![]() I have even retraced my steps of those first fifty mile hikes with my own family. ![]() Now, thirty years later I spend the majority of my "Wilderness" time in the Sawtooth Wilderness, with the occasional return to the Frank. However, I made that same trip two years later and I realized then the value of wide open spaces where man is just a visitor. And after over fifty miles of slogging with an overloaded pack and boots that were too big, I never wanted to again. I didn't even know what "wilderness" was, I had never experienced any thing like that. Growing up I had visited the mountains of Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, and that was fine and all, but my first real taste of wild land far away from any machine, let alone anything that remotely resembled civilization was as a Boy Scout on a long hike, out in the Frank. You see, for me, I am young enough in my early forties to say that designated wilderness has always existed, at least from my perspective. And to be quite honest, I have drawn a blank. I've been contemplating the concept of wilderness since I was asked to write a short essay about the subject. Where the iPhone does not work and the internet does not intrude. I know that I am not alone in this need to escape the modern world and stumble around in wilderness. It repressed that primal need to wander in wild places full of crags, snowbanks that give life to mighty rivers, alpine lakes, wild animals and roadless landscapes where it is possible to feel completely alone and very free. At times in life I found myself far from wilderness where fences and "Keep Out" signs dominate the landscape. It all started with my selfish want of a special boat for floating the Middle Fork of the Salmon. This love of wilderness ultimately helped shape every aspect of my life, including my business designing and marketing river boats. He was on his way to report for guide duty on the Middle Fork of the Salmon river in the heart of the Frank Church Wilderness. Recently my son Conner and I shared an early summer ski trek to the top of Alpine Peak in the Sawtooth Wilderness. They both spend their college summer breaks as whitewater guides on the wild rivers of Idaho. I have passed this love of wild places on to my own kids. The call of wilderness haunts me and I must answer. His passion for wilderness never ended and it shaped me. Wild places drew him west at a young age from his home near Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. That old home-made pack hangs on the wall in our living room to this day. The place was on the South Fork of the Flathead River where he was a guide and outfitter in a vast wild area now known as the Bob Marshall Wilderness. ![]() I appear in a hand-sewn pack that was roped on to a standard issue Army Pack Board. The film is narrated by motion picture/television actor Peter Coyote in High Definition Television with 5.1 Surround Sound.My first connection with wilderness is documented by an old black and white photograph of my father toting me along on his back while fishing. The film reveals insights into his life by interviews with his famous students, contemporaries, and family. This one-hour documentary paints a portrait of the West that Wallace Stegner so loved. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was a student. Wallace Stegner mentored a generation’s greatest writers including Ken Kesey, Edward Abbey, and Larry McMurtry. ![]() His books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Angle of Repose" and "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian." His "The Wilderness Letter" became the conscience of the conservation movement. He became one of America’s greatest writers. Wallace Stegner was an acclaimed writer, conservationist, and teacher. Wallace Stegner, a biographical film portrait, celebrates the 2009 centennial of his birth. In conjunction with the University of Utah, KUED is honoring alumni Wallace Stegner - the “Dean” of western writers. Producer John Howe has captured the tremendous influence Stegner has been on the lives of generations of readers and students. Considered by many to be the "Dean" of western writers, he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and non-fiction author, with more than 30 full-length works and countless essays addressing the landscape, humankind's footprint and the evolution of a region and nation. He was many things: teacher, historian and environmentalist but, above all, Wallace Stegner was a writer. This film is a portrait of the conservationist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner. Wallace Stegner Original Airdate | July 2013
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