I write this coming off a weekend spent in Jackson, Wyoming, having driven through Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming to get there. The fir and spruce forests extending from Big Sky to Island Park open up into rolling cropland near Ashton, which meets the expansive Grand...
This summer, my daughter discovered our horses. Not quite 2 yet, she toddles toward the pasture adjacent to our house, eagerly proclaiming, “Neigh!” the moment she catches sight of them. She asks to sit on their backs, and, once mounted, she energetically gestures directions as...
In the secluded Montana valley where I live, summer has erupted in a crescendo. It began with the echoes of geese and twitters of mountain bluebirds, which were followed closely by the thunderous calls of sandhill cranes and murmurs of croaking frogs. These days, the...
For those fortunate enough to live in the Rocky Mountains, “home” is likely resonant with the rugged alpine, deep timber, blankets of snow, crisp fresh air, sagebrush steppe, and diverse wildlife that define this special place and our experiences within it. In honor of these...
My dad taught me to look under stones. He counseled me on the different bugs that cling to the rock’s surface, as well as those that dart from beneath the disrupted rock and drift in the stream’s cloudy current. He informed my observation, pointing out...
Heavy wet snowflakes drop from the sky, making their wayward descent to the ground. Some catch on the needles of the ocher larch and evergreen spruce and pines. They accumulate where they land, fluffy blankets cloaking all that lies beneath — all season long if...
For me, the shifting leaves of fall are a regular reminder of change. In the latest days of summer, I scour tree branches for signs that Jack Frost is on his way, a vestige of youthful anticipation for the coming snow. Nature’s canvas, the forest...
Artist Kathryn Mapes Turner was born and raised on a ranch inside Grand Teton National Park. Surrounded by endless views and wildlife that was free to roam, those childhood memories serve as the inspiration behind her paintings to this day. “From early on, the landscape...
A collective calm descends each spring in the Northern Rockies. The ski resorts have closed, tourists have retreated, trails are muddy, and warm sunny days are sprinkled in between rainy or snowy ones. It’s a simmering of sorts, an in-between that allows us just enough...
When Tracy and Mike Schlauch finally decided to bring the lake home they’d been dreaming about for more than a decade to fruition, it was designed to be a retreat where meaningful memories with friends and family would be made while appreciating Montana’s beauty. “Mike...