Abram Wilkinson
Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Hitch 04: Selway River Trail South from Magruder Ranger Station
07/16/2025 – 07/23/2025
Bitterroot National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
Selway River Trail South was a unique hitch as it was a youth volunteer hitch, meaning that my crew included a crew leader, 4 youth volunteers, and myself. The first day consisted of picking up the youth volunteers and driving to Magruder Ranger Station along the Magruder road, which serves as the boundary between the Selway-Bitterroot and the Frank Church-River of No Return Wildernesses. The next day we set out along the Selway River Trail south towards our planned base camp five miles from the ranger station. Along the way, we cut out one tree along the trail, where we demonstrated how to use a crosscut saw. Upon our arrival at our campsite, we taught the youth how to filter water, set up a bear hang to keep our food away from animals, and dig a group latrine to minimize our impact throughout the hitch.
The next couple days were spent working on the Selway River Trail South from where we had set up our camp. The work on this stretch of trail required a lot of brushing, digging retread, rock removal, and clearing the occasional trees that had fallen across the trail. This trail section was beautiful and rugged, with jagged mountains and cliff faces that surrounded and towered over us. The Selway River below us was far shallower and smaller than I had expected. Along the trail there were plenty of opportunities to pick huckleberries, thimbleberries, and wild raspberries, which were an amazing treat after being out in the backcountry for so long. At one point along the trail, we spotted a small cave in the side of a mountain which we decided to explore on our way back to camp.
Most afternoons back at camp were spent swimming in the river, cooking dinner, building a fire, and playing cards. We also told stories around the fire about a large bull snake that had been spotted along the path to our group latrine. For the remainder of the hitch, we referred to the snake as “Big Latrina” or “Big L” for short. Big L became something of a legend among the group, to the point where everyone seemed to have some kind of story about her, though it quickly became hard to tell which stories were true or not. Personally, I never saw Big L and still wonder if she was ever real or if the youth were messing with me.
When it came time to pack up camp and go home, we had mixed feelings. We were excited to get home and shower, yet reluctant to say goodbye to one another and to the wilderness where we had spent so much time. Over the course of this fellowship, I have found that the hardest part of the job is having to leave the wild and untamed areas. It can feel like a shock to go from some of the most remote places back to civilization. Leaving a hitch often serves as a perfect reminder as to why Wilderness is important. In Wilderness you are completely dependent on the land, and you have to work hard for even some of the most basic things, whereas in civilization you can get almost anything you want with the push of a button. Wilderness serves as a break from the distractions of the modern world and gives us a place where we can disconnect from normal life and challenge ourselves to live life in the rawest way possible.
I am very thankful for the opportunities I have been given through this fellowship to work hard in areas like this, and I am very happy that I was able to share this unique experience with the youth volunteers on this hitch. It’s great getting to meet people who are also passionate about being outside, and I look forward to what comes next this summer!
Abram Wilkinson
Grangeville, ID
University of Idaho- Finance
Abram is a college student at the University of Idaho studying finance. He grew up in Grangeville, a small town in central Idaho where, in his free time, he regularly enjoyed swimming, skiing, and backpacking in the nearby Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forests, as well as the Gospel Hump and Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. Abram has always enjoyed the outdoors and spent a summer working as a Youth Conservation Corps crew member where he gained experience working on outdoor conservation projects. His experiences gave him a passion for wilderness conservation and has brought him to where he is now with SBFC, where he hopes to contribute towards giving others the opportunity to have the same experiences he had in the outdoors.