Sean Cowan
Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Nez Perce Clearwater National Forests Priority Lookout Trails (Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness)
7/31/2024 - 8/7/2024
Growing up, I had family dinner every night. During each family dinner, we all would share three different parts of our day. These were our highs, lows, and thankful parts of our days. Since I often find myself lacking in the creativity area of my brain, I often go back to this format as a way of reflecting on an experience. This is a slightly adapted version which I am applying to my last hitch this season.
The Good…
WRF Colby climbing up to the Bear Mountain Fire Lookout in the Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest
Reaching the Bear Mountain Fire Lookout
Our main objectives for this hitch were to clear out to the Bear Mountain and Diablo Mountain fire lookouts. Although the trails that give access to these lookouts are cleared each year, they had quite a few trees down after the historic wind storm that hit the Bitterroot Mountains. What felt special about summiting Bear Mountain was that it was just hard. Rather than getting constantly bitten by mosquitos, horseflies, and black flies, which had happened on the previous few hitches, we merely had to contend with the physical weakness of our bodies versus the tough trail. After we struggled, hot and sweaty up to the top from our camp, we met the wonderful lookout, Steve, who was staffed at Bear Mountain. It was amazing to learn about the life of a fire lookout. Even though my job is extremely hard, I doubt I could last more than 72 hours as a fire lookout.
Visiting Elk Summit
Sean doing some light bouldering after work on Blogett Pass (Hitch 4) photo cred: Nate Thomspon
After Bear Mountain, our next objective took us to the Elk Summit trailhead. Elk Summit is a historic ranger station that is featured in the book “A River Runs Through It”. It was incredibly impactful to read the book while base camping there. The coolest connection I had was that on my last hitch I cleared up to Blodgett Pass. This was exciting to me because the original way to get into Elk Summit was to pack in with a team of mules up and over the 30 miles from Hamilton to Elk Summit. I spent much of this hitch reading Norman Mclean describe the same struggles I have felt doing trail work. Interestingly, in 1919 he also describes the importance of preserving these remote areas in a developing world. What an incredible thing that we still have the shared intergenerational connection of wilderness.
The Bad…
This hitch, my knee injury from my hitch 2 finally caught up to me. On day 5, I started hiking and almost immediately felt a shooting pain on the outside of my knee. Rather than overthink this pain, I decided to keep going and see if it would magically disappear. Instead of this, my knee nearly gave out when I continued walking. I “got benched” from the team that day and the next day to recover, and I had no idea how much I would miss my friends and the trail. I spent the next two days reading, sitting in my tent to escape the bugs, and eventually walking around the shady trees to escape both the heat and the bugs. How important it is to have a sense of purpose else we despair in our uselessness.
A rusty Pulaski before Sean cleaned it
The same Pulaski after being beautified
What The Heck Am I Doing…
Imagine this… You are sitting in brush, cutting a tree with your crosscut partner. It is hot, in the 90’s, and you are sweating profusely due to wearing boots, work pants, a long sleeve shirt, and your protective equipment. Now you hear the whine of a swarm of mosquitos and horseflies. Almost immediately, they start to bite you. In this moment, you might start to wonder why you even signed up for the job.
Sean with a crosscut saw near Bear Mountain, Photo Cred: Jack
I have had many moments just like that this season. Luckily there was also plenty of reflective moments. During the worst times, when it was just me and my thoughts, I began to process my last year of school. I realized that I have not been bored in years. This should be a good thing, but without boredom there was no space to give perspective on life. There is an incredible and unique power of wilderness in that it forces people to lose all distractions. So, in a life such as mine, filled with constant schoolwork, socialization, and quick screen fixes, the balance provided by solitude in wilderness is incredibly necessary. So, if you feel like you are overwhelmed by life, get out there!
Fresh huckleberries from the source! Yum!
Mount Vernon, WA
Gonzaga University- Applied Mathematics
Growing up in Western Washington, Sean found his love for the outdoors by hiking and mountain biking in the dense forests of the area. He also became passionate about protected land when he visited National Parks all over the West with his family. During high school, he loved working on trails in his backyard and neighborhood. Sean moved to Spokane, Washington when he became a student at Gonzaga University. There, he has loved learning new outdoor skills during his time as a trip leader for Gonzaga Outdoors. Currently, his favorite outdoor activities include mountain biking, skiing, fly fishing, backpacking, and whitewater rafting. Anytime he can get away from the craziness of college life, Sean finds peace in outdoor spaces with friends.