Living in the mountainous west of Wyoming it is hard to look out any window and not see the vast wildness that, while now more tame, surrounds us. Some places, some valleys, some mountains that appear untouched it is easy to imagine a mountain man checking his traps while he makes his living off the land. In fact, in September, even today it is hard to forget that such men existed as there are reenactments and recreations of the time, traditions and ideals that set the stage for these adventurers abound through my little corner of the world. The mountain man took his life in his hands, he set himself to live by his wits and often to die trying to make the fortunes a few were able to assemble. While not all were successful, this vocation, this rough and ready life style is one that is still dreamed of often.
I do want to take a moment and thank the readers for taking the time to bear with me as I work through this blogging process. I have done one before, but not on this platform. I chose to do this project on the mountain man because the idea of truly living for yourself off the land is something I find fascinating and there were so many interesting characters in this part of history. Also, admittedly, the Mountain Man Rendezvous was held recently and I love going to see the tools, reenactments, and costumes that people come out with at such events.
I am still in the process of reading and working through all of my texts to put this together. I will be talking about who the average mountain man was, how he lived and died, the tools he used and his overall fate. I have quite a few books, a few internet sites, some personal experience, and an interview with a mountain man re-enactor and I plan on making a trip to the Mountain Man Museum in Pinedale, WY. I will be fleshing out the paper and adding pictures, hopefully some of my own from the museum and the area.
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