Wilderness 50

Wet landscapes and wilderness management rules have maintained paddling as the premier mode of transportation in several of the nation's wilderness areas outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The Okefenokee Wilderness is 396,000 acres of swamp-paddling paradise in the core of the 438,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge of Georgia.

Nothing takes modern big-game hunters to their roots more quickly and efficiently than a wilderness-bound pack string. Wall tents, wood stoves and saddle sores are part of a Western autumn tradition that dates back to the mountain men, although nowadays a wilderness hunt is a luxury in more ways than one. Cinching saddles before daylight, going one-on-one with a bull elk far from road-hunters and fences and packing out the meat by muscle power are tantalizing experiences for hunters who have access to horses and mules. An industry is supported by hunters willing to pay from $600 for drop-camps to more than $4,000 apiece for a weeklong outfitted and guided elk hunt in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana. Dave Waldron, who operates Western Life Outfitters based in Pomeroy, Wash., has served hunters in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. He cited pros and cons to hunting on both sides of a wilderness boundary. "A pack trip usually gets away from what you want to get away from, whether it's into wilderness or non-wilderness," he said. Waldron has been guiding in non-wilderness areas of Idaho for the past eight years, but has moved home to Washington this year to offer trips in the Blue Mountains, where he hunted even before the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness was designated in 1978. "The access is different and it's more work in the wilderness because you can't ride in on a four-wheeler or use a chain saw, and I don't mind that," he said. "Outfitting in a wilderness helps attract customers who are looking for a wilderness experience.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana is distinguished from the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness of Washington and Oregon by several factors important to elk hunters, including more elk, longer seasons and fewer restrictions. Size has something to do with it.

Rivers are the blood vessels of a wilderness area. They are the life lines that link the ecosystem and provide the arterials for fish, wildlife and adventurers alike. The Wild Rogue in Oregon, the Wenaha-Tucannon in Oregon and Washington and the (Salmon) River of No Return in Idaho are examples of wilderness areas named for streams that have carved a critical role in the region's viability and culture.