Into the Wild

By Bruce Becker. Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led. ~ Fool’s Crow Summer in the high country. It’s a short season, two and a half months long, three and a half if you’re lucky. After a long hike up, I always hate to come down. So one summer, I didn’t. I’d planned to stay out this time before I left Aspen, where I lived. I knew I’d never pack enough food for the whole summer, so I brought only a little that I would ration out for a while.  My old standbys: rice,...

By Bruce Becker. “Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led.” ~ Fool’s Crow “The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.” I think that is the reason most people go into the woods. The anticipation of seeing something they haven’t seen before. I used to go for the challenge, the excitement, the fun. Now I go for the deep peace, the deep meditations, my medicine. I wash my mind of thought and just immerse myself in the woods. I stop myself from thinking about anything except what is...

By Bruce Becker. “Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led.” ~ Fool’s Crow Jan and I had just crept down a remote 4x4 road for an hour in eastern Utah and were now hiking into a canyon system with no trail, down a very rugged drainage. Picking our way down, I hopped off a boulder and in mid-air I saw a rattler coiled up below me. It struck as I landed, and I instantly jumped back up on the big rock I’d hopped off of and looked to see two beads of venom...

By Bruce Becker. Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led. ~ Fool’s Crow Winter camping. When I was a Boy Scout, building a snow cave seemed like a great adventure. My dad was an advisor for our troop and agreed to take myself and two other boys out on a long hike on snowshoes to a place he knew there were big, deep snowdrifts that accumulated each year.  I was 14 and had just gotten a pair of bear paw snowshoes for Christmas. Bear paws are great for maneuvering through thick brush and...

By Bruce Becker. Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led.~ Fool’s Crow Loons. Maybe my favorite waterbird. They are the epitome of wilderness for me, so primal. Loons have a maniacal call that puts the “wild” in wilderness.  Loons are built for the water. A diving duck, they’re in their element there. Incredibly fast swimmers, their feet are set far back on their bodies to propel them swiftly through the water, hunting fish. But they are ungainly on land and build their nests very close to the water. Sometimes, the nest gets flooded...

By Bruce Becker Anyone can do the things I’ve done if they’re willing to live the life I’ve led. ~ Fool’s Crow Animals are our teachers. Always have been. Right now, I’m marveling at the intelligence of coyote. I’m sitting in an ancient lookout, a small rock enclosure with a bed of sage growing in it, on the side of a mountain. I’m watching a coyote a few hundred yards below me following close behind six bull elk, one a seven-pointer. The coyote is watching and hoping for the elk to kick out a mouse as they graze their way through...