One morning in a willow swamp I carried a camera close to a bull moose. I wanted a full-screen portrait. The moose, accustomed to trespassers, calmly went on browsing, his head low. Wanting him head-up. I made a sudden forward…
Grant Hagen and I dropped in on Fred Brown at his house near Wilson, at the foot of Teton pass. We went outside and sat on the ground in the shade of the house and Fred said, “Good to have…
The froggers would arrive in the mornings, having driven from their night hunt in California’s Central Valley wetlands, bullfrog country. They’d carry wet burlap bags full of live frogs into the streetside building, talk for a while, take their pay…
One summer a new fad took over Jackson Hole’s kid population, Bottle Horse Ranching. I’m not sure, but suspect that the ranch kids started it. We townies began regular roundups to the back lots of Jackson’s three saloons, picking up…
From the Zephyr Archives… Nostalgia, from Greek nostos, a return, and algos, pain or grief. Somewhere in its long journey through languages the word, at least in American English, acquired a shift that turned pain and grief to something like…
I learned early on that I was susceptible to empty houses. The first intimation, a very young kid, wandering north-east of the town of Jackson, coming upon a small hog-notched cabin, roof fallen in, logs weather-beaten to a fine gray…
Note: This article first appeared in the February/March 2006 edition of the Zephyr. At the crest of Teton Pass there used to be a big wooden sign with a black silhouette of a big-hatted cowboy pointing east into the valley.…
(Note: this article first appeared in the June/July 2005 Zephyr) They’re still doing it, enviro outfits consulting consultants. The latest attack of this ailment is described in a column by Amanda G. Little. (1) A year ago about 20 “national”…
THEME PARKS John Colter, 1807-08 They kept track of him that winter west of the Absarokas, by day brilliant ravens avid over snow, wolves and coyotes hung around refining careful judgements, the man recognized: one of them, killers and scavengers…
This article was originally published in 2004… When Aldo Leopold saw fierce green fire in the eyes of the dying wolf his life was changing; years of living in wolf country were driving those moments, years of paying attention,…