Returning to Wilderness

Lauren Simms

Lead Wilderness Steward

Sleeping Deer Volunteer Project

July 21 - 28

Salmon-Challis National Forest | Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

My time in National Forests and Wilderness areas of Idaho began two years ago when I worked with SBFC as a Wilderness Ranger Fellow. This year I returned as a crew leader, with apprehension at what this job would entail and the hope that I could live up to how I looked up to my crew leader. Now the season is halfway through, and that apprehension has passed. My crew and I have come to count on one another, forging a unique bond through the constantly changing dynamic struggle of trail work. Not only is our work a continuation of a legacy of conservation, but it is also the most visceral way I know to see the growth of people’s passion for our public lands.

Early in the season, we had the pleasure of working right along the banks of the Salmon River, which afforded us all the opportunity for a cool and cleansing dip at the end of a long day. Enjoying the incredibly clear waters of the river allowed us a certain pleasure through which to bond in stark contrast to the rewarding but taxing work of clearing trails. This last hitch, our fourth as a crew, found us camping and working above 8,000 feet, making for breathtaking views of vast expanses of the Frank Church Wilderness. In addition to the great views, the elevation kept us mostly free of the wildfire smoke that lingered in the distance and awaited us upon our descent back to civilization. With the help of two volunteers, we made it up to Martin Mountain and cleared about 11 miles of trail, brushing and retreading for the sake of ourselves and future trail users.

A long day of hiking! The crew on top of Martin Mountain on trail 103 in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in the Frank Church Wilderness. Pictured from left to right are Thomas Foote, Michael Hofmann, Lauren Simms, Meghan Rorick, and Thomas Neidenbach. Photo credit to Antonio Angel and Thomas Neidenbach.

 This season has taught me about how my passion for conservation as an individual can stretch widely and affect so many people. From the volunteers and Fellows with whom I work, to people I may never meet who may use a trail my crew and I cleared; this realization drives me to continue this work. Just knowing that the conservation community is made up of such passionate people and that it is constantly growing through the work we do gives me hope that these incredible places I have come to call home will continue to be protected and maintained for public use for generations.

Volunteers and crew at Sleeping Deer Trailhead are about to start their hike into the Frank Church Wilderness on Cache Creek trail 103 in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Pictured from left to right is Michael Hofmann, Meghan Rorick, Lauren Simms, Thomas Neidenbach, Thomas Foote, and Antonio Angel. Photo credit to Antonio Angel.

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LAUREN SIMMS

Salmon-Challis National Forest

Lead Wilderness Steward

Lauren grew up outside of Philadelphia. She found her love for trails in Yosemite, where she was a youth corps member. In 2019 Lauren served 14 weeks as a SBFC Wilderness Ranger Fellow in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, her first experience in capital-W Wilderness. We are very happy Lauren has returned and will be working on the SBFC Frank Church Wilderness crew.

SBFC Board Volunteer Project

Michael Wanzenried

SBFC Board Member

Warm Springs Trail | Jerry Johnson Hot Springs

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest

This July the SBFC Board (and family) worked with the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest to improve parts of the popular Warm Springs Trail into Jerry Johnson Hot Springs. Our trail crew volunteers included Board Chair Nancy Feldman and son Jonah, Executive Director Sally Ferguson, Vice Chair Jim Heidelberger, Board Secretary Carlos and Diane Diaz, Jerry Randolph, Michael Wanzenried, Deb and Gil Gale, Phil Jahn, and John and Carolyn Lloyd.

SBFC Board members and family posing in their roadside pickup PPE.

Tasked with four projects for the weekend, we met on Friday to check the first project off the list: cleaning up our adopted stretch of road along scenic Highway 12. From milepost 114 to milepost 116, volunteers bagged hub caps, beer cans, cigarette butts, bits of plastic, and the metal-infused rubbery parts of exploded truck tires. Of course, only after returning to the pullout did we realize we should have set ground rules for how to assess which groups had the most littered stretch of road. In a slight mutation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: How shall we compare our littered bags? By the weight of worlds held therein? Cold road unburdened of soiled print and oily rags. Or measure each, length by height by width? 

The communal dinner that night consisted of charcuterie, chicken salad, cucumber salad and chips. As people finished up, Nancy described the bridge and retaining walls the United States Forest Service needed built on the Warm Springs Trail. The lack of exact details plus a number of cold beverages provided fuel for some on-and-off discussion, analyzing alternate scenarios, but always with the same successful outcome. 

Prepping in the parking lot.

Day two started at 9 a.m. with our Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest Wilderness/Trails Forestry Technician and leader Alex Totoiu who clarified the day’s activities and showed us the tools and materials we would use. Our goals were to repair a step, replace a retaining wall and build a bog bridge.  Some of us would carry two long pieces of 6x6 up trail to where existing walls had failed. The boards for the bog bridge, Alex said, measured at about 9 feet long. Construction workers had cached them a mile beyond the bog beneath the stringers of a suspension bridge. Eight volunteers would hike in the two plus miles to the bridge and carry the boards back a mile to the bog.  

Taking a break on the suspension bridge.

At the trailhead, John fired up Alex’s gas-powered drill to bore holes into one of the 6x6’s. I stepped a few feet back to get away from the noise and wondered how different Jerry Johnson hot springs would be after fifteen years. I watched two mothers, open hard seltzers in hand, waving their flip-flopped children over across the highway to walk into the hot springs. Probably not much. 

Volunteers dropped the first 6x6 at a damaged step about a mile from the trailhead.  A few hundred feet from there, they set down the second 6x6. Eight volunteers continued up the trail for another mile to the suspension bridge.  The 9-foot long boards were big the way we think everyday objects must look to ants. Comical.  Absurd.  Somehow moveable. Two of the boards topped 16-feet and weighed 150 pounds. The third was 20-feet long and significantly heavier.  

One of the many boards carried throughout the weekend.

All smiles as we carried the comically sized boards through the bog.

Every 50-100 yards back to the bog we stopped to rest and check-in with each other about our hands, arms, and level of suffering. Over the course of this short and intense journey, the story Jim and I began telling each other about work done on the Warm Springs Trail in ’21 had graduated from self-effacing but heroic, to self-sacrificing and epic.

A handful of volunteers repaired the step by using the Pulaski to dig out an area to place the new step and then pound it in with rebar and back filled it with rocks. At the new retaining wall, the Pulaski was used again to place the longer 6x6.  Rock backfill and more rebar helped secure the 6x6 in place. Volunteers then dug out part of the hillside to widen the trail and used the loose earth to back fill the rocks. Further up trail, the exhausted volunteers took a few moments before switching from hauling boards to digging out saturated bog mud and vegetation.  A cedar snag Alex took down and then cut into lengths would serve as bridge supports for the boards.   

The heat and work of the day had settled into our tired bodies and dinner was quieter than the night before. Pulled pork, coleslaw and chips sated us and the glasses of wine or cans of beer sent us off to our tents early. 

Laying down planks in the bog.

Rock work.

Day two started at 9 a.m. and the step set just the day before worked perfectly. A few volunteers applied the finishing touches to the retaining wall while bog workers crushed rock and notched the logs. A tricky spot required more digging than anyone expected. Finally, the boards were nailed down and volunteers took turns walking across it.  

On the way out, we reflected on what the SBFC staff and Wilderness Fellows do on a daily basis for three months a year. Not a lot of us really appreciate the work that goes into repairing a trail where the results are obvious but the labor is all but invisible. The effort they put into projects like this go a long way towards improving public safety and strengthening the relationship SBFC has with our national forest partners, like the Nez Perce-Clearwater. 

Bog “Board” work!

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MICHAEL WANZENRIED, BOARD MEMBER - BOISE, ID

Michael Wanzenried lives in Boise but is originally from western Montana. Although he spent the first twenty-some years of his life as ‘outdoorsy,’ it was two seasons with a youth conservation corps that instilled in him a greater appreciation for being outside that went beyond recreational hiking and camping. These experiences led him to pursue a career in archaeology. Since graduating from the University of Montana, Missoula, with an MA in anthropology/archaeology in 2010, he has been conducting cultural resource investigations for private, state, and federal outfits in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. He is currently working in the sage-steppe desert of eastern Oregon and loving every moment

Up Whiskey Creek Without Whiskey

José (Antonio) Angel

Wilderness Ranger Fellow

August 4-11, 2021

Hitch #5 | Sulphur Creek

Salmon-Challis National Forest | Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

Initially our trail crew was intended to go into the North Zone of the Salmon-Challis National Forest into the Big Horn Crags region to clear trails, but due to the Mud Lick Fire we were reassigned to clear trail #4046 from Whiskey Creek Trailhead, down Sulphur Creek, and ultimately finishing approximately 13 miles down trail near Boundary Creek. Although, compared to our previous hitches, we assumed 13 miles of trail being cleared would be an attainable goal, that was not the case for this hitch.

Upon arrival to the Whiskey Creek Trail Head, we could not find the trail and spent a few hours retreading for future recreators to be able to follow the trail through the initial meadow. As we proceeded down trail #4046, we quickly realized that this hitch was going to be incredibly low in mileage.

Before….

…and After look at one section of trail. Yes much of the trail was this bad!

Ultimately, by the final day of the hitch, we had camped at the rig every night and only cleared approximately 2.5 miles of trail. In those 2.5 miles we did, however, clear 856 trees from the trail over six ten-hour workdays, cutting nearly 150 trees each day and only working down trail about .4 miles per day.

Thomas (left) and Antonio (right) using Jolene (center), the beautiful 6 ft Simonds crosscut saw, to saw through a 25” tree.

This work was incredibly exhausting. Luckily, we were able to keep morale high despite the long and hot days. Thomas, the other Salmon-Challis NF Wilderness Ranger Fellow, and I had the realization that this was our final hitch which added a hint of melancholy for how much we were going to miss the stunningly beauteous Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. We became incredibly humbled when on our last day of work we began to see smoke billowing from down the drainage. We turned on the radio to ensure that we were in a safe location and learned the fire was only about 4 miles away. Although we were safe, I felt humbled as we cooked dinner and watch Smoke Jumpers fly overhead preparing to fight the fire.

The view from a scramble up to the ridge looking down the trail #4046 (Sulphur Creek Trail) just before a below-freezing night.

The danger of fire was a contradicting feeling in comparison to our first night of hitch when we watched a sheet of clouds move over us. Just after falling asleep a flashing of light and strong gust of wind awoke me. I ventured outside of my tent to observe a storm rolling in over the western ridge. The strong westerly winds and dark sky with flashes of lightning reminded me of the storms I grew up watching on the plains of Iowa with one main difference: on the Great Plains we do not have the howl of wind blowing through burned trees called the Death Whistle. The Death Whistle keeps me awake calling my mind to contemplate our training and the safety our meadow holds us in, out of harm's way from all widow-makers. The howl drives me to be thankful for our immediate safety but consider the possibility of, one day, a widow-maker turning me into a widowless widower.

My mind then leaped to the paradox of clouds. They appear, from a distance, to be beautiful and calm, but when inside or underneath a cumulonimbus cloud, one begins to understand the powerful force they have and the cloud signifies destruction. Although I am sorrowful to be leaving Idaho for the summer, I know I am ready and will return.

The whole S-C NF crew after finishing our last day of work together. (Left to right- Antonio Angel, Megan Rorick, Lauren Simms, and Thomas Neidenbach)

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ANTONIO ANGEL

Salmon-Challis National Forest | Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

Creighton University

Major: Environmental Science concentrating in Organismal/Population Ecology and Environmental Policy & Society | Minor: Spanish

Antonio grew up on a small farm in Van Meter, Iowa surrounded by nature. In 2018 he traveled out west on an SBFC IDAWA trek to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area. Although he has always loved the outdoors, his IDAWA trip inspired him to become an avid supporter of public lands and wilderness. Wilderness is important to Jose because it is where he feels most complete, and he hopes others can find who they are through the outdoors as well.

Moments in the Mountains

Parker DePond

Wilderness Ranger Fellow

Payette National Forest | Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

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PARKER DEPOND

Payette National Forest | Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

Iowa State University

Major: Animal Ecology

Parker grew up among the corn mazes in Iowa and is currently studying Animal Ecology at Iowa State University. He grew a deep affection for the mountains when he went on an SBFC IDAWA trip into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in high school. Parker has spent time hiking 140 miles of the PCT, exploring the mountains in Colorado, and adventuring in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota and southern Canada. This is where he learned what wilderness was, what true camping was, and what family was all about. He is excited and humbled to spend this season with SBFC.

Growing Like Weeds

Jaime Breisch

Wilderness Ranger Fellow

Monumental Creek Trail #062 | Marble Creek Trail #005

Payette National Forest | Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

June 11–16, 2021

It’s the first day of the first hitch and I’m nervous about keeping up. We’ve been in and out of our cars all day, removing trees blocking the road and digging ourselves out of snow drifts as we try to make it to our trail head. This isn’t our job but an obstacle to get there and we’ll do what needs to be done.

Our gear is clean and new. Our tools are sharp and shiny.

Monica Stapleton (left) and Parker DePond (right) enjoying the view just past Monumental Summit. After digging Monica's truck out of a snowdrift, we decided to take lunch and wait for the snow to melt more.

Jaime Breisch using her broken middle finger to give the log that broke her finger a piece of her mind.

June 22–30, 2021

It’s the second day of the second hitch and my finger is nothing but pain. It rises and ebbs, throbbing with every jolt of the truck. It’s been a long day of driving, but I’m in good company—the best company—and they’ve helped me be brave. Stopping for dinner put us in good spirits but by the time we’ve made the five-hour drive back, sleep is pulling at our eyes.

It’s after dark. Our tents are still standing; our tools are all dusty.

Jaime Breisch (left) and Parker DePond (right) posing in front of Marble Creek Trailhead (Trail #062) about to head out on their third hitch. Marble Creek is a trail adopted by SBFC and a section of the Idaho Centennial Trail.

July 6–14, 2021

It’s the third day of the third hitch and I’m dreading the hike out—specifically the three steep miles uphill. Smoke has filled the air in thick wafts; we don’t know which fire it’s blowing from. Our bear hangs dangle on the other side of the creek we’re camped next to. Crossing to get our food bags is miserable. The water is frigid, and I want to scream once I’m on the other side. While excruciating, the icy cold is a balm to my blisters. I’ve decided I will be doing this for our entire time here. I’m willing to save my team some early morning agony.

Our gear is covered in pollen. There are streaks of dirt on our packs. Loppers are tearing where they should be cutting. Our saws are becoming hard to pull.

July 21–29, 2021

It’s the fourth day of the fourth hitch and I have yet to find more happiness and joy on a hitch. The waters are cold and refreshing. The views, although nothing spectacular, fill me with a sense of delight. Wild raspberries flourish around every turn. Although they are small, they hold such sweetness—of sunshine and fresh air and wildness. Not even the ash I find on my tent dampers my mood. My love for my crew—small, sure, but so wonderful and hardworking—reaches new levels as we continue to grow close. Boundaries have all but disappeared as we ask each other random, sometimes downright invasive questions. I want to make them laugh. I want to make them smile. I love thinking of new things to surprise them with.

Our tents are grimy. Our packs are filthy. Our boots—oof—are rank. Our tools continue to dull as our hands wield them with confidence and purpose.

Image depicting our Pulaski in a burned tree. The background shows the smoke that kept us company during our time up on Monumental Creek Trail (Trail #005).

Our camp for our hitch on Monumental Creek Trail (Trail #005). There were a few mornings we awoke to ash on our tents.

August 3–11, 2021

The fifth day of the fifth hitch is yet to come. Fires threaten our work from seemingly every direction. Smoke chokes us out. There’s a sweet sorrow in my heart just thinking of the summer coming to an end so quickly. Where did the time go? I have loved and hated my time here, but it’s a time I wont ever forget. Soon, I’ll be cleaning my gear. We’ll sharpen blades and replace saws and return them to the tool cache for next seasons’ crews to use.

Our gear will be dirty. Our tools will be the dullest they’ve been all summer.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jaime Breisch hiking with the crosscut at Monumental Creek Trail (Trail #005).

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JAIME BREISCH

Payette National Forest | Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness

University of Montana

Major: Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Management | Minor: Wilderness Studies

Jaime is from a military family, and eventually settled in Arlington, Washington. She grew up going on long camping trips and has always had an appreciation for wilderness and national forests. Jaime has experience working on campgrounds, and she is looking forward to working more directly with conservation and protecting our public lands, particularly in wilderness areas. Jaime is enamored with how off-the-grid one can get in Wilderness; especially how it disconnects her from technology. Jaime can be found hiking, backpacking, and canoeing in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter.

Trail Tools

Leo Scheibe, 2021 Warren Miller Sponsored Fellow

Eagle Mountain Trail #206 to Long Lake and out via Dutch Ridge Trail #2150

July 20-28, 2021

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Several weeks ago, we ventured out into the Wilderness for our first hitch. It was several rainy June days of learning how and when to use KitKats, Silkies, Katana-boys, Pulaskis, axes, crosscuts, and wedges. Since then, we have had the opportunity to improve our skills and become comfortable using these tools. Here are descriptions of the tools we use, and some clips of the SBFC Nez Perce-Clearwater Trail Crew clearing trails on our last hitch.

We carried two Silky saws on this hitch. Some crews also call these saws, “Habukis.” Both of these names originated from the brand that creates these tools. These foot-long saws feature a curved handle and blade that are best for cutting small trees, around six inches or smaller. We also use them to cut large limbs off of logs. When not in use, these saws are stored in a plastic sheath.

In the video below, Jay is using a Silky saw to clear a small tree off of Dutch Ridge Trail #2150.

Katana-boys‑‑or K-boys for short‑‑are a few inches longer than a Silky saw. The main difference is that this saw has a straight handle and blade. Additionally, this saw folds shut and comes with a canvas sling for transport. These saws make quick work of small and medium-sized trees, up to about 15 inches. On this hitch, we had three of these saws.

Here Alex uses a K-boy to finish cutting a medium tree on Dutch Ridge Trail #2150.

Axes are one of the hardest tools to master on this list. They require a sharp blade, consistent accuracy, stamina, and both a safe and appropriately angled swing to be efficient. Once you get the hang of swinging it though, it quickly becomes a favorite. We use axes to chop through trees, remove tree limbs for easier access to logs, and to pound in wedges. Our crew carried four axes on this hitch.

In this video, Liesl finishes chopping through a tree on Goldhill Trail #247.

This next video is of me as I limb a tree on Gold Hill Trail #247.

Last but not least is the vintage crosscut saw. This one is a common favorite amongst trail workers, as it has extensive application and efficiency out on the trails. They come in a variety of lengths; our crew of seven carried two six-footers on this hitch. The handles are removable, allowing this saw to be used by either one or two people. Typically, two people will run the saw unless it is dangerous to keep sawing from one of the sides (if the tree might fall on the sawyer). Running the saw individually is known as single-bucking.

Another technique used, albeit begrudgingly, is under-bucking. This is when you turn the saw upside down and saw from the bottom of the log, upwards. This is done when there is too much compression at the top of the log to saw through without pinching the saw and getting it stuck. Typically, my crew designates a crosscut team for the day. They carry with them a k-boy for finishing cuts (if there is a concern for the tree damaging the crosscut when it falls), an ax (for limbing and wedging), and wedges (hefty pieces of plastic that are used to prevent the log from pinching the saw).

This is a video of myself and Clint as we cut an extra-large log off of the Dutch Ridge Trail #2150. Part way through the video, you can see Clint pound in a wedge to prevent the kerf--which is the path in which the saw is cutting in--from closing in and pinching the saw. We also finished the cut with a k-boy. After the cut, we used our legs to push the log clear of the trail.

Some tools I did not have the opportunity to capture on this hitch include the KitKat, loppers, Pulaski, and shovel. A KitKat is a red, pocket-sized folding saw that we use to clear woody shrubs. Loppers are your traditional pruning shears that are excellent when heavy brushing (clearing brush) needs to be done. The Pulaski is a traditional firefighter tool that we use to retread (re-route or clean up) trails and clear water drains that guide water off of trails to prevent erosion. Lastly, we carry a shovel to also clear drains and fling larger rocks off of trails as we hike. All in all, the seven of us carried a total of 18 tools on this last hitch.

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LEO SCHEIBE

2021 Warren Miller Sponsored Fellow

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

University of Idaho

Major: Recreation, Sports, & Tourism Management | Minor: Natural Resource Conservation

Leo is from Boise, Idaho. He brings experience from working on a tropical produce farm in Moloaa, Kuaui as well as experience working as an Adventure Camp Counselor in Cascade, Idaho. He’ll take every opportunity to spend time outdoors, from backpacking to skiing to spelunking— you name it! He is passionate about working to protect our wild spaces and improve access to them for all demographics.

Beginner’s Luck

Wilderness Ranger Fellow Madison Kilkenny

USFS Trail #19, Blodgett Canyon Trail

High Lake/Blodgett Canyon Volunteer Trip

July 13 - 19, 2021

Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

At the beginning of this program, I was extremely hesitant in accepting this position considering my lack of backcountry experience. Before this fellowship, I had spent little to no time in the backcountry and living in the Wilderness for eight days at a time intimidated me. Thanks to Sally’s encouraging words, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and embark on a challenging adventure this summer.

Our Packer Ed and his stock, packing us in to Blodgett Canyon.

Merely two months later, as I conclude my fourth hitch in the Bitterroot Wilderness, I take note in the growth I have gained from the beginning of the season. At the beginning of the season, I thought stock to be a campsite stock room items such as supplies and tools. To my delightful surprise, stock turned out to be horses and mules. I knew the names of none of the tools, struggled to set up my tent, could barely pick up my 50 lb. pack, and had an unrealistic phobia of bugs.

Now that I have finished my first volunteer hitch, I realize I not only know the names of the tools and how to effectively use them, but I am able to teach the volunteers how to use them as well. Not only am I physically capable of hard work, but I am mentally stronger. 

Huckleberry pickin’ break!

In the backcountry you only make a mistake once before you never do it again. In my case, I will never forget a crosscut at the top of an alpine lake again, because I did indeed have to make the grueling 10-mile hike to retrieve it the next day. This is just one of the many lessons I have learned in the Wilderness. I can now identify a handful of edible vegetation, including my crews’ favorite, Huckleberries. I understand the Wilderness is unforgiving, and to always be prepared for anything. I’ve learned the importance of the Leave No Trace principals, to always pick up trash wherever I go, the art of the creek bath, and how to effectively work and live as a crew.

Katanaboying a 20in tree.

This hitch represented great reflection and personal growth. Anyone can do hard things if they put their mind to it. No matter how hard each day is, when I lay in my tent at night, the hard work I put into the trails feels rewarding. I am using my body to the best of its ability to help open the Wilderness to the public and spend my days in nature. My passion towards nature is like a fire that burns inside of me, which drives me every day in the field. It gives me a purpose.

I also saw a moose!

The hike back from Blodgett Lake.

Blodgett creek from the stock bridge.

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MADI KILKENNY

Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Washington State University

Major: Environmental Science | Minor: GIS

Madi is a third-year undergraduate at Washington State University, studying Environmental Science with a minor in GIS. Madi grew up in California and recently moved to Lake Tahoe. In Tahoe, she is able to exercise her passion for the outdoors through skiing, hiking, and paddleboarding. This is her first time working a season in the wilderness and is excited for the personal and professional development in store!

Mountain Messages

Jonny Ruth

Wilderness Ranger Fellow

Blodgett Canyon Trail #19

July 12-19, 2021

Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

This last hitch was a volunteer trip on the Blodgett Canyon trail. The main objective for this hitch was to clear the trees up to High Lake and to gather information on a rock slide that had occurred on the mountain side where the trail ran through.

On the first day of the hitch we were greeted with stock at the trailhead to help us pack in food and tools for the next 6 days. This was my first experience using stock on a hitch and I was quite excited for a couple reasons. The main reason was that we didn’t need to pack any food in our packs and we didn’t need to be carrying our tools with us. The food and tools will usually be the heaviest things you’re going to be carrying so it was nice to have the extra weight off our shoulders, especially for a 7 mile hike into camp. 

Thumbs up, almost at the top.

The next day was pretty standard in terms of trail work. We all got up early in the morning for breakfast and coffee. We chatted about the day we had yesterday and what the plans were for today. We did our morning stretch routine and went over safety concerns that everyone had and then we set off on the trail. The hike to the junction where the High Lake trail splits off from Blodgett Canyon trail was about a mile down from camp. When we got to the High Lake trail we all quickly realized that there was some serious work that would need to be done. There would be many hours during the next few days spent on this trail brushing, clearing logs and hiking up a 2,700 foot vertical gain in only 2 miles. All things considered we did have a productive day of work and was able to clear all the logs off half of the trail. 

Near the top, at a rock slide section on the trail.

The next day was quite different from any day I had before. It all started off normal: wake up, eat, socialize, stretch, and hit the trail. But a little after lunch there was a note that needed to be delivered to our crew lead that was scouting a rockslide about 1.5 miles from my location on the trail. The note was delivered to me with a sense of urgency so I had to keep that pace up in myself during my excursion. I didn’t take much with me besides my hat, sunglasses, and an objective. I started my ascent up the mountain within seconds of receiving the note. During my time climbing over rocks and looking for footprints to make sure I was still on the right trail I had realized that I was living a dream that I had when I was a young kid. I always loved being out on my own exploring new places over different kinds of challenging terrain and this was exactly that. The hike up quickly turned from me sucking wind and trying to maintain a solid pace into me having a good time and strategically having to plan every step to avoid slipping and falling. It was the perfect balance between physical and mental activity and gave me great memories of what it was like to be a kid again.

Picture of the valley looking north from the lake.

The views going up to High Lake were some of the most impressive I have seen in the Bitterroots yet. When you get out of the trees, the whole valley opens up into a perfect U and you can see every inch of it. I’ve included some pictures so you can get an idea of what I’m saying but I know they won’t do any justice for the real view. The lake itself looked like it should have been on another planet just based on location alone. It looked so isolated from everything else that it gave off an impression that no other people have really been down there before. Just having that thought alone was enough to make me appreciate the extremely fragile ecosystems that we are allowed into. The wilderness is not home to many of us anymore so when we go out and explore what it has to offer it is important for us to realize we are all just visitors and we need to keep it unchanged and respect it as much as possible.

Panoramic of High Lake and the valley.

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JONNY RUTH

Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Boise State University

Major: Environmental Studies | Minor: Sustainability

Jonny grew up in Southern California outside of Los Angeles. He tries to spend time outside as much as possible, from playing sports to removing invasive plant species. Jonny is passionate about the wilderness and wants to work to take care of it in any way that he can.

Flatlander in the Mountains

Forrest Lampert

Wilderness Ranger Fellow

Elk Summit Trailhead

July 6-14, 2021

Nez Perce Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

The main reason I was interested in this job when I saw it posted online was because I wanted to gain experience living in the Backcountry and in Wilderness. I am from Wisconsin where there is a ton of woods and wild places, but due to people’s love of cottages and ATV trails, there is very little designated wilderness (only around 35,000 acres in the whole state). It is so cool to find that a lot of wilderness still exists in the western United States. Working out here is a drastic change from the environment back home. Wisconsin is pretty flat; highest point is 1,951 feet above sea level. Idaho is uh...not flat. There are mountains everywhere….and big ones too. This past hitch was, by far, the most challenging and exhausting for me.

We started out at the Elk Summit Trailhead by Hoodoo Lake (which, by the way, has awesome fishing if people are looking for a spot) and started working up Trail Number 4 to Big Sand Lake. We slowly worked our way up…..bumping camp every couple of days. We first camped by the trailhead for two nights and then camped near the junctions of Trail 1 and Trail 4, which was a really cool spot. I set my tent up on a rocky outcropping.

(Quick note: fishing is really good by that junction, and I still find it crazy that deer are not scared of humans in the Selway. I had this nice buck 5 yards away from me; he did not care at all.)

View from my tent.

Buck near my tent.

By Day 5, we finally reached Big Sand Lake (awesome lake, but bad fishing). Day 6 is where the real "fun" started. We had a 4-4.5ish mile hike uphill from Big Sand Lake to Frog Lake. There was a rise of 2,000 foot of elevation in our hike. I played sports my entire childhood, but let me tell you, that hike was one of my tougher workouts since high school sports. I was completely gassed after the first two miles. We had a 1,500 foot elevation change in the first 1.5-2 miles, and we still had a few more miles to go. Not gonna lie, a few thoughts were going through my head hiking up that mountain:

1.  It made me briefly hate all mountains.

2.  It left me with the question, “Why would anybody do this for fun?”

3.  It made me miss the Midwest because I never had to hike up anything that steep back home.

But once we got to the top, all those thoughts were gone. It was totally worth it. The views from the top of the mountain, and the alpine ecosystems, were awesome— 10/10 views.

View overlooking Frog Lake.

Our goal was to make it to Frog Lake to camp. Seeing Frog Lake in the distance just made me think “hallelujah”; we are going to make it. (Another quick note: very beautiful lake! Great for swimming, but not for fishing. No fish live in it.)

Frog Lake.

We set up camp at Frog Lake for two nights and worked up to the Diablo Lookout Tower. We almost made it, but came up just short of it. We also stopped at Frog Peak after work. The views were awesome.

Me sitting on Frog Peak.

Me laying shirtless in the snow by Frog Peak.

After those two nights, we slowly made our way back. Luckily, it was mostly all downhill, but walking downhill for that long really hurts the knees. We then returned to camp at Big Sand Lake for one night while also doing campsite inventories in the nearby area. On our last day, we hiked out about eight miles.

Even though this hitch was, by far, the most challenging for me, it was also the most satisfying and rewarding. This hitch was exactly what I was expecting this job would be, and I am happy I got to experience it. Even though it is very tiring work, and I am sure there will be many more hard days coming, I am looking forward to them. I love a good challenge! As long as these good old Wisconsin legs keep chugging, I can get up any mountain…..or at least for as long as my boots hold up because they are taking a beating this summer (the tread is pretty much non-existent at this point.)

My boots…or what’s left of them.

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FORREST LAMPERT

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Major: Ecosystem Restoration & Management

Forrest is from Appleton, WI, and is an avid hunter and fisherman, which is where his love for the outdoors began. He helped build trails when he worked on a conservation crew in his home state of Wisconsin. For Forrest, Wilderness is best kept wild, and he wants to work to preserve it for as long as possible.

A Study in Wildflowers

Kate Wilson

Wilderness Ranger Fellow

St. Mary’s Peak Volunteer Hitch

July 2- July 4

Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

As I made my drive from Iowa to Montana, I watched the landscape transform before my eyes. The sights I saw were largely unfamiliar, but that did not frighten me. I was excited to trade the rolling, gentle hills of my home state for the mountains and canyons of Montana. Even more, I was excited to absorb myself in learning about all the plants the state had to offer.

My first day in Missoula, I took myself on a short little hike and fell in love with all the wildflowers I saw. I pulled out my phone, opened my plant identification app, and committed myself to learning just three of the flowers I saw. Silky lupine, arrowleaf balsamroot, western gromwell. Later during our weeks of training, I bonded with my crew leader over our love of botany. Throughout the summer, she has taught me how to identify so many other wonderful flora. Indian paintbrush,  wild onion, glacier lily, calypso orchid, trillium, and more. I was thrilled to see some species I recognized from Iowa’s prairies, too. Prairie and woodland phlox, Mullan, yarrow, wild ginger. 

The Wilderness boundary sign at St. Mary’s trail.

A view of the St. Mary’s Peak Fire Lookout.

By the time I embarked on my third hitch – the crowd-favorite, St. Mary’s Peak volunteer project –I had a slowly growing wealth of plant knowledge under my belt. As we drove to the trailhead, I saw some familiar, and some unfamiliar, wildflowers. But I did not truly question what all these unfamiliar flowers were. It was not until I was hiking up the trail with a volunteer and she said to me between heavy breaths “wow, there are so many wildflowers up here. It’s amazing,” that I realized I had lost some of my curiosity.  I had gotten lost in the rhythm of the work ­– hike, cut, hike, cut, hike, cut, then hike some more ­– and forgotten to take the time to take in all the subtle beauty of the nature around me. Right then, I promised the volunteer that I would teach her any species I recognized, and I promised myself that I would learn as many unfamiliar species as I could.

By the time I reached the peak, I had seen countless flowers—but knew none of them. I was able to recognize one flower as a member of the Rosaceae, or rose, family but was completely lost beyond that.

So, when I returned to my little trailer at the Stevensville Ranger Station, I got to work identifying and learning the wildflowers I saw: shrubby cinquefoil, pink mountain-heather, spreading phlox, Gordon’s ivesia, western moss heather.

Shrubby cinquefoil.

Hooker’s mountain-avens.

Pink mountain-heather.

Spreading phlox.

Gordon’s ivesia.

Western moss heather.

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KATE WILSON

Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

Drake University

Major: Environmental Science | Minor: Spanish

Kate is from Iowa City, IA. She studies Environmental Science on a biological conservation track and Spanish at Drake University. Kate has always loved the outdoors and was truly inspired to become involved in land stewardship and conservation when she went on an SBFC IDAWA trip into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in high school. She has also worked as a Land Stewardship intern with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, spending her summer in prairies across Iowa. She is excited to pursue new endeavors in the Wilderness and work to protect it.