Altitude Adjustment: A Quest for Love, Home, and Meaning in the Tetons

279 Pages·2014·2.4 MB·English

by  Mary Beth Baptiste

ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
A Quest for Love, Home, and Meaning in the Tetons
MARY BETH BAPTISTE
Guilford, Connecticut
Helena, Montana
An imprint of Globe Pequot Press
Copyright © 2014 by Mary Elizabeth Baptiste ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly
permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be
addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department,
PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.
TwoDot is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press and a registered trademark of
Morris Book Publishing, LLC.
Excerpts on pages 1, 179, and 229 from “Last night, as I was sleeping” by
Antonio Machado, from Times Alone, tr. (Wesleyan University Press, 1983). ©
Antonio Machado. © 1983 Translation by Robert Bly. Reprinted by permission
of Wesleyan University Press.
Excerpt on pages 104–05 from Teewinot: A Year in the Teton Range © 2000 by
Jack Turner. Reprinted by permission of Thomas Dunne Books. All rights
reserved.
Excerpt on page 132 from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. © 1974.
Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Lyrics to “Sweet Wyoming Home” on page 160 reprinted by permission of Bill
Staines, © 1976 by Mineral River Music, BMI.
Project Editor: Lauren Brancato Layout: Chris Mongillo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baptiste, Mary Elizabeth,
1953-author.
Altitude adjustment : reflections on leaving home and finding my inner / Mary
Elizabeth Baptiste.
pages cm
Summary: “A recent divorce from a marriage of fifteen years, Mary Elizabeth
Baptiste makes the decision to fulfill a life goal to work at Grand Teton National
Park. Finally settled in Moose, Wyoming, she begins life anew and attempts to
reconcile her past with the wide future ahead of her”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4930-0921-3 (epub) 1. Baptiste, Mary Elizabeth, 1953—-
Homes and haunts—Wyoming—Teton County. 2. Naturalists—Wyoming—
Teton County—Anecdotes. 3. Natural history—Wyoming—Grand Teton
National Park. 4. Grand Teton National Park (Wyo.) I. Title.
QH31.B196A3 2013
508.09787’55—dc23
[B]
2013035416
For my best friend and partner, Richard
and
In memory of
Dad
Joseph F. Baptiste
1930–2013
and
Nan
Mary Silvia Medeiros
1904-1999
Amor Para Sempre
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright
Prologue: Woodswoman
PART 1: WATER OF A NEW LIFE
CHAPTER 1: First Glimpse
CHAPTER 2: There/Here
CHAPTER 3: Baggage
CHAPTER 4: The Price
CHAPTER 5: Places
CHAPTER 6: Learning Curve
CHAPTER 7: Digging In
CHAPTER 8: Hopping on Board
CHAPTER 9: Evolution
CHAPTER 10: Trying Out
CHAPTER 11: Animal Nature
CHAPTER 12: Teton Two-Step
CHAPTER 13: Bliss
CHAPTER 14: Female Trouble
CHAPTER 15: Heritage
CHAPTER 16: Stakeout
CHAPTER 17: Ursine Lessons
CHAPTER 18: Harlequin Romance
CHAPTER 19: Taproot
CHAPTER 20: Ghosts
CHAPTER 21: Short Timing
CHAPTER 22: Transition
CHAPTER 23: Kissing Toads
CHAPTER 24: Turning Point
CHAPTER 25: Altitude Adjustment
CHAPTER 26: Search
CHAPTER 27: Forever Love
CHAPTER 28: Any Port
CHAPTER 29: Uncertainty Principles
PART 2: WHITE COMBS AND SWEET HONEY
CHAPTER 30: Homing
CHAPTER 31: Hermit Crab
CHAPTER 32: Stewardship
CHAPTER 33: Cabin Fever
CHAPTER 34: Grizzly Distinction
CHAPTER 35: Gift
CHAPTER 36: Mudpuppy Love
CHAPTER 37: Dog Days
CHAPTER 38: Niche
CHAPTER 39: Opening Day
CHAPTER 40: Borealis
PART 3: LIGHT INSIDE MY HEART
CHAPTER 41: Sharpshooter
CHAPTER 42: Swan Lake
CHAPTER 43: Bearing Up
CHAPTER 44: Growing Pains
CHAPTER 45: Woodswoman, Reprise
CHAPTER 46: Dream Story
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
About the Author
Photo Insert
PROLOGUE
WOODSWOMAN
A twist of the binoculars’ focus wheel and I gasp: two toddler-sized black bear
cubs, one brown and one black, twined together high up in a spruce tree fifty
yards away. I scan the ground for the mother. In a nearby huckleberry patch, her
cinnamon-colored rump bobs like a swatch of scruffy hide on a clothesline.
It unnerves me, this lack of boundaries. Every animal, scat, or track I find
brings a new fear—a mother bear will charge, a moose will explode from the
brush and trample, something out there will break through and annihilate me
into dust. I long for an owl’s head-turning ability so I can take it all in and see
what’s coming before it gets me.
I turn and dash on tiptoes down the trail, my imagination conjuring up a
multitude of lurking predators.
This is how I remember those first years on my own in a strange place:
thimblefuls of fake courage thrown at a conflagration of fear.