Book Review: Hawks Rest

Gary Ferguson has written some great books. The Yellowstone Wolves: the First Year tells about the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park. Shouting at the Sky: Troubled Teens and the Promise of the Wild tells of his summer in the backcountry with a group of urban teens in trouble. The World's Great Nature Myths explores how nature influences the mythologies of virtually every culture.

We met for breakfast last month to discuss his latest book, Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote Heart of Yellowstone. We selected a table at the Regis, a lovely restaurant a few blocks off the main drag in Red Lodge, where Gary and his wife are both partners. He has had some successful books, but nothing like Hawks Rest.

Montana is a crossover state for regional booksellers, claimed by two different associations, Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA). Hawks Rest was submitted to both associations for consideration in their annual awards and won them both this year, a feat never before accomplished with a nonfiction book. These awards were very important to Gary, as they came from independent bookstores that "hand-sell" their favorite books.

As we sipped our tea and waited for our omelets, I asked Gary what drove him to spend 11 weeks in the most remote location in the lower 48 states and write a book about it. "It was the solitude that appealed to me early on," he replied. A logical answer for a retired Forest Service ranger. There's not a lot of solitude left in the world anymore, and the introspection it brings often teaches you more about yourself than it does about your surroundings. "My readers and I are fishing for the same truths," Gary continued. His experiences may be solitary, but writing about them is an act of community.

Hawks Rest is certainly a book about shared experience. Gary's descriptions are vivid and detailed, with his background as a naturalist showing through. He takes you through the initial 140 mile walk from his home in Red Lodge to the remote Thorofare country just southeast of Yellowstone National Park. As a reader, you experience with him all of the encounters he had that summer--both with people and with animals.

"There's a lot more Gary Ferguson in this book than your previous works," I told him. "I see more of your opinions and feelings shining through." That brought a chuckle. In most of his prior work, he was an observer, and sometimes a participant, in the events that shaped the book. In Hawks Rest, his journey is the book. His opinions didn't always make him popular. While Gary has the ability to take a fair look at both sides of an issue (something he did particularly well in Yellowstone Wolves), his blunt talk about unscrupulous outfitters and the politics of wilderness management leaves no doubt about his feelings.

Gary was surprised by the number of visitors he received at Hawks Rest that summer. Hundreds of them. The vast majority were on horseback. I asked him why he thought that was. "There's been a change in our culture," he told me, "and we have a growing reluctance to be uncomfortable." People don't want to get sore feet walking twenty miles in a day. We don't want to deal with mosquitoes and sleep on rocky ground.

"There are lots of places I'll go in the saddle that I wouldn't want to hike," I agreed. He was quick to point out that he doesn't have anything against horses. Without pack animals, he wouldn't have been able to take three months of supplies with him, not to mention everything he needed to fix up the old Forest Service cabin he stayed in. His preference, though, was to walk in and have someone meet him there with the pack train. Being uncomfortable doesn't seem to bother Gary, although you'd never guess that as we relax at the Regis with our meal.

Hawks Rest was written in 21 weeks. That's a phenomenally tight deadline, and it meant Gary had to do most of the writing on location, rather than take notes and write later. It gives his writing a sense of immediacy, of being there with him. It also made Hawks Rest a favorite book for me, and for a lot of others like me.

As we polished off the last of our breakfast, I asked about his next book, Great Divide. It's a sweeping story of how the Rocky Mountain region affected the development of our country, and it's due out this summer. I'm sure the rest of his readers are waiting for it as anxiously as I am.