Page 61 - Flathead Living Fall 2014

the 1970s, Montana has experienced a decades-long wilderness drought. The last designation was the 259,000-acre lee Metcalf Wilderness in 1983. The politi- cal and ideological battles that have pre- vented further expansion show no signs of letting up. hundreds of thousands more acres are believed to qualify for wilder- ness designation in Montana alone, and tens of millions nationwide. Advocates stress that there’s a lot more work to be
accomplished.
Those inevitable policy debates will
determine how much more does get done. That’s on the horizon. But while this year’s anniversary is an opportunity to discuss the future, it’s perhaps foremost an occa- sion to look back at the last 50 years, espe- cially at the forward-thinking pioneers who ushered wilderness from its infancy as a well-meaning concept to its imple- mentation as a far-reaching law. FL
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downward-facing slope. Day two wasn’t going much better than day one.
Mohler freed Ben from the saddle, tied him up 50 feet away, and disassembled the pack containing all of her supplies so she could move everything piecemeal to a flatter area, where she then reassembled the pack to put back on Ben. That was another hour-and-a-half.
Looking back, Mohler says those rough early patches were actually blessings.
“It was frustrating, but I was able to
successfully deal with them on my own,” she said. “When you’re out there, you don’t have anyone else to turn to. You just have to problem solve and do it. You can either just stay there or fix it and move on. It felt good to figure it out and move on.”
And she kept moving on for the next seven days, completing a 94-mile hike through one of the most remarkable wil- dernesses in the country. In the nine days between departing Silvertip trailhead and arriving at Benchmark trailhead, she would hike past fields of waist-high beargrass and the famed China Wall. She would eat dehydrated meals and find unexpected comfort in hot Jell-O. She would have the most amazing journey of her life, and she would document it all in photos.
“I would recommend it,” she said. “It’s epic, but it’s doable. As long as you’re pre- pared, it’s really just hiking in the woods.” FL
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