By Gary Ferguson

Hawk’s Rest is a primitive Forest Service guard station located in one of the wildest places in the continental US, at the southeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park. The cabin was the summer home for Montana naturalist and writer Gary Ferguson and his friend LeVoy Tolbert in 2002.

To cite only one example from the text, Ferguson not only shows us the elk herds as they move through the meadows and along the mountain trails and as they encounter the gauntlet of wolves at their flanks, but he also explains the complex ecological relationships of the hunter/hunted. Ferguson shows why the wolves, who found no weakened members in that herd, leave the area so quickly when challenged by the bull elk.

In addition to his poetic renderings of the animals, plants, and mountains, Ferguson includes the cast of crazy characters who visit the cabin that summer. There’s Lone Eagle Woman, who has spent 20 summers in that wild land simply living with the bears and other creatures. With the introduction of Yellowstone ranger Bob “Action” Jackson, we glimpse the on-going battle to contain poaching and the reckless “cowboy ways” of the hunting guides.

This book is a great read, a naturalist’s joyful ode to the beauty of that incredible wild land and an adventurer’s story suitable for retelling around a campfire.

Hawk’s Rest is available through the Moscow Public Library (on interlibrary loan) and at BookPeople in Moscow.

Bill London edits this newsletter and, since he has read four or five of Ferguson’s books to date, must be a real fan of Ferguson.