The Filson Journal

Profiles

Wyman Meinzer: Capturing the Soul of the Wild

Meinzer, a man Field and Stream magazine has called an outdoor legend. That is just one of a long list of accolades he has accrued over a lifetime of documenting...

Profiles

Alaskan Musher: Lauro Eklund

With his father, Neil Eklund, Lauro spends long days working with his dogs and exploring Alaska’s remote and rugged interior. With hopes his dogs will one day soon lead the...

The Dynamic of the Line: the anatomy of a dog team

Sled dog teams consist of 12-16 dogs to traverse difficult terrain, while following specific commands from a musher. Learn the anatomy of a sled dog team and what it takes...

Profiles

The Fire Inside: Photographer Kiliii Yüyan

Award-winning National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan, joined us on our recent trip to the Alaskan Arctic, where he was consumed in his mission to capture the stoic essence of a...

The Evolution of Hockey Gear

When a modern NHL team takes to the ice, players are protected from head to toe, the focal point of which is their large colorful sweater. The need and developments...

Profiles

James Reeves: The Mule Packer

“When I walk into any pack station or ranch, I know from the get-go that I'm probably not going to look like anyone else who works there. But anyone who...

Moosemeat John

Moosemeat John, with a nickname earned from generosity and the skills to not only survive, but thrive on the Alaskan frontier. When we built our first Alaskan Guide Shirt in...

The Carver King: A Conversation with chainsaw artist Bob King

Bob King spends his life surrounded by sawdust. It crunches underfoot, coats his clothing, and swirls about him. Each day he dons layers of protective gear and enters his workshop....

The Woman on the Mountain: Christine Estrada

Christine Estrada, a fire lookout, having visited 93 of the remaining lookouts across Washington State, works tirelessly during fire season to spot, report and communicate with fire teams on the...

Profiles

THE PASSION: RANGE RIDER DANIEL CURRY

As a range rider, Daniel Curry patrols the rugged wilderness of Colville National Forest in eastern Washington through all seasons and weather. He will spend weeks working tirelessly day and...

Profiles

Zech Bennett: The Undersea Tradesman

When you meet Zech Bennett, he seems like a pretty ordinary guy. Not too tall or too short, he seems somewhat in shape but is not a chiseled gym rat....

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard: The Origins of Ballard’s Oldest Working Shipyard

Pacific Fishermen Inc., or “PacFish,” as it is known to the many boat builders, ship crews, employees, family members and stakeholders in the Ballard community, can be traced directly back...

Profiles

Renowned Artist and Activist: Ray Troll

Ray’s Alaska adventure started in 1983, when he moved here to help his sister open a seafood retail store in Ketchikan. Ray soon turned to art to document his experiences...

Profiles

Deep Sea Fishermen's Union

Back at the turn of the last century, a hardy group of men roamed the wooden docks of Seattle. Grizzled and gruff, they would spend days out on the unpredictable...

Food & Recipes

You Take What You Can Get: Or Suffer the Consequences

The stampede for gold into the Klondike of the Yukon territory reached a peak in 1898. In that same year, 1,200 other miners set out for other regions of the...

Profiles

Seattle Maritime Academy - 50 Years of Training Seaworthy Mariners

Long before Seattle was a tech town, or even an aviation town, it was a maritime town. In fact, it still is. And although some brag that Seattle has more...

Marian Beck: The Saltry Restaurant

The first thing you notice about Marian Beck is her hands. Graying Alaskan fishermen all have the same hands, swollen and powerful from decades of picking fighting salmon from gillnets,...

Profiles

Bay Weld Boats

The shop is loud. Metal screams on metal. Chop saws, band saws, air saws, table saws, skilsaws, drills, grinders, and welders all sculpt, slice, and meld aluminum plate and extrusion...

Profiles

Kate Mitchell - NOMAR

An old homesteader once told Kate Mitchell, “That was about the year you figured you weren’t going to starve to death.” By then, much of the community enjoyed wanton luxuries...

Coldfoot: More than just another gold camp – a place that defined those who lived in it

The history of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 promised fortune to many who made the journey north to the gold fields of the Yukon Territory, with many of those...

Profiles

Leif Whittaker: My Old Man & the Mountain

My Old Man and the Mountain is Leif Whittaker's engaging and humorous story of what it was like to "grow up Whittaker"―the youngest son of Jim Whittaker and Dianne Roberts, in...

As a professional skier, Amy David spends most days in the winter backcountry, skiing and snowmobiling while being photographed and filmed for media content. Simultaneously, She leads a backcountry retreat...

Profiles

Western Flyer: The Vessel of John Steinbeck

On the morning of Monday, March 11, 1940, writer John Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts boarded the sardine seiner Western Flyer at a wharf in Monterey, California. Both men...

Profiles

For the Love of Wooden Boats: Port Townsend's Shipwrights Co-Op

Southeast of Port Townsend is a gravel yard where large boats balance on blocks of wood and slender steel stands. Removed from the water, the vessels reveal pleasing, functional curves....

SS Portland: The Ship that Started the Boom

August 16, 1896, stands out in the history of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska as the moment when miners prospecting along the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory discovered gold...

Rebisoning America's West

As we bounce across the prairie, small groups of bison close to the dirt track watch us roll by, while two bands of elk stare at us from a distance....

Remarkable Skills of an Avalanche Rescue Dog

When it comes to mountain life, avalanches are part of the territory. If you’re lucky, you might only see or hear one. But on the off chance you get caught,...

Signature Materials

Keeping Handmade Traditions Alive in the Northeast: Filson & Quoddy

Jack and Anne Spiegel originally started Quoddy in Maine in 1947. Their unique footwear was all made with moccasin construction to be flexible, durable, and repairable. At one point, Quoddy...

Dogs with Jobs: Sheepdogs in Rural Scotland

Sheep dogs are commonplace in rural Scotland, with many shepherds owning more than one. The use of such dogs in Scotland dates back to the 19th century, but even today...

Profiles

The O'Hair Ranch

Before there were O’Hairs, there were Armstrongs. And like most homesteaders, the Armstrongs arrived at Paradise Valley, Montana, by way of misfortune looking for fortune. In 1878, Owen T. Armstrong...

How To's

How to Become a Ski Patroller

Ski patrollers are responsible for maintaining and promoting skier safety, providing first-aid assistance to accident victims on the hill, and transporting injured skiers. They play a huge part in what...

Q and A with Adam and Frankie Foss of Foss Media

Gary Edinger, a logger is at the center of Will to Live: The Gary Edinger Story, the latest film from Adam and Frankie Foss, the husband and wife team behind...

Will To Live: The Gary Edinger Story

On a fateful February day in 2007, in the remote Northern Wisconsin woods, a solo independent logger named Gary Edinger severed his left leg off while felling a tree. Twenty...

Elver Fishing in Maine

Elver fishing in Maine is based on a lottery system. For those lucky enough to win a license the payout can be over $2,000/lb.

The Oldest Continuously Running Sawmill in North America

Port Gamble was a gamble that paid off for 142 years as the longest continuously running sawmill on the North American continent. Like many logging towns, it faced boom years...

A Brief History of Horse Logging

Horse logging is an echo of an earlier, distant time but it is gaining steam as a modern, sustainable form of logging. This practice goes back nearly 10,000 years, though...

Filson Adventure Comic

Filson Adventures, an original comic series based in Alaska circa 1933.

The Lantern Tavern Announces No New Improvements

The Lantern opened its doors back when gasoline cost 32 cents a gallon and shiny ‘66 Mustangs cruised Chicago Avenue. Every day since, their philosophy of good, simple food and...

Mike Blais of Auburn Stove Foundry Company

Some of Mike Blais’ earliest memories are from the inside of his grandfather’s foundry in Maine. He spent his youth shadowing the older man, learning to mix sand and clay,...

Ranchlands: Six Generations of Stewardship

Conservation isn’t abstract and ranching doesn’t reward those who disconnect themselves from nature. I learned these truths from Duke Phillips, or Big Duke, to his friends. For Big Duke and...

Banking on Bailey: Introducing the Filson x Merrell Sandall

Head an hour north of Boise, and you’ll find a stretch of the Payette river that contains some of the world’s most notorious class five rapids. Not many people dare...

The Balance of Trust

Farriers spend years mastering the ancient craft of horseshoeing. It requires many hours of standing next to a hot forge, swinging a hammer, bending in uncomfortable positions, all within striking...

Above Alaska: Bush Pilots of the Last Frontier

Covering 663,268 square miles, Alaska is larger than Texas, California, and Montana, combined. With only 20% of that land mass accessible by road, aviation is not a luxury in Alaska....

In Print: Alaska Aviation with Sarah Russell

For Sarah Russell, Alaska has been the answer at the end of a long search for freedom. We spent time with Sarah last summer as part of our Above Alaska...

Piloting Kodiak, AK with Willy Fulton

Willy Fulton is a floatplane pilot based in Kodiak, AK. We caught up with him to ask a few questions about how he ended up there, with arguably one of...

Off the Grid with Brett Watts

Brett Watts is a flight mechanic with the U.S. Coast guard, currently stationed in Kodiak, AK.

In Print: Making Art with Ed Anderson

Ed Anderson is an Idaho-based artist known for his iconic scenes using bold colors and lines to present subjects from bush pilots to bull trout and bugling bull elk. We...

Corey Forrest: Fishing Rhode Island

As a little girl, I didn’t know I was going to grow up to be a fisherman, or follow in my father’s footsteps, and his father’s footsteps. It was a...

Mossy Oak Gamekeeper Kennels

Words are wasted on trying to describe the relationship between bird dog and owner. From the euphoria of lifting a mallard out of your retriever’s trained mouth for the first...

Robertson Stykbow: Traditional Archery with Dick Robertson

Dick Robertson is the owner and founder of Robertson Stykbow in Forest Grove, MT. Dick has been designing and crafting some of the most beautiful and high-performance traditional bows for...

Svalinn: Bred to Love, Trained to Protect

Kim Greene's email signature reads, "Alpha Female" and in her line of work, that is exactly who she needs to be. Kim and her husband Jeff are the owners of...

PNW Workers: Force/Collide

Located in Seattle WA, Force/Collide is driven by owner Chelsea Gaddy's distinct style that blends geometry, minimalism, and the raw characteristics of metals into high-end furniture and architecture. "The creative...

PNW Workers: Western Neon

If you've walked Seattle's streets after sundown, you've laid eyes on Western Neon's craftsmanship. Since 1985 they've put their radiant stamp on our booming town. Along with the logo and...

PNW Workers: Meridian Forge

It’s not an easy process. “You have to beat it into submission…you have to tell it what to do,” he says, speaking of the metal being shaped by his hands....

PNW Workers: Dovetail General Contractors

Located in Seattle, WA, Dovetail General Contractors specializes in bringing clients' visions to life by immersing themselves in every aspect of a project - from Japanese joinery to large-scale foundation...

Might of the Pacific Northwest Worker

For 121-years, Filson has outfitted and partnered with makers, builders, fabricators and creators. These craftsmen and women work with their hands. They use brute force and extreme finesse to bring...

Food & Recipes

Montauk Brewing Company

When Vaughan moved back to town in 2010, the two built a home brewing system from an igloo cooler (which they still have) and started brewing. Initially, making beer was...

Where There's Smoke: Utah's Alta Hotshots

Interagency hotshot crews comprise elite ground-force wildland firefighters who are the first responders to wildfires in any jurisdiction of the United States. Based just outside of Salt Lake City, the...

The Life of a Smokejumper: Wait. Jump. Fight. Repeat

When it’s fire season, you don’t buy concert tickets. You don’t make dates. You miss your kid’s birthday. When you’re at the top of the jump list, you don’t go...

USFS: Fighting Fire With Fire

There’s a wall of fire 12 feet away. Ponderosa pines burn to a roar. Like a jet engine ramping up for takeoff. Flames ignite branches & tufts of needles on...

Trade Stories: The Blue-Collar Bastion of Ballard, WA

For 71 years, the Pacific Fishermen Shipyard has been building and repairing ships to face some of the toughest seas in the world. Today, it’s a maritime holdout in a...

Trade Stories: Kiliii Yuyan of Seawolf Kayak

Seattle-based kayak-builder and photographer, Kiliii Yuyan, spends much of his time either paddling the waters of the Pacific Northwest or documenting indigenous communities of the North. His skills are helping...

Trade Stories: Soledad, Wildlife Service Dog

Soledad is a 6-year-old Karelian Bear Dog working as a Wildlife Service Dog for the Wind River Bear Institute. Born in Florence, MT, she was the only puppy born of...

In Pursuit of Wildfire: Capturing California's Harshest Forest Fires with Stuart Palley

When a wildfire erupts, Californian photojournalist Stuart Palley runs towards the blaze, not away. With an unbending eagerness for capturing the lives of those who protect and maintain our forests, the...

Trade Stories: Three Generations In the Wheelhouse of a Tugboat

The blue-and-yellow tugs of Western Towboat are fixtures in the Seattle area. But harbor work on the West Coast is only a fraction of the company’s business. Its biggest job...

How Not to Sink a Barge of Cargo: An Interview with Tugboat Captain Neil McGourty

Like any ocean freighting job, delivering freight to Southeast Alaska requires a thorough knowledge of the local weather and the peculiarities of the sea routes traveled. The northeast corner of...

Trade Stories: A School for the World’s Toughest Underwater Jobs

The Divers Institute of Technology is one of the premier commercial dive schools in the country. For the past 49 years it’s been churning out graduates from its headquarters on...

Dogs with Jobs: UW's 'Conservation Canines' Wildlife Program

In the freshly snow-blanketed Pack Forest of Eatonville, Washington, we spent the day with the team at Conservation Canines exploring the facility they call “home base.” The dogs at Conservation...

Profiles

New Arrivals

latest article

Wyman Meinzer: Capturing the Soul of the Wild

Featured articles

The Pack Horses and Mules of White Pass Trail

Corey Forrest: Fishermom

Mollie Walsh: The Angel of White Pass

National Forest Elemental Series: The Breath of a Nation

How to Kill, Cook, and eat dungeness crab

A Life on the Water: Brett Fitzgerald and the Angler Action Foundation

Denali Damsels

Filson Food: Surf & Turf Alaskan Style

Discover the world of Filson

Wyman Meinzer: Capturing the Soul of the Wild

Alaskan Musher: Lauro Eklund

The Dynamic of the Line: the anatomy of a dog team

The Fire Inside: Photographer Kiliii Yüyan

The Evolution of Hockey Gear

James Reeves: The Mule Packer

Moosemeat John

The Carver King: A Conversation with chainsaw artist Bob King

The Woman on the Mountain: Christine Estrada

THE PASSION: RANGE RIDER DANIEL CURRY

Zech Bennett: The Undersea Tradesman

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard: The Origins of Ballard’s Oldest Working Shipyard

Renowned Artist and Activist: Ray Troll

Deep Sea Fishermen's Union

You Take What You Can Get: Or Suffer the Consequences

Seattle Maritime Academy - 50 Years of Training Seaworthy Mariners

Marian Beck: The Saltry Restaurant

Bay Weld Boats

Kate Mitchell - NOMAR

Coldfoot: More than just another gold camp – a place that defined those who lived in it

Leif Whittaker: My Old Man & the Mountain

Amy David: Why I Guide

Western Flyer: The Vessel of John Steinbeck

For the Love of Wooden Boats: Port Townsend's Shipwrights Co-Op

SS Portland: The Ship that Started the Boom

Rebisoning America's West

Remarkable Skills of an Avalanche Rescue Dog

Keeping Handmade Traditions Alive in the Northeast: Filson & Quoddy

Dogs with Jobs: Sheepdogs in Rural Scotland

The O'Hair Ranch

How to Become a Ski Patroller

Q and A with Adam and Frankie Foss of Foss Media

Will To Live: The Gary Edinger Story

Elver Fishing in Maine

The Oldest Continuously Running Sawmill in North America

A Brief History of Horse Logging

Filson Adventure Comic

The Lantern Tavern Announces No New Improvements

Mike Blais of Auburn Stove Foundry Company

Ranchlands: Six Generations of Stewardship

Banking on Bailey: Introducing the Filson x Merrell Sandall

The Balance of Trust

Above Alaska: Bush Pilots of the Last Frontier

In Print: Alaska Aviation with Sarah Russell

Piloting Kodiak, AK with Willy Fulton

Off the Grid with Brett Watts

In Print: Making Art with Ed Anderson

Corey Forrest: Fishing Rhode Island

Mossy Oak Gamekeeper Kennels

Robertson Stykbow: Traditional Archery with Dick Robertson

Svalinn: Bred to Love, Trained to Protect

PNW Workers: Force/Collide

PNW Workers: Western Neon

PNW Workers: Meridian Forge

PNW Workers: Dovetail General Contractors

Might of the Pacific Northwest Worker

Montauk Brewing Company

Where There's Smoke: Utah's Alta Hotshots

The Life of a Smokejumper: Wait. Jump. Fight. Repeat

USFS: Fighting Fire With Fire

Trade Stories: The Blue-Collar Bastion of Ballard, WA

Trade Stories: Kiliii Yuyan of Seawolf Kayak

Trade Stories: Soledad, Wildlife Service Dog

In Pursuit of Wildfire: Capturing California's Harshest Forest Fires with Stuart Palley

Trade Stories: Three Generations In the Wheelhouse of a Tugboat

How Not to Sink a Barge of Cargo: An Interview with Tugboat Captain Neil McGourty

Trade Stories: A School for the World’s Toughest Underwater Jobs