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Anthony, Zach, and David racing the sun down a ridgeline in the Gallatin Range (photo by Seth Langbauer)

On July 10th, 2017, I wandered out my front door, laced up my shoes, and began jogging away from town and towards the mountains. At either side where two of my closest friends and traveling companions for the next week, Zach Altman and David Laufenberg. Along the horizon rose the Gallatin Range sweeping south towards Yellowstone. Over the next seven days, we’d celebrate miles of singletrack, public lands, and friendship as we ran from Bozeman to Red Lodge.  

While much of this land is paradise, our public lands need to be protected. Without engagement and action, our commons will disappear. This run was my call to action, a chance to speak out for these wild places that need to be preserved as they are. By running across this ecosystem, I hoped to bring awareness to the landscape’s fight for continued protection. 

Mile 140. As long-distance runners, our sense of scale is different than that of most people. When you move within a landscape this vast for so long, your sense of time will change. When we were running across the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, the glaciers that dominated this scene 17,000 years ago didn’t seem so far away. (Photo by Seth Langbauer)

While linking these wild spaces by foot, I gained a greater appreciation for their scale and their vulnerability to fragmentation. If our lands are parceled out, wildlife will lose essential habitat, humans will lose quiet recreation, and wild places like the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will lose their scale, beauty, and diversity.  

The magnitude of this trip pushed me beyond my perceived boundaries. In seven days, we covered 236 miles of spectacular paths linking my front porch in Bozeman, to Mammoth, Cooke City, and Red Lodge: an immense swath of the 20 million acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In this short week, we journeyed past high alpine peaks, traversed vast sagebrush plains, and crossed countless free-flowing rivers.  

With each passing mile, I increasingly realized how lucky we are in this country. In the west, we are surrounded by wild lands that are worthy of exploration, and of protection. 

These paths don’t just belong to us. Throughout our trip, we linked historic migration routes, meandering bison trails, and glacially carved valleys. If I can run across this landscape in a week, what about a grizzly? A linx? A wolverine? They need these open, undeveloped spaces even more than the recreational community. As our backyard becomes more fragmented, they lose their potential to roam. 

Mile 190. It takes years to truly know a place. With each year spent exploring the Greater Yellowstone, we add to our understanding of the landscape. This trip helped deepen our relationship with the land and opened a world of endless possibilities. (Photo by Seth Langbauer)

While wandering the trail for twelve plus hours a day, I found a lot of time to reflect. Often, at the edge of exhaustion, moments of awe would sweep over me. The light on a distant peak, the sound of moving water, and the dew on a huckleberry brought up a distinct feeling of thankfulness for the spaces we have and the spaces we share. 

After completing our traverse, I no longer consider the Gallatin Range alone my backyard. I have a greater respect for the connectivity of the ecosystem and a new determination and drive to protect it. In the coming months, our public lands will continue to come under threat. I encourage the community to speak up, engage, and encourage accountability and action. Let's keep the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and Montana's other wild places, wild and public while continuing to protect our common ground.

See the full film here. 

- Anthony Pavkovich, Madison-Gallatin Chapter board member