Counting stars
As our book tour winds down, we contemplate what comes next
Dear reader,
Last Saturday, about twenty friends, family, and fans gathered with Smoke, Donna Love and I at Fact and Fiction bookstore in downtown Missoula to travel with Smoke into the Bob Marshall Wilderness to count the stars.
From our chairs in the back of the store, it felt like we sat close to a trail on a dark, moonless night just beyond Huckleberry Pass north of Lincoln, MT. A cold mist had settled in the meadow. The soft sound of bells told us the horses and mules were happily grazing nearby. I could smell the sweet scent of vanilla rising from the tall Ponderosa Pines.
I looked around and saw smiles everywhere.
"Most people count sheep to fall asleep," Smoke said. "I counted stars."
Starting on the left, he never got farther than the fourth. After a full day of loading packs, clearing the trail, and setting up camp, he didn't need much soothing to drift off. But nothing gets a packer out of his bedroll faster than the sharp, sudden ringing of a horse's bell — coming straight toward you. In his cowboy boots and flashing white underwear, Smoke chased them back down the trail, only the stars watching. Everyone laughed.
Making a life in Wilderness, requires hard work and passion. Donna Love, children's author from Seeley Lake, shared the story of Smoke’s mule Tanglefoot, who was born with curled feet, too weak to stand on his own. Smoke’s daughters, Tammy and Vickie, spent a summer massaging and slowly straightening the feet. He grew up to be a sure-footed pack mule, carrying loads for miles through the Bob Marshall. Smoke and Donna’s new kids book, Smoke and Mules tell more true stores about Smoke’s deep love for his mules. Pick up a signed copy at Fact and Fiction in Missoula or contact Donna here to get a copy.
To me, the evening felt like a closure and a new beginning.
With the recent loss of federal funding to Humanities Montana, the next chapter of Smoke and my HUSH OF THE LAND journey has been cut short. We had looked forward to bringing our "Stories from the Bob Marshall Wilderness" to the smallest and most remote classrooms across Montana. Most visits are now on hold, waiting for funding to return. Some will happen anyway. Many others, heartbreakingly, may not.
But we won't give up. Two weeks ago for example, we visited a special science classrooms at Glacier High School in Kalispell.
Smoke, rarely nervous, asked me, "What if they don't like stories anymore?" worried that technology and screens might have replaced the power of an elder's voice in a room.
But he didn't have to worry. Once the students had tended their hatching chicken eggs, they settled in, passionately debating the value of wilderness, laughing at Smoke's story about crawling backward out of a mine, flashlight in his mouth, covered in daddy longlegs spiders.
Yesterday, a thick stack of envelopes of handwritten "Thank You" cards arrived at my house, full of gratitude for the stories we shared.
Everyone craves stories.
Our societies are built on them, told by our elders since time immemorial, on every continent of this earth. It's why Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and all the rest are so powerful. But nothing, nothing, reaches a heart like the magic of a story told by an elder around a fire.
Neither Smoke nor I could have lived the lives we did if we had given up easily.
Please email me (info@evamaggi.com) if you would like to host us in your school or classroom this fall. Every kid should have the chance to hear Smoke's stories about our last wild places.
My writing continues to be inspired by Smoke’s stories. Since HUSH OF THE LAND I've been deeply immersed, some say obsessed with two new, exciting, very different biographical book projects. Both are incredibly timely, with so much fascinating history — one set in the U.S., Montana and some in India, the other in Germany — I have a hard time not working on them. I can't wait to tell you more in the Transatlantic Cable section of this newsletter.
And one more thing — if you feel the mountains calling:
I have a few open spots available for a special horse pack trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness as part of my University of Montana Wilderness Policy and Packing class with outfitter Jack Rich of Rich's Montana Guest Ranch, June 22–26. If you're interested, email me at info@evamaggi.com. It would be wonderful to have you along.
Auf bald,
Eva
UPCOMING EVENTS
