We moved to the Yaak more than 25 years ago. Back then we were a promising young family with many hopes and dreams. We bought our first home, a repossession, and borrowed money from the bank to pay for it. Buying it was quite a lot of hoopla. In the end, it was ours and we were so excited! Our kids were little and The Yaak was a very big place. Whenever we would drive into the driveway, our little ones would shout “We’re at our Yaak”! To this day, we still like to say that when we reminisce about those first golden days here…….
We had a lot to learn about living in this magical place. We had a lot of ideas we were ready to share and had a huge amount of youthful passion and energy backing those convictions. We were about to learn a lot of lifes lessons. Sometimes I wish I could have gone to that girl and told her to slow down and enjoy the beauty all around her. She might have listened to her older self, but since I can’t go back and warn her about how quick the years fly by, you’ll have to do…. (wink)………
It didn’t take us long to find out that the repossession we’d purchased so eagerly was built by the people living next door. For them, it was their dream home and it had been taken away by the bank. This made things pretty awkward. It felt kind of as if we were tiptoeing around the yard. I’d wave and smile and sometimes they pretended not to see me even though the cabins were very close to each other. Once in a while I would dream about giving the house back to them and wonder where we’d go and how we’d pay for another one if we did. In the end, they set sail to a new adventure further north. Ours was just beginning.
My husband was really excited about being in the wild country and took off for untold hours fishing in the creeks and driving around the old logging roads. I didn’t adapt to the life quite as quickly. I was worried about cougars around every corner and bears and how to protect the children. Our ten year old started taking off himself on his own adventures with his chipmunk rifle in tow. This gave me all the more reason to be out sitting by the river praying….
One day, I decided to walk up to our mailbox with one of my husband’s pistols. I stuffed it into the elastic on my sweat pants. I stopped to talk to one of the neighbors and of course we were talking about wild animals. As I was shifting weight around, out slipped the gun, down my leg, and onto the ground with a “thud”. We both looked down. I turned beet red. I was mortified. That was my first lesson in what not to do for concealed carry.
Back in those days, The Yaak was full of people who are now legends. Some of those people stubbornly carved out their own destiny and left a legacy behind them. Some of them were just plain quirky. One thing was for sure, I’d never interacted with people like this where I came from. I’d never seen people living off grid or living such wild and unusual lives. It took me a very long time to understand this lifestyle and make it my own.
Some years later I began to understand that I could live a sedentary lifestyle on my couch and would risk just as much as living my life outdoors in the wild country. Laying around was more of a slow death, but getting out there and living life was worth the risk, because it was “really living” in way that few ever know. Once I lost the fear of the unknown, I spent many hours scouring the mountains for huckleberries, backpacking into the wilds and swimming in mountain lakes with abandon. Over time, I gathered friends who would scale mountains with me and weren’t afraid to lose themselves in the forest beyond. That took time though.
I want to tell you stories about those years, but before I can really do that, I want to tell you that if you’re lucky enough to make your home in The Yaak, then your lucky enough. Don’t take even one moment for granted. Every season has its own beauty and adventure. Every neighbor has their own story to tell. Don’t expect them to live in the same caliber of home or eat the same kind of food you’re used to and whatever you do please don’t try to change them. Just like we’re supposed to leave wild animals to live in their own habitat, neighbors who are wild enough to live here need to be respected. Give them plenty of space and don’t get mad about the lawn ornaments.
Submitted by Quiet Winter
