01 Jun Grandeur of this Land
The quest for supernatural revelations or visions in wilderness environments has been chronicled in a variety of cultural contexts. One of the oldest expressions of human spirituality, this religious tradition was embraced in North America, particularly among Central and Northern Plains peoples, and especially in...
01 Jun The Sound of an Old Forest
Master Luthier Kevin Kopp came to us through the best journalist working in America, Richard “Dick” Manning. Manning, writing about music while learning to play the guitar, approaches it the way he approaches everything: with an inexhaustible curiosity and intelligence — two qualities often inextricably...
12 Apr Innovative Design in Big Sky, Montana
Architecture E. Cobb Architects Construction Teton Heritage Builders Landscape Architecture Alchemie Emerging from an alpine slope at almost 8,600 feet in the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, the home dubbed “Outcrop +8,567” is an architectural event. Named to reference its elevation on the mountain,...
02 Feb Where Grayling Thrive
With a nearly imperceptible disturbance of the water’s surface, the fly disappeared. I quickly and firmly — but without too much force — lifted my rod upward with one hand, while pulling in some line with the other. The line went taut and I could...
02 Feb Round Up: Traveling the World with Hemingway
“You could ride in the morning, or sit in front of the cabin, lazy in the sun, and look across the valley where the hay was cut so the meadows were cropped brown and smooth to the line of quaking aspens along the river, now...
28 Sep Local Knowledge: Conscience of the Yellowstone
The possessive apostrophe in Parks’ Fly Shop is intentional, differentiating the Yellowstone gateway business from the national park that’s a long cast to the south. But the punctuation also serves to express ownership, of both the idea of fly fishing as a necessary human experience...
28 Sep Montana’s Wild Yaak River Country
Remember, raise your hoods at night so packrats don’t build nests in your engines!” The campground host’s admonition seemed slightly odd, but she walked on, continuing her evening rounds. My partner Mary and I looked at each other, baffled. My bemused, stubborn, initial reaction: “No...
28 Sep The Sawtooth Mountains
For connoisseurs of rugged, alpine landscapes, the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho are unquestionably the crown jewel of the Gem State. Michael Lanza, a regular contributor to Backpacker, astutely observes that the region’s numerous “10,000-foot peaks, [which] form a Sierra-quality skyline, [and] an eastern escarpment...