The Journey to Two Wolf Foundation WST-002

Over the next few days, I will be looking back on my experiences as I traveled from Missouri to Montana to film and document a veteran organization as they partook in a five day overland stewardship mission.

Embarking on what would quickly become an unforgettable journey, I traversed the various landscapes of the country, from the familiar landscapes of Missouri to the wild, untamed beauty of Montana's Bitterroot Valley. This was a journey of not just miles, but perspectives, as I found myself on a three-day road trip through rolling prairies, towering mountains, and epic wilderness.

My purpose? To document the work of Two Wolf Foundation's Warrior Stewardship Team - 002, which would take place throughout Western Montana and into the Kootenai National Forest. This series of posts is a tribute to that journey; an exploration, a reflection, a tale of collective endeavor, brotherhood, and land stewardship.

On May 31st I left my house in Central Missouri to begin my twenty four hour drive to the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. I planned on spreading the twenty four hour drive out into three days, something I usually don't do. I have been known to rush through drives and shoot for fifteen plus hour days on big movements. However I wanted to be able to take in more on this trip, so my goal was simply to make it to North Platte Nebraska on day one of the drive.

I arrived in North Platte around dinner time, where I was on a mission to find a bridge that went over the Platte River. We had stopped at this bridge with my father on a cross country journey from California to Massachusetts over twenty years ago. It was a nice trip down memory lane as I watched hundreds of Cliff Swallows fly out from their mud nests that are built into the bridge. After this I checked into my hotel for the night and quickly fell asleep.

June 1st was the start of the true excitement as the landscape slowly started shifting from agriculture farm land to high plains and eventually to where I consider to be most at home, the mountains. My journey brought me past Chimney Rock in Nebraska, Hells Half Acre in Wyoming, and then finally to the incredible Tetons. Experiencing the Tetons for the first time was something I can't even put into words.

If I am being honest, I shed a few tears when the mountain range first revealed itself to me. My goal was to make it to an overlook that I have had pinned for years, I knew that the sun would set behind the mountains and as long as the rain clouds continued to break up, I may witness an incredible sunset.

After arriving to the overlook, a few other vehicles pulled in and were setting up camp. At the time, I wasn't sure if I would be setting up camp, or trying to cover more ground and find another hotel. I ended up chatting with a few of the people that were calling the area home for the night, and ended up taking a photo of one of the couples. I gave them my number and told them to text me later on so I could shoot them the photos.

After the sun had settled behind the mountains, I decided I would get back on the road for another hour or so and make my push into Idaho. I found a quant little town, and stayed in an affordable but nice mountain hotel.

June 2nd would be my shortest drive and my final push into the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. This days drive would have the most vast shifts in landscapes, from incredibly curvy roads through mountain passes, to what may be the longest straightest road I have ever driven on, the change in landscape always kept my eyes peeled to the surroundings. Around noon, I made my final push over a mountain pass that splits Idaho and Montana before coming down into the Bitterroot Valley.

With just a short drive remaining, I contacted Brian the Executive Director and Founder of the Two Wolf Foundation to get the game plan. We met up at a local farm supply store before I followed him back to his place to drop my truck off. After dropping my truck and camera gear off at his house, we headed into town to run some errands in preparation of WST-002 which was set to kickoff on June 4th. For the rest of the day we spent time with his family and headed off into the mountains to take in some of the areas beauty.

June 3rd was what probably would be considered day 0 of the program. We picked up the first team member from the airport, Justin. Justin served with Brian in the 5th Special Forces Group and they have remained very close friends since. After picking him up from the airport it was a little bit of game time before we got to hang out and play for a little bit. We needed to head to the grocery store and get seventy percent of the food that the team would need over the course of the next week. After our grocery store trip and betting on what the total may be, we were back off to Brian's house where we would back up the vehicles and trailer for the next days kickoff adventure.

After finishing the majority of the packing up, we ordered some Dominoes pizza and decided to drive off into the mountains and enjoy it out in the woods. While only a short drive from his house, it felt like we were hours away from civilization. We shared stories, casted a few lines, shot some content, and eventually made our way back to Brians house to enjoy one last evening of sleeping in a bed before the big journey north.

Next in the series will be covering each WST-002 day.