On our first afternoon backpacking in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, we saw a grizzly bear. We had just set up camp for the evening in a spruce grotto beside the river when people began animatedly gesturing to ascend the hill that opened up to a small meadow above camp. Upon cresting the hill, it took me

We were told that 30 yards is far too close to get to a grizzly. In Yellowstone, you need to be at least six school buses away from them. Our first day there, we got within one. On the second of July, we hiked about five miles from the Lamar Valley to our first campsite.

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

You know those certain people you meet where you cannot stop listening and nodding in agreement with? The ones where their stories are so captivating and genuine that you’re left feeling only inspired and hopeful? Well, Mike Mease, co-founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign in Montana, radiates all of that energy. He went from living