Wapiti Wilderness

For over 37 years, Margaret and Olaus Murie made their home in the mountainous wilderness of the Tetons, where Olaus Murie conducted his famous studies of the American elk: the wapiti. Through these years their home was almost a nature-conservation shrine to thousands of Americans interested in outdoors, animals, and nature. Wapiti Wilderness, begun by Mrs. Murie as a sequel to her book Two in the Far North, which told of the Muries' life and expeditions in Alaska, became a collaborative effort by both the Muries.

In alternate chapters, Olaus tells of his work as a field biologist for the old U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey and recounts stories of his studies of not only elk but also other great animals. And Mrs. Murie, from her side, describes their life together on the trail and in the various camps and nature adventures in that wilderness during all four seasons. The book is replete with stories of Jackson Hole residents, “pioneer poets,” and the wild creatures that made their way into the Murie household. Olaus Murie's evocative pen-and-ink drawings illuminate each chapter, and four pages of photographs help complete the picture of what life was like in the wapiti wilderness.