Western Perspective

[westper]

“This spectacular horizon offers so much depth. Everyone will see a sunset from a different perspective, but they all see the beauty that Earth offers.”

-Pat Schallert, Kalama, Washington

This photo is taken at Willard Bay, Utah, historically the northeast-most arm of the Great Salt Lake. In 1964 the bay was separated from the Great Salt Lake using a 36-foot-tall, 14.5 mile-long dam. The bay was then dewatered and refilled using fresh water from the Weber River. Schallert and her husband were camped at Willard Bay as part of a round-the-West road trip.

For more photos and quotes about the western U.S. visit westernperspective.com.

[westper]

“This is where I want to be. It’s where I was born and raised. I love it so much. It’s hard to put into words, but it's hard to beat Central Idaho. There’s so many mountains close by and variety, too: desert, rivers, plains, lava flows. And then you’ve got all this. It’s darn nice.”

-Sam Parker, Hailey, Idaho

Parker is pictured in the heart of central Idaho near Stanley during a recent whitewater kayaking trip. He was born, raised and lives in Hailey, about 70 miles south.

[westper]

“The appeal of ice climbing is the adventure. It’s another way to interact with nature in a more intimate, closer kind of way. It’s also just kind of fun and wild. It’s like your our own little bad-ass thing that you do.”

-Kyle Goupil, Salt Lake City, Utah

Goupil (climbing) and his friend are pictured in Ousel Falls Park along the South Fork of the West Fork of the Gallatin River near Big Sky, Montana.

[westper]

“I’ve been going through a lot of changes recently: divorced last year. It took until the end of the year to get things settled, and I felt really drawn to get on the road, so I’ve been traveling a lot recently: Thailand, Mexico, Red Rocks and here. Just going through these beautiful places with amazing people and experiencing a different pace of life where you forget what day it is. You have this pace where you spend the morning talking with people about where you’re going to go, and then you go experience these amazing landscapes together. Interacting with those dramatic cliffs and experiencing nature first-hand can be really intense. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve had really dramatic experiences where the landscape and nature show me how powerful they are.”

-Sean Hess, Salt Lake City, Utah (pictured near Navajo Rocks outside Moab)

(Hess further explained that he'd recently been climbing at Indian Creek south of Moab and took a lead fall during which his protection pulled from the cliff and he landed on the ground. "When something like that happens, you’re really close to something more serious," he said. "You have to remember you’re in a place that demands respect. When you’ve been doing a sport long enough, you can forget that you’re on a cliff, and it’s rough terrain.”)

[westper]

[westper]

“Tying flies is one thing, but fishing—casting, skittering, diving—that’s where it’s at. When we teach kids how to fish, we like to teach the big O. Observation. You can’t fly fish without looking around and observing what kinds of bugs are around.” -Mark Borvatz, Salt Lake City, Utah

[westper]

"Westerners are outdoors focused and all-American: pride. They keep their flag out, the Pledge of Allegiance. They know their history. You go to the fair, and they make you stop and say the Pledge of Allegiance. That's great. They don't do that anywhere, anywhere." -Kate Parisien, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

[westper]

"I like the land. I've lived here off and on for 23 years. I've lived in 19 other states. I always end up back here. I guess you could say I like the seasons." -Ron Thompson, Ontario, Oregon

[westper]

"It just blew me away when I moved to Idaho, especially having moved from California, that you could just stop your car, get out and hike the mountain." -Kathleeen Fahey, Boise, Idaho

[westper]

"That's the thing about it. People (in the West) will take you at face value and accept you for who you are. When someone's in trouble, everyone around here pitches in to help." -Ed Lowder, Marsing, Idaho

[westper]

"My organization is called the Clockwerkers. We're locally based here in Boise. What we're about is random and anonymous acts of kindness. Our current project is Operation Helping Hand where we're literally trying to lend a hand. We're trying to raise money for a prosthetic limb for a teen here in Idaho.  "I grew up and never really saw others helping people without getting attention back. They want, or at least get, reputation or fame from it. We just want to help out." -Anonymous do-gooder, Boise, Idaho

[westper]

"It's a small town thing. You get to know a lot more people in a small town. There's more community, but more conflict, too, because everyone knows each other. I've never lived in a big city, and I don't want to, ever." -Jerry Ackerman, Ontario, Oregon

[westper]

“I've always put my lifestyle ahead of a job. I want to try to be as happy and fulfilled as possible, both with my career and life. Being a teacher affords lots of fulfillment, opportunity to have the lifestyle I desire and am able to pay my bills at the end of the month. Will I ever make a lot of money? No. As with all things in life, one needs to find balance. Whether you are talking about eating habits, exercise or money, you need to find your balance. I've never understood people who are willing to move to Nebraska or Mississippi for a job. To me, relatively no amount of money is worth giving up the things that I love.” -Andrew Post, Denver, Colorado (photographed near Crested Butte, Colorado) Footnote: After living his whole life in and around the landscape he loved, Andy died suddenly and unexpectedly in June 2008. He was 33. He is quoted here from an email sent just months before he passed.

[westper]

A tried and true westerner declines to be labeled

A life-long westerner, Drew S. declines the label.

Wearing a beard on his chin and running shorts over his black long underwear, he sat nonchalantly at a table among the eclectic decorations at the Jolts and Juice Company coffee bar in Ontario, Oregon.…

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[westper]

"Snowmobiling, motorcycles, camping--I do all that stuff. I have a guy from New York in my (Army Reserve) unit, and he does all that, too. So what sets the West apart? The people. It's waking up, saying hello to your neighbor and putting on some hiking shoes and going hiking. Westerners are definitely a lot more slow paced and relaxed." -Chelsea Wolfe, Meridian, Idaho

[westper]

"I've lived in the West for 74 years. I've lived in Sandpoint 42 years. I've never lived anywhere else. Living outside the city is a benefit for westerners, and most of us who regard ourselves as westerners live outside the city. I don't know anything else." -Bob Simmons, Sandpoint, Idaho

[westper]

"I wrote a book about how poetry connects us to the natural world. A poet crafts language that, if successful, inspires, startles, or coaxes us into knowing the world with revivified senses. Growing up in the West and being fortunate enough to have experienced many of its wildlands, I experience a good poem in as physical a way as I do when climbing a rock or paddling a rapid. Word and world both have palpable textures that heighten perception." -Scott Knickerbocker, Boise, Idaho (Scott is author of 'Ecopoetics', a text that examines how poems connect us with the natural world. Scott also plays banjo, fiddle, and guitar in the old-time string band Hokum Hi-Flyers.)