Profiles

Real stories about fascinating people across North America. 

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Profiles

Horniest Tavern in the Northwest: The Lyman

Situated upon the banks of the Skagit River, next to the North Cascades Highway, the hamlet of Lyman has for over a century been the home to a varying selection of loggers, miners, fishermen, hunters, rivermen, and other jacks-of-all-trades. One thing most of these folks have had in common is they could, at one time or another, belly up to the wooden bar at the Lyman Tavern. They unloaded their worries to barkeeps, enjoyed some good conversation with neighbors, and eyeballed the occasional traveler passing though.

This is the part of America that, too often these days, seems to be disappearing. The local watering hole that served as the social hub, the place where—before we all became interconnected—one went to connect.

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5 Min
silhouetted man paddling a canoe in a river
Profiles

Why We Must: On Diversity in the Outdoors by Eddy Harris

“It’s easy to imagine that Black Americans don’t ski, don’t fly-fish for trout, don’t camp out, don’t kayak or surf, and don’t appreciate nature – don’t do a lot of things. Somewhere along the way, the Black experience, at least in the eyes of so many people – Blacks included – became an urban phenomenon, as if living in cities precludes the desire and possibility of re-creating in the great outdoors and appreciating the natural environment.

I have done all of those activities, and then some. I fish, I camp, I hike in the woods, I hike in the mountains. I even like opera. I have canoed the length of the Mississippi River twice. If there is a reason we don’t see Blacks taking part in a lot of those activities, perhaps it has more to do with economics and exposure and less to do with the activities themselves.” – An excerpt from Why We Must, by author and storyteller Eddy L. Harris.

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5 Min
river meanders in foreground with bucolic meadow and snow capped mountains in background
Profiles

Our Stewardship Imperative: The Great American Outdoors Act

OR HUNTERS, ANGLERS AND THOSE DEDICATED TO FINDING ADVENTURE IN WILD COUNTRY, OUR PUBLIC LANDS AND WATERS ARE MORE THAN BACKDROPS FOR THE OUTDOOR TRADITIONS THAT HAVE SHAPED OUR HERITAGE; THEY’RE THE CATHEDRALS OF FELLOWSHIP IN WHICH WE GATHER WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY — PLACES WHERE WE CAN ALSO FIND SOLACE AS WE GET OUR BOOTS DIRTY AND SOULS CLEAN.

Sportsmen and women have a collective obligation to the stewardship of our natural resources and a duty to pass on this unique American legacy to the generations that follow us. Fortunately, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do just that. Right now, Congress is poised to consider the Great American Outdoors Act, H.R. 1957.

read more about this legislation and how you can do your part to protect the future of our nation’s public lands.

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5 Min
man leading two lamas up a hill by rope in a pine tree forest
Profiles

Charley’s Andean Mountain Climbers

When you first meet a llama, it can be disconcerting. Four long, lean legs merge into a barrel-like body, from which an impossibly long, lean neck protrudes, with a small head perched on top. Two banana-shaped ears stick straight up, each operating independently, like separate radar stations, continually pivoting this way and that as they take in their surroundings. All of this is covered in a shaggy fur that makes the entire creature look like a mad muppet experiment gone wrong. It can throw most people for a loop.

But after a few moments with a llama, all your uncertainties melt away. These highly social Andean mountain climbers quickly make friends with all they meet. This coupled with their sure-stepping stone grabbing hooves, long legs, and bigger bodies, make these Camelids perfect for hauling gear into the wilderness. That’s what drew Charley charley Rosenberry to them almost three decades ago.

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5 Min
hands holding an olive green colored fish above the surface of the water
Profiles

Matt Mendes of Spin the Handle: Chasing Reservation Chrome

Before Matt Mendes guided on the Deschutes River, he drove the Green Monster. It was 2002, and Mendes was 13 years old; the job was his first on the river. The Green Monster, an old Ford F350, nicknamed for its paint job, belonged to his maternal grandfather, Al Bagley, a revered fly-fishing guide and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The tribe governs the 1,019-square-mile Warm Springs Indian Reservation, located in Oregon’s high desert and bound to the east by the Deschutes, one of the country’s premier steelhead and trout destinations. In 1997, Bagley became the tribe’s first fly-fishing guide, capitalizing on its exclusive access to 22-miles of the Deschutes’s west bank, per an 1855 treaty with the United States government. The business was gangbusters from the get-go.

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5 Min
boots set on a white tool pouch next to a camouflage backpack and motorcycle
Profiles

Filson x White’s Boots: Unfailing Quality Built on Legacy

Modeled after the boots worn by USFS hotshots, Filson and white’s boots have teamed up to build a limited-edition boot: the fire hybrid. Manufactured in Spokane by white’s using our tough tin cloth, they’re a perfect pairing of two iconic pacific northwestern brands, each with over 120 years of experience constructing unfailing gear. We sat down with white’s boots president, Eric Kinney to learn more about white’s legacy of craftsmanship.

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5 Min
bottle of rancho de la luna mezcal next to two glasses of tequila cocktails
Profiles

Rancho de la Luna Mezcal: An intoxicating new jam from rock icons

Rancho de la Luna sits on a hill surrounded by the otherworldly desert landscape. The unassuming adobe home has hosted sessions with many of the true legends of rock and roll since 1993 and is the full-time residence of studio cofounder and music icon David Catching. Three decades’ worth of liquor (and stories) are soaked into the sand here, but for a bottle to bear the Rancho de la Luna name, it would need to be truly special…

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3 Min
man in a dark cowboy hat wearing a white and brown shirt
Profiles

For Clint Mortenson, Horsemanship is the Key to Happiness

If you’ve watched a Western film in the past two decades, chances are you’ve seen Clint Mortenson’s work. Mortenson made the saddlebags that Pierce Brosnan carried in Seraphim Falls, the belt worn by Woody Harrelson in No Country for Old Men, the saddle used by Tommy Lee Jones in The Missing, and the title character’s holster in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Most recently, Mortenson has been training actors to ride horses for The Harder They Fall, an all-black Western produced by Jay-Z for Netflix.

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5 Min
woman in white shirt and jeans riding a horse
Profiles

Bianca Shannon: A Life Built Around Horses

In New Mexico’s cowboy country, Bianca Shannon turns heads. She rides a one-eyed horse, her silver nose-ring glinting in the sunlight, multiple tattoos peeking out from beneath her Oxford shirtsleeves. If you ask, Shannon may expose her inner right forearm to reveal the ink she got right before she left New York City to move to Santa Fe in 2014: a wrist-to-elbow rendition of a Leonardo da Vinci horse sketch. She describes the tattoo as “a kind of yearning for what I really wanted to be doing with my life.”

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3 Min
early morning light burns through the fog adding warmth and depth to this bucolic scene outside peacham, vermont
Profiles

Longest Acres Farm: multigenerational Vermont homestead

Deep in the hills of central Vermont lies Longest Acres Farm, a 220-acre, multigenerational homestead. Delivering directly to the consumers, the homestead raises farm-to-table chicken, pork, beef, and other products sent directly to customers across the Northeast, including top chefs throughout Boston. In light of recent global events, Longest Acres Farm changed their business model from selling exclusively to restaurants to now serving families in Boston and Vermont. In April 2020, we checked in with Kate for an update on life on the homestead. This is her story.

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5 Min
man holding oars while standing in boat
Profiles

Lael Johnson – Olympic Peninsula Fly Guide

Lael Johnson is a fly fisherman and guide on the Olympic Peninsula. His passion for the anadromous fish of Washington’s coastal rivers is contagious. He loves these fish, these rivers, and the people he is lucky enough to experience them with. Filson Contributor Ben Matthews spent a few days on the river with Lael to ask a few questions about guiding, steelhead, and life in general. If you’re interested in heading out on the river with Lael yourself, check out his website and book a trip. You won’t regret it.

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5 Min
sun shining through pine boughs on the side of a river meandering through piles of river rocks
Profiles

Why the Skagit River Watershed Matters

Nothing feels small on the Skagit River. It emerges from the Cascade Mountains, the ridgelines rising suddenly and severely, compressing the landscape and framing the view with their immense, sharp mass. For much of its length, the river is wide enough that three or four drift boats could easily pass side by side with plenty of room to spare. Anglers standing in its flow could never dream of reaching the far bank with a cast. If that angler is fly fishing, then they are likely to be using a two-hand rod to throw a Skagit head, a short specialty fly line developed on its namesake river a generation earlier to deliver big flies and sinking lines to winter steelhead-holding water.

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4 Min
grizzly bear in river trying to catch fish in running water
Profiles

Return of the Icons: Grizzly Bear Reintroduction

Grizzly bears. An icon of the West. A keystone predator that can weigh up to 600 pounds. Their thick, lush fur can range from dark brown to nearly towhead blonde. They are capable of surviving the harshest of conditions, if allowed to. They once ranged from Northern Alaska to Central Mexico, but while Alaska and western British Columbia still have large numbers of bears, their southern range has shrunk dramatically to just a handful of areas in the lower 48, including the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Wyoming, western Montana, northern and eastern Idaho.

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4 Min
team of vets and forestry service personnel inspect an animal on a towel on top of a table with a breathing apparatus attached to its face
Profiles

Conservation Northwest: Keeping the Northwest Wild

For the 7.5 million residents of Washington state, most, if not all, have used or will use I-90 at some point. This interstate connects the two largest cities in the state: Seattle to the west and Spokane to the east. It also runs right through the southern end of the North Cascade mountains, home to great populations of blacktail deer, Roosevelt elk, coyotes, and black bears, among other species. As you drive east from Seattle, you might notice a bridge with no roads connected to it that spans the interstate just before you get to the city of Easton. This bridge is a wildlife crossing that will help keep these animals safe from vehicles. The bridge is there thanks to a Seattle-based organization, Conservation Northwest, and is just one of many projects this organization has helped fund, design and implement in this region.

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2 Min
rocky mountainside and snow on mount rainier amongst low lying clouds
Profiles

The Glaciers of the North Cascades

North Cascades National Park counts more than 300 glaciers along this northwestern spine of mountains—and that’s just inside the park boundaries. The North Cascades are the most glaciated place in the country outside of Alaska, but this ice-clad range has remained relatively under the radar compared to places such as Montana’s Glacier National Park or Mount Rainier in the South Cascades. The landscape here feels wilder, at the edge of things, with a mystical feel of vastness and geologic time lent by the presence of these relics from the last ice age.

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5 Min
North Cascade mountains dusted with snow rising out of pine forest
Profiles

North Cascades: Bastion of the Wild

Sitting like stone guardians just below the Canadian border, the North Cascade mountains are keepers of the wildness that once roamed unchecked across North America. Soaring high into the skies, their stony and snowy peaks seem to scrape at the clouds that pass overhead demanding tribute as they float by. Sparkling like scattered gems, glacially fed lakes brilliantly reflect the sunlight while, through deep green valleys, bright, blue-gray rivers run down to the surrounding flatlands. It is a spot where a person could quickly leave behind all of the trappings that attach themselves to our modern daily existence and transport to another existence entirely.

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4 Min
chest up view of person in scuba gear standing above water
Profiles

Zech Bennett: The Undersea Tradesman

When you meet Zech Bennett, he seems like a pretty ordinary guy. Not too tall or too short, he seems somewhat in shape but is not a chiseled gym rat. The brown hair sticking out from underneath his baseball cap is slightly askew, and his face breaks into an easy smile. He is the type of person you could share a few beers with at the bar while swapping stories about ferrying kids to events or catching up on the latest scores. It’s only when you hear what the 32-year-old Homer, Alaska, resident does for a living that you realize there is more to him than you see at first glance.

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4 Min