Mountain biking promises freedom and escape, but most rides are confined to a dirt strip just wide enough for two tires. While I love the feeling of cruising fast remote singletrack, what really obsesses me is freeriding: descending an open face where the trail is...
ARCHITECTURE | KIRK MICHELS ARCHITECTS CONSTRUCTION | BLUE RIBBON BUILDERS INTERIOR DESIGN | ELEVATION ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS As an avid fly fisherman and skier, a homeowner found his home away from home in Big Sky, Montana. He spent a lot of his free time in Big Sky and...
Circling: following a lake’s perimeter and adhering closely to the shoreline while tracing the curve of bays and the tips of promontories. This way of kayaking a large body of water captivates me. Circling something truly marvelous and ending back where I started has answered...
Amy Lay is a full-time artist. Her work appears in galleries across the country, from Manchester, Vermont to Whitefish, Montana. But she’s also a full-time homesteader — the fourth generation to run her family’s ranch in Oregon. “This property and this lifestyle, they’re responsibilities that...
As a young boy, Samuel Singer spent a lot of time looking up at the night sky with his dad near their home in northern Nevada’s high desert. They had relocated from a more urban environment, and the young Singer was captivated by the night...
For a few fleeting months, the Northern Rockies are graced with brilliant summer sunshine. Clouds billow and sweep across an endless blue horizon that is, in many places, striated with the purples, blues, and greens of the mountains. It is during this season that many people...
Mid lake, I rest the oars across the hull to watch a father in his yard pushing the son on a swing — each dependent on the others’ motion, a metronome of affection. I allow myself to drift in front of another yard — each a...
Marty Bannon is perpetually in a hurry. He’s eager to get his words out, his work accomplished, and his point across. His nickname “Race” describes his personality as well as his background as a pilot, runner, and long-distance hiker. Now “retired,” Bannon has a new...
Thundering hooves, clouds of dust, whipping manes and tails, and breathtaking skill — Indian relay is one of the earliest extreme sports. Born from Great Plains tribal traditions, these relays test courage, athleticism, teamwork, and horsemanship. From the stands, Indigenous spectators speak a variety of...
From 1920 to 1943, hundreds of children experienced the sights and backwoods of Yellowstone National Park from a saddle. The excursions were organized by Valley Ranch, a popular dude ranch east of the park in Wyoming. Intended to provide access to many attractions around Yellowstone,...