way to the cabins, eager to get a start on campsite monitoring and to put our trail clearing experience to the test once again.
The tasty fractal curls of bunched-up coral fungi.
Within minutes, I had already found an opportunity to test another skillset; on our previous hitch, my leader Clint Kingery brought a guide on mushroom foraging, All that the Rain Promises and More by David Arora. Just feet from the cabins at Shearer was a bounty of golden-brown butter boletes, an edible (and delicious) fungus that I and my hungry stomach had come to recognize and appreciate in the woods. They’re meaty, rich, and most of all abundant in this wilderness. The haul did not end until the hitch did; nature seemed to offer these beautiful boletes and yellow coral fungi every several yards along the entire Goat Ridge Trail, a welcome reward after climbing several thousand feet up the mountain ridge and wearing our muscles until our legs felt like overcooked freeze-dried noodles.
Waiting for takeoff after a beautiful and rewarding hitch.
I liked to remind my crew that, as long as you look hard enough and know what you’re doing, there is food everywhere— never again would we be hungry on hitch! Even some of our volunteers from the Idaho Trails Association were interested. As we taught them the dance-like crosscut saw form and the rhythmic footwork of axing a fallen tree, I took several breaks from the tool lessons to point out the feathery brown caps and yellow spongy gills of mature boletes, or the fractal curls of bunched-up coral fungi. Maintaining this forest requires a passion for the work at hand, of course, but it becomes even more rewarding when I, and others around me, can come to appreciate the beauty and bounty of the sprawling and wild landscape.
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
University of Vermont
Major: Natural Resources Ecology
Walt grew up in Central New Jersey and spent most of his time as a kid outside in the sun and dirt. That passion for nature's offerings has translated into a desire to nurture and preserve them and keep people engaged. Walt has helped with conservation projects, restoration work, habitat monitoring, trail cleaning, and has generally tried to put a lot of his energy back into the natural and human communities around him.