The Authors

ARNOLD "SMOKE" ELSER is a legendary packer, author, teacher and U.S. conservationist who traveled each trail of the 1.5 million acres Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Western Montana on horseback for sixty years. As a professional wilderness outfitter, he provided a once-in-a lifetime experience deep in the mountains for thousands of people of whom many sat on a horse for the first time. The U.S. Navy Seals, U.S. Army, U.S. National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service as well thousands of civilians and college students took his famous “Horse and Mule Packing Class”. He is co-author of the leading textbook on horse and mule packing “Pack’in on horses and mules”. His skills, life and persistent work to preserve our public lands and wilderness for future generations was featured in the PBS documentary “3 miles an hour”, National Geographic, the Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post among others. Smoke is the recipient of many awards among them the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award of the University of Montana, Distinguished Citizen Award of Boy Scouts of America, the Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award by The Conservation Roundtable and the Backcountry Horseman of America. He is honored to be the only inductee of both the Montana Outdoor and Cowboy Hall of Fame. He lives with his wife Thelma, dog Spunky, horses and mules in Missoula, MT.

EVA-MARIA MAGGI is a writer, teacher, and packer. Her new book "Hush of the Land : A Lifetime in the Bob Marshall Wilderness" (Bison Books) is with and about Montana outfitter, conservationist and packer Arnold "Smoke" Elser. She holds a Ph.D. in political science and teaches Wilderness Policy and Packing at the University of Montana, Missoula. Her research on Europe and the Middle East was published as the book "The Will of Change" (2018, Springer) and in several academic journals, newspapers and magazines. She grew up in Germany, and lived in Italy, and Morocco and calls Missoula home.