Less than two weeks ago, my hiking boots were mostly clean and I fell asleep listening to the sounds of the ocean. I was at home in Southern California, where I often drive straight from college to go camping with my parents and my brother at the nearby state beach that we’ve been visiting since

Arriving in Montana for the first time from my hometown, north of Toronto Canada, I wasn’t sure what to expect. To be totally transparent I was equal parts excited and nervous to start the Conservation Across Boundaries course… definitely more nervous. I wasn’t sure what conservation issues would look like. Would they be similar or

I was up early. It was a cold morning at our camp in a high elevation meadow in the Snowcrest Mountains of Southwestern Montana. I greeted our ever-cheerful instructor Steve and got straight to boiling water for everyone’s breakfast. It was my first time as Leader of the Day, and as I attempted to not

While backpacking during the first few weeks of my 2021 Conservation Across Boundaries course, my biggest internal debate was whether to look up or down. If I look up, I appreciate and take in the unbelievable views, but no more than three seconds later, I find myself tripping over a rock or a deep imprint

As we approached 9000 feet on the third day of our first backpacking trip, we entered a new ecosystem unknown to our group. Forests dominated by spruce and firs ceded into another forest dweller—the whitebark pine (pinus albicaulis). Only found within high-elevation environments, this tree is remarkable in every sense. Witnessing impacts to the species

On WRFI’s 2021 Conservation Across Boundaries course, our first section of backcountry travel started in the Snowcrest Mountains of southwest Montana. Our trip started by following the East Fork of Blacktail Creek and very quickly we started our ascent into the lodgepole forest where we would travel for the next seven days. Within our first