“Jessie manages her family’s guest ranch and outfitting business in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. She guides pack trips for fly fishermen, rock climbers, backpackers, yogis and big game hunters, both archery and rifle. At 9,200 feet with no electricity, cell service or internet, the Diamond 4 Ranch is Wyoming’s highest elevation guest ranch. Jessie’s parents started the business 45 years ago, and now she’s taking it over. Jessie is also a NOLS instructor, yoga teacher and former Miss Wyoming. Her aim as a wilderness guide is to help folks embrace untethered, screen-free life, challenge themselves in healthy ways and deepen their connection with the land.”
“Jessie manages her family’s guest ranch and outfitting business in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. She guides pack trips for fly fishermen, rock climbers, backpackers, yogis and big game hunters, both archery and rifle. At 9,200 feet with no electricity, cell service or internet, the Diamond 4 Ranch is Wyoming’s highest elevation guest ranch. Jessie’s parents started the business 45 years ago, and now she’s taking it over. Jessie is also a NOLS instructor, yoga teacher and former Miss Wyoming. Her aim as a wilderness guide is to help folks embrace untethered, screen-free life, challenge themselves in healthy ways and deepen their connection with the land.”
Gathering around a campfire, fifteen women join for dinner. We spent the day riding horses to a secluded, high-alpine lake where we practiced yoga, fly fished and hiked to a glacier. Now we’re back at camp, filling our dinner plates and watching the horses graze in the meadow at sunset. It is mid-July, and I’m leading a week-long women’s wellness pack trip. For dinner we have elk tenderloin, quinoa salad and veggie stir-fry. I take a moment to tell the story of our food. The veggies were raised in the ranch garden, and our meat is from an elk harvested last October. The hunter was a man from the Midwest, and I was his guide. Hunting might seem like an uncomfortable topic to discuss on a yoga retreat, but as a lifelong outdoorswoman who is both a yoga teacher and a hunting guide, I aim to bridge that gap. The story I’m about to share is a way to give thanks, to practice remembrance and honor the process of food retrieval from the wild places of Wyoming. This story also lends itself as an example of a young female hunting guide who has found the balance of grit and grace while guiding men twice her age on wilderness big game hunts.