83
w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
B
ACK IN MARCH I WAS CONTACTED
BY WILDMT AND ASKED IF I WOULD
CONSIDER BECOMING A VOLUN-
TEER WILDERNESS RANGER FOR THE TAY-
LOR-HILGARD UNIT OF THE LEE METCALF
WILDERNESS, WHICH COVERS 141,000 ACRES
OF SOME OF THE ROUGHEST TERRAIN IN
SOUTHWEST MONTANA. There would be no
pay. It would be a solo endeavor, and I would
be entering an area with one of the highest
concentrations of bears in the state.
It didn't take me long to consider the posi-
tion. Keeping wilderness areas wild drives
me to take on roles such as this. Friends and
family did not understand why I would go
hiking into an area with the highest concen-
tration of bears in Montana, solo, for no pay.
I started to question the decision myself and
almost called WildMT to say forget it. But I
couldn't shake the pull to explore this remote
area, even though the prospect genuinely in-
timidated me.
As I was scanning maps and talking to Antho-
ny Streams of the Forest Service in Ennis on
my first day, he looked at me sternly and said,
"I don't say this to scare you, but see these
scars on my arms?" He showed me huge scars
running down his forearms. I nodded and
he continued: "They are from a sow grizzly
that had cubs in about the same area you are
heading into today, so carry two bear spray
canisters this season."
words and photography by HALLIE ZOLYNSKI
A Summer in
e Taylor-Hilgard
