Jumping Into the Wild
by Kathleen Meyer
April 2011
Last September, our wild-country world sadly lost a great friend, James “Walkin’ Jim” Stoltz.
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In launching my blog, focused in large part on safekeeping wild country, a tribute to Walking’ Jim, long-distance hiker extraordinaire, song writer, troubadour, showman, and conveyor of mountain of joy, wisdom, inspiration, and that seldom found sweet old goodness, seems altogether fitting. He, and all he stood for, will remain with us forever. You, too, can get to know him through his phenomenal lyrics and voice (meaning, not only the great baritone resonance of his vocal chords but the strength of the words he put behind protection of wild habitats and wild critters and speaking for all sorts of brothers and sisters without voice) . . . as well as through his magnificent outdoor photography; his journal entries; his award-winning children’s video “Come Walk With Me”; and his amazing bio—all at www.walkinjim.com.

Several months before Walkin’ Jim’s body succumbed to an aggressive cancer, he granted me a brainstorming session for publication—specifically, on
Giardia in the high country. Giardia is a subject we’d all rather not address because it brings up humping along filters, pumps, tablets, crystals, whatever, on our forays back to Nature and Simplicity. What irony! It’s only natural then that serious off-the-grid hikers—purists, minimalists, go-lighters—would grow thrilled at the slightest prospect of drinking straight from clear, sparkling headwaters and remaining Giardia-free. I had come to suspect, however, that by the time these enthusiastic reports filtered back to me they had probably picked up a bit of campaign spin, and I was of a mind to sort it out. If the general incidence of backcountry Giardia was being overblown, we would all want to know. Thus it was that I sought out Walkin’ Jim. With his having planted one foot after the other along 27,000 miles of wilderness, he was surely the person to ask. Thus, the high points of his philosophy on “treating/not treating” backcountry surface water are included in the third edition of How to Shit in the Woods.

But for the time being, hold your cogitations on
Giardia. And let’s bask together in warm memories of Walkin’ Jim’s voice, persona, and spirit.
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Jumping Into the Wild
by Kathleen Meyer
April 2011
Last September, our wild-country world sadly lost a great friend, James “Walkin’ Jim” Stoltz.
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In launching my blog, focused in large part on safekeeping wild country, a tribute to Walking’ Jim, long-distance hiker extraordinaire, song writer, troubadour, showman, and conveyor of mountain of joy, wisdom, inspiration, and that seldom found sweet old goodness, seems altogether fitting. He, and all he stood for, will remain with us forever. You, too, can get to know him through his phenomenal lyrics and voice (meaning, not only the great baritone resonance of his vocal chords but the strength of the words he put behind protection of wild habitats and wild critters and speaking for all sorts of brothers and sisters without voice) . . . as well as through his magnificent outdoor photography; his journal entries; his award-winning children’s video “Come Walk With Me”; and his amazing bio—all at www.walkinjim.com.

Several months before Walkin’ Jim’s body succumbed to an aggressive cancer, he granted me a brainstorming session for publication—specifically, on
Giardia in the high country. Giardia is a subject we’d all rather not address because it brings up humping along filters, pumps, tablets, crystals, whatever, on our forays back to Nature and Simplicity. What irony! It’s only natural then that serious off-the-grid hikers—purists, minimalists, go-lighters—would grow thrilled at the slightest prospect of drinking straight from clear, sparkling headwaters and remaining Giardia-free. I had come to suspect, however, that by the time these enthusiastic reports filtered back to me they had probably picked up a bit of campaign spin, and I was of a mind to sort it out. If the general incidence of backcountry Giardia was being overblown, we would all want to know. Thus it was that I sought out Walkin’ Jim. With his having planted one foot after the other along 27,000 miles of wilderness, he was surely the person to ask. Thus, the high points of his philosophy on “treating/not treating” backcountry surface water are included in the third edition of How to Shit in the Woods.

But for the time being, hold your cogitations on
Giardia. And let’s bask together in warm memories of Walkin’ Jim’s voice, persona, and spirit.
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© 2011 by Author Kathleen Meyer  •  All Rights Reserved 
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© 2011 by Author Kathleen Meyer  •  All Rights Reserved 
Web site design by
RapidRiver.us