Working the Wilderness

John Clayton and Monte Dolack

Essay by John Clayton; Art: “Beartooth East Rosebud”, by Monte Dolack; Article originally published in High Desert Journal, April 2017; I came for the scenery. I signed up as a trail maintenance volunteer in the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness north of Yellowstone National Park because it gave me five days among blooming wildflowers, burbling streams, and evergreens swaying gently in the wind. … Read More

Three Fires

Traute Parrie

Excerpt: July 3, 1994 We marched up the dry ridge in the 104 degree heat, with pulaskis in hand, excavating the burned stumps and flaming logs, to extinguish the last of the heat. Gloves off. Test the heat of the stump hole with the sensitive back of your hand. Ash floats up around me with every step. Kirsten stops, her … Read More