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Cindy Chojnacky Manager Wilderness Need Association

Wilderness Need Association  FOUNDED:  May 25, 2018A non-profit organization registered with the State of Idaho BACKSTORY: After uncommon career journey encompassing journalism, science, Forest Service management, international and local forestry consulting, and a few vain attempts to ally with non-government … Read More

Interviews with interesting people who work for or love exploring wilderness.

The Wilderness Need Association is based on three premises We go to the wilderness because we need to go to the wilderness. We share what we see and experience—we are wilderness witnesses. We assist and talk with others who need … Read More

Return to the WILDS What if you lived your whole life in an organized, safe, bland and boring place—then one day you walked into a BRAND NEW WORLD? What if the Keeper asked you to SAVE IT? When the gates … Read More

VISION: We explore wilderness and leave good tracks for others. We advocate for good trails and information and management that values public enjoyment as well as wilderness protection. MISSION: Wilderness Need Association advocates for the neglected wilderness visitor by exploring … Read More

I have hiked Zion National Park since teen years in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our 1970s-80s trips to West Rim from Lava Point, Kolob Canyons and a snowy December slog up from Zion Canyon offered solitude; campgrounds and trails were busy … Read More

Three days after Labor Day weekend and the campgrounds and trailheads at Redfish Lake were still packed with people. But we had a plan to elude crowds in overused Sawtooth Wilderness in Central Idaho. We’d take shuttle boat across Redfish … Read More

Our 16-day loop through the Eagle Cap Wilderness in northeastern Oregon offered a week of solitude on rarely-used legacy trails, and a second week of constant company crossing popular loops on overused trails near Eagle Cap Peak. The Eagle Caps … Read More

A loop trip and two brief hikes off the beaten path in July 2018 offered waterfalls, glacial lake basins and miles of unused legacy trails in the soaring Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, just a few miles southeast of John Day, Oregon. … Read More

A dry spring sojourn in 2018 in the West did not prepare us for soggy May hiking in the East. In Arizona, we had planned trips around water; in West Virginia, we keep changing our route to avoid it! We … Read More

Hiking the Crest Trail in Chiricahua Wilderness, we once traversed halls of a great cathedral: shuffling on needle-carpet among towering forest giants: old-growth Douglas fir, white fir, ponderosa pine and even a few Engelman spruce (southern-most extension for this species). … Read More

In January 2018, we visited Mount Wrightson Wilderness—designated in 1985 with 25,260-acres of soaring peaks, deep canyons, grasslands and dozens of trails. From Cave Creek we took the Arizona Trail (AZT) south, swung up Temporal Gulch to a saddle west … Read More

The casual visitor to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument would never know 94% is wilderness. Visitors find the usual National Park Service (NPS) facilities: visitor center, campground, a few hiking trails (old mining roads near the campground) and two scenic … Read More

It was the first time we had hiking guests, and we wanted it to be perfect. My younger sister, Chris, and brother-in-law, DavidR, were active hikers and cyclists but this was their first backpack trip. Cousin Mike was an old … Read More

We were about three miles from the trailhead and about 2000 feet straight up, breaking camp on Olinger Peak in the Stone Mountain Wilderness, when we heard a mechanized hum in the distance. An ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) rolled into camp, … Read More

A mile into Little Wilson Wilderness, we were deep in wet leaves on eroded trail. Jackie Street Trailhead was well marked from the road and a nice walk through a gate, and past cattle in a green pasture. When road … Read More

Our Virginia Wilderness Project was going well. Between 2012 and mid-summer 2014, we had visited 16 of 24 wilderness areas. But other work and life caught up, and we didn’t hike for two months. In September 2014 we squeezed in … Read More

The long ridge of Potts Mountain runs for miles along or near the Virginia-West Virginia border north of Interstate-84 between Pulaski and Roanoke. Six wilderness areas on or close to Potts could offer interesting backpacking opportunity in remote country—with a … Read More

It seemed like an easy start. To launch our project to visit all Virginia wilderness, we chose a loop through the Priest and Three Ridges, mostly on the Appalachian Trail (AT) and not too far from home in Falls Church. … Read More

It was getting dark and David had lagged behind. But I was determined to find the lovely green flat and chimney remnant from Sexton cabin on Jerry’s Run Creek. Years ago my preteen daughter and I lolled on the greens … Read More