This site features true stories and photography about wilderness travel, wildlife, and exploration — from grizzlies in Denali and wolves in Yellowstone, to jaguars in the Chiricahua Wilderness and tigers in India. It is a space devoted to the life and reflections of John Rust — naturalist, traveler, and writer — who has spent decades immersed in some of the world’s most remote and untamed places.       

Welcome to John Rust Wilderness — Through a lifetime of solitude and discovery in wild landscapes, John has encountered the raw beauty and brutality of nature — from tracking predators in Yellowstone and Satpura to canoeing, camping, and surviving alone in Denali National Park, Katmai National Park, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This site introduces both the stories and the storyteller: one who has lived where science meets the spirit of the wild.     

As a wilderness writer, John captures true stories from remote wilderness expeditions, not simply as observer but as participant — confronting grizzlies near Denali, wolves along Slough Creek, and tigers deep in the forests of India. His book, "Exploring Wilderness: From Heart-Racing Adventure to Tranquility," is a culmination of these experiences: wilderness memoirs and nature essays that chronicle encounters with wolves, bears, and wild landscapes, moments of sacred silence, and trials of survival in remote terrain. The stories reveal not only landscapes, but the evolving relationship between human presence and ecological truth.

Across its pages, readers travel from the volcanic coasts of Alaska, the glaciers of Banff and Jasper, to Yellowstone backcountry, and the jungles of India. These are places John has not just visited, but inhabited — physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Whether paddling across Naknek Lake under white caps, watching a bald eagle circle over glacial erratics in Yellowstone, or navigating Lake Brooks of Katmai, he brings us with him — offering not just facts, but feeling. His stories reflect natural history through the eyes of a wilderness traveler, and invite readers to explore ecosystems and predator through the lens of real, lived adventure.

This site is more than a book preview — it’s a portrait of a life spent in motion, in awe, in the wild. If you’re drawn to exploration, wanderlust, or simply the quiet thrill of living close to nature, join John Rust on this journey — one that spans continents, habitats, and a deep respect for the wild world.

I love sharing stories and insights about nature, wildlife, wilderness, photography, and adventure travel. I’d be delighted to present for your group! Over the past few years, I’ve delivered dozens of talks for nature clubs, libraries, schools, and community organizations. Most recently, I spoke at the Parks and Trails Council’s annual Gala, presenting to an audience of 150.  In addition, I gave a presentation for a corporate gathering of 250 people - how disconnecting from technology and finding tranquility in nature can refocus and energize employees when they return to work. In 2026 I will be presenting for the Linnean Society of London (https://www.linnean.org/) 

Whether it’s an intimate gathering or a large event, I bring an engaging, energetic style that makes the wonders of the natural world come alive. If you’re interested in hosting a presentation, just reach out—I’d love to connect! 

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Biography

John Rust has spent a lifetime exploring and living in earth’s most wild places; pristine and primeval areas where both predator and prey exist. He has visited Yellowstone National Park and Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness a multitude of times. He has hiked and paddled the wilds of Alaska over two dozen times including backpacking Denali National Park, kayaking near tide water glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park, explored Katmai’s desolate “Valley of 10,000 Smokes,” and paddled Katmai's backcountry and Admiralty Island’s “Fortress of the Bears.” 

John has been charged by brown bears in Alaska and Bengal tigers in India. He has been confronted by growling wolves at night in Yellowstone and has spent lazy afternoons laying hidden in snow while large wolfpacks napped nearby. John has kayaked braided glacier rivers with Alaskan brown bears, paddled rivers alongside porpoises, freshwater springs with manatees, and estuaries with basking alligators. He has winter trekked the Boundary Water's maze of frozen lakes and hiked the Superior Hiking Trail while being confronted by wolves at night. All, with a keen eye towards observation and detailing wildlife in a journal.

John has Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science.  His day-job is in IT quantifying geospatial risks for the insurance industry.  He is the father of two children whom he has taken on many adventures. With his grandchildren, John plans to continue to explore nature anew through their eyes. John has organized many public events describing the beauty and wonder of nature and written articles for the Izaak Walton League of America describing nature, ecology, and the value of ecosystems, and was president of the Minnesota Division of the Izaak Walton League from 2020 - 2024

Description --  Exploring Wilderness:  From Heart Racing Adventure to Tranquility 

What would you do if a six-hundred-pound grizzly bear approached your campsite during an evening rainstorm in Denali National Park? How would you react if you heard a wolf growling just few feet away at night outside of your tent in Yellowstone National Park? Would you be able to survive alone in remote Alaskan wilderness after your kayak fills with water on a cold rushing river surrounded by hundreds of hungry coastal brown bears? Have you experienced the electric jolt of a charging tiger in the wilds of India and lived to tell the story? Could you find your way back to civilization after losing your map while trekking across a maze of frozen lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness?

This book could save your life. Read it, and you will gain insight into surviving these and other nerve-racking situations in the wilderness.

Even in today’s technological world, we can still venture into wilderness and reduce our existence to the basic necessities of survival. We can elicit the same feelings and emotions as those who lived long before civilization and technology had engulfed the world. We can rekindle ancient feelings of connectedness to the natural world: contentment, serenity, and sublime happiness. But if during our journey we encounter a predator, an entirely different set of emotions is conjured. Stripped of civilization’s safety net, human frailty in the face of a predator’s teeth and claws makes us but another link in nature’s food web, generating the ancient and primal feelings of trepidation, vulnerability, and fear. Our reaction to such an encounter can make the difference between surviving and not.

Dedication
A person living in the early 1800s could little imagine the societal and technological changes that have occurred these past two hundred years. Yet today, if we so choose, we can still venture into wilderness with predators and thus reduce the elements of our existence to the basic necessities of survival. While doing so, we elicit the same feelings and emotions of those that lived long in the past before civilization and technology had engulfed the world. We rekindle ancient feelings of connection to the natural world; contentment, serenity, and sublime happiness, as well as feelings of trepidation, vulnerability, and fear, all while feeling the satisfaction of a physical existence.

This book is dedicated to two sets of people. The first are those living at the time of this writing. May you seek, if you so choose, renewal of spirit in nature and find solitude and peace in the natural world as well as the thrill of exploration and adventure in a wilderness that contains predators. The second set of people are those that are to come two hundred years hence. Despite what unimaginable changes will have taken place six generations from now, may you as well, have the opportunity to experience the raw, natural, and primeval world, one that contains wilderness filled with predators. May you be able to experience wilderness on equal terms with predators, as humans have for eons, and thus be humbled while in their presence.

Table of Contents

Section - Dedication

Section - Forward

Section - Introduction  

Section - Early Experience

Section - Ideal Travel Companion

Section - Wilderness

Chapter - Circle of Life (Town of King Salmon, Alaska, United States) (Aug. 2001)

Chapter - Panic   (Saskatchewan Glacier, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada) ( April 1993)

Chapter - Erratic  (Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States) (Dec. 1996)

Chapter - Celestine  (Celestine Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada) (Sept. 1999)

Chapter - Druids  (Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States) (Nov. 2000)

Chapter - Toklat     (Toklat River, Denali National Park, Alaska, United States) (Sept. 2002)

Chapter - Vigil  (Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States) (April 2004)

Chapter - Nightmare  (Lake Brooks, Katmai National Park, Alaska, United States) (August 2004)

Chapter - Supplication    (Britton Peak, Superior Hiking Trail, Minnesota, United States) (Oct. 1991)

Chapter - Winter Solitude (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota, United States) (March 2011)

Chapter - Frustrated     (Savonoski River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, United States) (August 2013)

Chapter - Kootznoowoo (Seymour Canal, Admiralty Island, Alaska, United States) (August 2010)

Chapter - Death Gulch (Cache Creek, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States) (Nov. 2009)

Chapter - Sombra     (Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, United States) (Dec. 2017)

Chapter - Humbled (Satpura National Park, India)  (April, 2018)

Afterword

Appendix: Cautions when Travelling in Wilderness 

Key-Phrases

Wilderness Memoirs and Nature Essays

True Stories from Remote Wilderness Expeditions

Encounters with Wolves, Bears, and Wild Landscapes

Exploring Untamed Places: From Alaska to India

Personal Reflections on Ecology and Wildness

Backcountry Travel and Survival in Harsh Terrain

Natural History Through the Eyes of a Wilderness Writer

Journeys into National Parks, Forests, and Glaciers

Tracking Predators and Understanding Ecosystems

Adventures in Conservation, Solitude, and Wonder

Solitude and Discovery in Wild Landscapes

A Naturalist’s Journey Through Untamed Places

Canoeing, Camping, and Living Close to Nature

Chronicling the Beauty and Brutality of the Wilderness

Reflections from the Edge of Civilization

Writing the Wilderness: Stories of Earth’s Rawest Places

From Grizzly Country to Glacier Fields

Encounters with the Wild: A Memoir in Motion

Sacred Silence and Survival in Remote Terrain

Where Science Meets the Spirit of the Wild

Key-Words
Nonfiction, Nature, Environment, Outdoors, Memoir, Science, Adventure, Wilderness, Predators, Survival, Natural History, Conservation, Mountains, Canoeing, Kayaking, Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Naturalist, Wildlife, Ecosystem, Ecology, Sustainability, Parks, Essays, Travel, Alaska, Yellowstone, Carnivore, Wolves, Bear, Grizzly, Tiger,  Jaguar, Glacier, Bald Eagle, Salmon, Volcano, Exploration, Wanderlust, Denali, Admiralty Island, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell St. Elias, Chiricahua Mountains, Satpura, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, BWCA, Banff, Jasper, Celestine Lake, Saskatchewan Glacier,  Druid Peak Pack, Toklat River, Slough Creek, King Salmon, Britton Peak, American Creek, Cache Creek, Lake Brooks, Glacial Erratic, Nature, Alpine Lake, Red Rock Lake, Seagull Lake, Katmai, Lake Grosvenor, Naknek Lake, Colville Lake, Hypothermia, Predator, Kootznoowoo, Hot Spring, Geyser, Storm, White Caps, Paddling, Lost, Wild, Gaur, Dhole, Blue Bull, Nilgai, Peacock, Bison, Pronghorn, Cougar, Golden Eagle, Spruce, Pine, Elk, Buffalo, Tundra, Sockeye Salmon, Humpy Salmon, Pepper Spray, Golden Jackal, Crested Hawk Eagle, Leopard