Cowboys, Indians and history have always been my passion, maybe it was Davey Crocket, or the many westerns on TV in the 50’s that started me. Looking at my early photos, I think I was born with a cowboy hat and a gun.
I escaped New York State right after high school and started to travel the US. In 1967 I rediscovered the mountain men and after reading a couple of books, decided I had found my life’s career.
Everyone told me I couldn’t make a living as a mountain man, and that I should get a real job. By the time I graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute I had already started to make things and had already begun preparing for my first horse trip.
I was the first Mountain Man for the National Park Service.
I team taught a Mountain M an and Indian course at KU in Lawrence, Kansas.
I started modeling for, providing props and expertise for now over 50 of America’s leading Western artists. John Clymer, Tom Lovell, Frank McCarthy, Howard Terpning, ZS Liang , RS Riddick to name a few.
I crossed the Mojave Desert on horseback in August following Mountain Man Jed Smith’s trail into California. National Geographic used photos of my trip in their book “Into The Wilderness“. Because of this trip, I was inducted as an honorary member of the Jedidiah Smith Society.
At one time I was the major supplier of buffalo hides and skulls on the rendezvous circuit, as well as to commercial outlets.
I Built a house outside of SantaFe NM, but escaped to Wyoming where I live on my historic ranch with my killer cat Jed.
In the 90’s and 2000’s I ran Mountain Man camps around the country at WestFest and provided whole camps for events such as the Tesoro organization in Morrison, Colorado and Elk Fest in Estes Park, Colora do.
After 54 years of being a Mountain Man I still research, attend some rendezvous and make my products for artists, movies, museums, interior designers and people looking for authentic unique clothing and home decor.
I escaped New York State right after high school and started to travel the US. In 1967 I rediscovered the mountain men and after reading a couple of books, decided I had found my life’s career.
Everyone told me I couldn’t make a living as a mountain man, and that I should get a real job. By the time I graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute I had already started to make things and had already begun preparing for my first horse trip.
I was the first Mountain Man for the National Park Service.
I team taught a Mountain M an and Indian course at KU in Lawrence, Kansas.
I started modeling for, providing props and expertise for now over 50 of America’s leading Western artists. John Clymer, Tom Lovell, Frank McCarthy, Howard Terpning, ZS Liang , RS Riddick to name a few.
I crossed the Mojave Desert on horseback in August following Mountain Man Jed Smith’s trail into California. National Geographic used photos of my trip in their book “Into The Wilderness“. Because of this trip, I was inducted as an honorary member of the Jedidiah Smith Society.
At one time I was the major supplier of buffalo hides and skulls on the rendezvous circuit, as well as to commercial outlets.
I Built a house outside of SantaFe NM, but escaped to Wyoming where I live on my historic ranch with my killer cat Jed.
In the 90’s and 2000’s I ran Mountain Man camps around the country at WestFest and provided whole camps for events such as the Tesoro organization in Morrison, Colorado and Elk Fest in Estes Park, Colora do.
After 54 years of being a Mountain Man I still research, attend some rendezvous and make my products for artists, movies, museums, interior designers and people looking for authentic unique clothing and home decor.