Solitude of Snow – Hiking Alone
True solitude comes when the snow is falling silently in the mountains of Montana. Hiking to the top of a point in the ridge above Missoula is a challenge in the knee powder of the most recent storm.
Rick Bass, the Pacific Northwest Trail, and His Yaak Delusion
In his recent opinion piece in the Missoula Independent, Rick Bass intentionally makes a series of errors, widespread smears, and outright untruths about the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) as it winds (yes, winds Rick, more on that later). Bass’s oppositional rhetoric to the PNT even disinters the ghost of famed grizzly bear researcher Chuck Jonkel […]
Hiking Lee Ridge near Lolo Pass
Hiking the little used Lee Ridge Trail 295 starting at Lolo Pass at Packer’s Meadows is faint and steep, and the views and huckleberries are sweet.
Beaver teaching Impermanence
During the course of my daily walks along the Bitterroot River, I have become accustomed, or better said comfortable, with the placement of every tree and stone. There is a sense of permanence from them, and now a beaver has gnawed away at this view. Every night for the past several weeks, it comes to the […]
Wolves: God’s Perfect Mistake?
The bumper sticker on the truck tailgate reads “Smoke a Pack a Day” with wolves in silhouette with an overlay of scope crosshairs. To the left of this disgusting affirmation of violence is a the ubiquitous Jesus fish emblem. I stood and ponder this display of opposing paradigms illustrated upon the same canvas. One decal […]
Transitions in the birding year
The first full day of spring, which in Montana means weather straight out of the ADHD mind of the godhead. Warm sun, thunder, torrential rain, freezing rain, snow, and, finally sun again, arrives with much faith and hope for the eager birder. Just as the weather is a chaotic mixture of winter and spring, the […]
Chairman Mao and the Sparrows
They started waving bright red flags, and banging pots and pans at dusk. The frantic commotion sustained for days. Terrified Eurasian Tree and House Sparrows wheeled in distraught flight overhead as they searched in vain for a place of respite. Exhaustion took hold of the little birds, and they soon littered the ground. Children and […]
Another Birding Podcast? (or How Birding Can Change the World)
“We just saw 50 Sage Grouse on the lek this morning,” I blurted out as the waitress’s eyes rolled with such force that her head jerked backward. The Bearded Bird Freak Barricade landed at her table, and boy, was she duly impressed. Well, at least, she will have a new story now about the 3 […]
The Deep Snows of Lolo Pass
Silence, absolute silence. Not even the croak of a raven breaks the stillness of this white landscape. Deep, light snow covers everything up here near 6,000 feet. Snow ghosts surround me with their bowed tops. As I step forward only the muffled “woomph” of the snowshoe results in any sound. It is so quiet that […]
The Left/Right Paradigm and How We Are To Blame For It
You are to blame for the current bipolar state of society. I am responsible for crazies that seek political office. We all created Ann Coulter (and I shutter). That’s right we have collectively created and framed our current society of simplistic black or white thinking. We have all allowed ourselves to be spoon-fed a system […]
Miraculous skies in the Big Sky
Thunderstorms Angry, dark, clouds, they fill the sky, The roar of their voices so low and loud, The rain they drop, so heavy at times, Tears are flowing, from the heavens so high, Why do I love them, I do not know, So dark, so dreary, yet mystifying at least, I watch in amazement at […]
Bitterroot (dharma) River and Montana (vajra) Sky
It is the time of day when everything becomes soft. The formerly blazing sun transforms into a warm blanket of light. Delicate mayflies swarm over the round rocks and ripples of the river. The sun continues its descent has the moon, a sliver of a crescent, dutifully follows. Kingbirds and Cedar Waxwings slice through the […]
What is the Noble Eightfold Path
Most simply put the Noble Eightfold Path is the course of actions as prescribed by the Buddha that leads to cessation of suffering and the achievement of liberation. Divisions and Factors of the Noble Eightfold Path Before we tackled the particulars of the Noble Eightfold Path, we need to have a basic understanding of the […]
Thoughts about our existence at Lee Metcalf.
Today, I read in an otherwise mundane news article that an old acquaintance of mine was killed in an avalanche near Cooke City. I have read many articles like this, but most of the time the names are not familiar, and I end up reading the news with very little care. The horrific details are all too soon […]