Welcome to the Wilderness Bedrock pack! My name is Cathy Schwartz and Wilderness Bedrock is a place to wander the wilds… relax, listen and perhaps dream, as words spun from true tales and woven to music, unfold in this podcast every Monday night, in the Midnight Sessions.As a Wilderness Bedrock subscriber you will receive a behind the scenes podcast pre-mail and early access to the bi-weekly podcast on the website, that will post at midnight mountain time every other Sunday. This subscription also includes 1 download per podcast of a photo image from the favorites of Wilderness Bedrock collection…and monthly bonus packs!
These wilderness stories for life’s bedrock journeys, the hard, low places in life, are compilations from my two decades of solo adventures in Grand Teton National Park A time spent wandering the wild places of Grand Teton National Park and exploring the wilderness of my own wounded soul.
I had spent many years working in various emergency medical careers. And my adventuress nature led me into everything from working as a Paramedic in the dinosaur days, when women were an exception instead of the norm, to a bit of wildland firefighting and then the autumn phase of graveyard ER admit registration. I migrated from downtown California gang warfare, Sierra Nevada mountain posts, then finally settling in the Autumn phase of life as graveyard shift ER admit clerk in Jackson, Wyoming. Jackson, was my place to work so I could play and heal, season of life. The accumulated years of exposure to so much suffering and sorrow, etched deeply and wounded both heart and soul, and lead me into my bedrock journey.
Wilderness Bedrock is the outcome of those adventures, remembrances that still sustain, renew and remind me of all the gifts of healing found in the wilderness. The picture of the wolf pack above was taken in a snow storm, sun sinking behind clouds..it is a bit blurry as they gaze across the meadow at me, which is what I cherish most about it, because of the dreamlike experience that unfolded at that moment. It is a precious momento, a reminder of a gift of grace given that day. I had been tucked high up in the pines, having a tea party,watching the wolves with binoculars as they feasted on their elk kill out in the valley below. Late in the day, they separated and each burrowed into the snow and took a nap. At sunset, snow storm blotting all from view, I packed up and headed home At the edge of the butte, I turned, a last glance back and there stood the pack in the flurry of snow and wind. Silent, watching… staring intently at me….Then… they began singing. A soft howl from one , then another joined and the song grew and echoed across the meadow. It wasn’t a hunting song..it wasn’t a threat, it was a chorus, harmony. A farewell song…a gift sung to me as I was leaving…dreamlike and comforting. The snow blew harder, they disappeared from view, the song fading as I turned slowly, a couple flicks of my skis around the butte and I was alone again. I softly imitated the howls , tunes and tones of the song on my way home. That song gift from them, that invitation to enjoy the storm, the day’s end, the peace of that moment. The connection, notes sung, joy received, echoed in my soul and from that moment, that memory engraved, I was a soul mate of that wolfpack. This is the spirit of Wilderness Bedrock Wolfpack. An adventure experienced, a memory made, a story unfolds, a heart sung invitation to gifts of grace and time to dream, Welcome to the pack!
I currently live off grid, in the Kootanai National Forest in Montana ,with my husband of all seasons, my mother, who is 88 and a rescue calico cat. We are rebuilding two old hunting cabins into the new place we call home. In this Winter season of our life, we work harder than we had envisioned and sleep better than we imagined, and are finding new dreams in yet another wilderness sanctuary.
The Wolf Pack welcome image is attached for you to download.
Thank you, from this woman, who still softly howls in the snow storms…. Cathy