Grizzlies On My Mind

Michael W. Leach

Description

What is it about Yellowstone National Park that draws millions of visitors from all over the world? If you've visited Yellowstone, you should already know the answer. If you've never visited—or you have, but still don't know the answer—Michael Leach explains it to you in his book of essays, "Grizzlies on My Mind." Leach is a Yellowstone insider with unmatched passion for this nation's first national park. At the age of twenty-two, Leach's dream of becoming a Yellowstone ranger came true. It wasn't long before he'd earned the nickname "Rev" for his powerful Yellowstone "sermons."
In "Grizzlies on My Mind," Leach shares his love for Yellowstone—its landscapes and wildlife, especially its iconic bison and grizzlies—as he tells tales that will delight anyone interested in the national park system, wildlife and wild landscapes, rivers and adventure. Heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of human lives lost, efforts to save a black bear cub, a famous wolf who helped Leach through some dark personal days, the unique and oftentimes humorous Yellowstone "culture," backpacking trips that nearly ended in disaster, and Leach's spiritual journey with his Assiniboine-Gros Ventre "brother" fill the pages—and the reader's heart.
If you've never been charged by an elk, traveled solo at dawn across Yellowstone's frigid interior (working your way slowly through a herd of peaceful bison in the process), or lain awake in a backcountry tent, listening for the spine-tingling breaths of a curious grizzly—but you crave such experiences, "Grizzlies on My Mind" is the book for you.
Visceral excitement pulsed through my scrawny eight-year-old body as I gazed into the eyes of a beast more massive than any I had ever witnessed. Welcome to God’s theme park, Yellowstone. My earliest memories of Yellowstone stem from the perspective of a young boy enamored by our first national park’s glory and by the spirit of adventure. Growing up along the shores of a small mountain lake in North Idaho, I cherished our annual pilgrimage to my grandparents’ birthplace—Wyoming—and to my family’s beloved Yellowstone. I can still vividly remember that nervous, Christmas-morning-like anticipation when we awoke at dawn to the song of the Madison River in Ennis, Montana—our launching point for each Yellowstone adventure. Even in August, the air would be crisp, with wispy waves of fog rising from the waters of the fifty-mile riffle, as the sun literally burst forth, illuminating the Madison Range to the west. To a young boy, it seemed they must have been the birthplace and spine of the continent.
Romping the mountains and forests near my home, it was easy for one childhood season to blend into the next without my recognizing the significance of their passing. Perhaps this explains how our family sojourns to Yellowstone ultimately came to mark the life-affirming milestones in my own personal journey—from curious boy to earnest young man, striving to uncover meaning in pursuit of living a life that matters.
Such is the raw power of Yellowstone. While its natural wonders, wildlife, rivers, and biodiversity are most celebrated, I have come to believe Yellowstone’s greatest gift is its ability to inspire two-leggeds to uncover purpose, meaning, and goodness in our lives. As much as we are awed by the scenery and inhabitants that make the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem one of the most important places on our planet ecologically, Yellowstone has always been first and foremost a people’s park. Since its beginning, the wild spirit of Yellowstone has inspired countless visitors to strive for a more meaningful existence—one often intertwined with and based upon their love for nature and their desire for adventure.
Contents
Foreword, by Nathan Varley
Introduction
1 Grizzlies on My Mind
2 Medicine Warrior
3 The Journeyman, 253M
4 Winter Adventures
5 Life Returns to Yellowstone
6 Mammoth Madness
7 Ranger Field Journal: A Sampling
8 Wild Entrapment
9 Christmas in Yellowstone
10 Ode to #6
11 The Story of the Kestrel
12 Bitterroot Paint
13 Only in Yellowstone
14 Hello Again, Old Faithful
15 The Hills Are Alive
16 American White Pelican
17 Summer Love Letter
18 Fall Is in the Air
19 Yellowstone’s Gym Culture
20 Winter’s Loosening Grip
21 The Fading Light of Summer
22 Closing Out the Season
23 Bison and Bigotry
24 Teasing Seasons
25 Chaos, Wind, and Harlequins
26 Respect for Señor Blanco
27 Song of the Yellow Bellied
28 Bliss Pass
29 Hoodoo Equinox Storm
Acknowledgments

Sujets

• Wildlife
• Wild Life
• Animals
• Wilderness
• Nature

Informations

• Publié par: West Margin Press
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780871083166
• Langue: English

Extrait

Michael Leach dreamed of becoming a Yellowstone park ranger. He got his wish and, with his memoir Grizzlies On My Mind , he takes us on a personal journey, traveling with an unguarded heart into the mystery and beauty of the Yellowstone backcountry. He passionately and correctly speaks his outrage against the barbaric trapping of the park s wandering wolves, and of the inhumane bison slaughter by Montana s livestock department. Above all this is a personal odyssey; Leach shares his lusty interest for women in uniform, his faith in the power of wild nature, and the spiritual paths of healing.
-D OUG P EACOCK author of Grizzly Years and Walking It Off
Three and a half million people see Yellowstone National Park every year, but few people see as clearly and deeply into the park as Michael Leach. Yellowstone s combination of natural attributes and human oddities makes it a truly weird and wonderful place. Leach lifts a curtain, lets you see a layer of the park the casual visitor would never know. He writes with equal admiration for the subtleties and splendor-and the understanding that sometimes the subtleties are the splendor. Leach provides glimpses of the people-from biologists to law enforcement staff to astonishing gym rats in the border town of Gardiner-and the animals that make Yellowstone a world unto itself. Whether writing about famous wolves, dinosaur bones, arrowheads, marmots, or grizzly bears, Leach writes with a passion that is as inspiring as his subject. His journey of discovery through Yellowstone is both public and poignantly personal. Treat yourself to this unique and passionate perspective on America s greatest national park.
-J EFF H ULL author of Pale Morning Done and Streams of Consciousness
grizzlies on my mind
ESSAYS OF ADVENTURE, LOVE, AND HEARTACHE FROM YELLOWSTONE COUNTRY
MICHAEL W. LEACH
Text 2014 by Michael W. Leach
Cover photograph 2014 by Tom Murphy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
The essay Bison and Bigotry was previously published in NewWest.Net (online magazine) February 10, 2011 and the essay Respect for Senor Blanco was published in Outside Bozeman (magazine), Summer 2011.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leach, Michael W.
Grizzlies on my mind / by Michael W. Leach.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-88240-995-5 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-87108-317-3 (hardbound)
ISBN 978-0-87108-316-6 (e-book)
1. Yellowstone National Park-Description and travel. 2. Natural history-Yellowstone National Park. 3. Animals-Yellowstone National Park. 4. Outdoor life-Yellowstone National Park. 5. Leach, Michael W.-Travel-Yellowstone National Park. 6. Leach, Michael W. 7. Park rangers-Yellowstone National Park-Biography. 8. Yellowstone National Park-Biography. I. Title.
F722.L33 2014
978.7'52-dc23
2014004306
Editor: Jen Weaver-Neist
Cover design: Brad Bunkers and Vicki Knapton
Interior design: Vicki Knapton
Map: Ani Rucki
Published by WestWinds Press
An imprint of

P.O. Box 56118
Portland, Oregon 97238-6118
503-254-5591
www.graphicartsbooks.com
For Kamiah, who inspires me each day with her big heart, sense of wonder, and little-person integrity: you are my source. May you always embody the strength, health, audacity, and wild spirit of the place from which you come. And to my mom and dad, April and Steve: without the two of you, my Yellowstone dream would be just that, a dream. Your love and unwavering support is a gift I will cherish as long as the waters sing their enchanted song.
Contents
Map
Foreword , by Nathan Varley
Introduction
1 Grizzlies On My Mind
2 Medicine Warrior
3 The Journeyman, 253M
4 Winter Adventures
5 Life Returns to Yellowstone
6 Mammoth Madness
7 Ranger Field Journal: A Sampling
8 Wild Entrapment
9 Christmas In Yellowstone
10 Ode to #6
11 The Story of the Kestrel
12 Bitterroot Paint
13 Only In Yellowstone
14 Hello Again, Old Faithful
15 The Hills Are Alive
16 American White Pelican
17 Summer Love Letter
18 Fall Is In the Air
19 Yellowstone s Gym Culture
20 Winter s Loosening Grip
21 The Fading Light of Summer
22 Closing Out the Season
23 Bison and Bigotry
24 Teasing Seasons
25 Chaos, Wind, and Harlequins
26 Respect for Se or Blanco
27 Song of the Yellow Bellied
28 Bliss Pass
29 Hoodoo Equinox Storm
Acknowledgments

If you know wilderness in the same way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go. This is the story of our past, and it will be the story of our future.
-Terry Tempest Williams
Foreword
It was moments before dark when we arrived at our Hoodoo Basin campsite. A lava sunset welcomed us, helping in the final stretch of well over ten, tough miles for the day. But at the moment we could finally rest our exhausted bones, Michael raised the alarm. Mounded in a tidy pile near our campfire was a large bear scat. Full of cone scales, it appeared the bear had been eating whitebark pine nuts and passing the chaff-lots and lots of chaff. Probably a big bear, we both thought, as we glanced wide-eyed at each other.
Sitting at timberline in the Absaroka Range, the campsite was surrounded by whitebark pine stands. And there was a second, larger scat directly beneath the food pole, one of the only structural improvements of the campsite designed for keeping campers food safe from marauding bears. Clearly, our long-sought destination had also recently been chosen as a foraging site by a bear. No need for alarm, I said, and began again to focus on my weary body. As a professional wildlife biologist, I have spent countless days in the wild among bears.
Michael went on feeling the gratification I often find in exploring Yellowstone-discovering the presence of myriad flora and fauna uniquely suited to this wild place. There is a rejoicing in finding the signs of the truly wild places-in places that few roam. These are readily found deep in the backcountry, where animal tracks far outnumber human tracks, in the furthest corners of the mountains. But before I could focus on my fatigue, a marked change in Michael s manner grabbed my attention. Along with his gratification, there was fear. For him, as for many, the grizzly bear will either attract or repel a person from the wilderness based on a feeling-the feeling that one is at risk of becoming a real link in the food chain.
While finding fresh bear droppings can be unsettling for anyone, there was far more racing through Michael s mind. I wouldn t call it dread but, rather, a potent combination of respect and anticipation. He loved these bears, and finding one living so close was ultimately thrilling, despite the sleep he might lose during the night.
I describe his emotion then, looking back, as a celebration of the great bear. To feel their presence so deeply, without a direct encounter, had never been so fully poignant or stimulating. Channeling the wild in such a way is one of Michael s great gifts.
Two years have passed since then, and thirteen since I first met Michael in Yellowstone s iconic Lamar Valley. Most memorable about my first encounter with him, among many others in the group at that time, was his youth. Everyone there had assembled with the rising sun to pursue a common goal: the expectation of viewing the park s premier wildlife-perhaps a wolf, or maybe a grizzly bear. As a wildlife guide and wolf tracker for several decades in Yellowstone, I have led many groups through the park, and they are typically middle-aged, retired folks. But then here was Michael, in his earliest years of college, dedicating time to the discovery of Yellowstone s wonders. This new friend demonstrated an eagerness and dedication I had found very few to possess at his age, or any age.
Conversation is easy with Michael. Being outgoing, full of curiosity, and hungry for interaction with both people and nature are the hallmarks of his character. So, it was no surprise that I saw him many more times afield, out among our favorite haunts in the park, his enthusiasm for Yellowstone growing with each visit. There was great promise in his purpose. And I felt then, as much as I do now, that his goal was not just to have the Yellowstone experience but to share it. To live within the flow of nature, share his love for its wild places and creatures, and ignite in others some of the white-hot passion he felt would be his life s work.
Early on, Michael asked me if he had any chance of one day becoming a park ranger. I saw this as a role in which he could flourish, and where he could use his skills to convey the value of Yellowstone to its visitors. No doubt, he would be a motivating leader in this capacity, and I strongly encouraged him to pursue it. Not long after, I encountered him among the chaos of a bear jam (the traffic associated with a bear sighting), working as a park ranger. This is a challenging job in which the ranger manages an ever-flowing, overexcited crowd clamoring to see a roadside bear. Few rangers can keep their cool, and those who can seem supernaturally endowed with great patience. In Michael s case, he had it, and additionally embraced the prospect that allowing visitors to have an authentic (but safe and respectful) experience with bears in Yellowstone can be crucially pivotal to both the individual and the future of the park s bears.
The years since his rangering days have seen many other outgrowths