Park Poet

Hungry Horse News

Glacier National Park Ranger - Naturalist Doug Follett's venture into poetry started with a trip to Sperry Chalet a few years ago after an 18-year absence from its perch above Lake McDonald.

Follett, who has worked in the Park for 45 years, was hiking to the Chalet when he spotted a mountain goat that seemed to be the same goat he'd seen on his last visit.

"He was standing there looking at me as if to say 'where have you been?'" he said.

This prompted Follett to think about how little the chalet had changed in his absence and how little it had really changed since it was built in 1914.

"I was impressed by the fact that all the personalities of people had been there over the years and how neat it is that in 2005 you can go to place like that and have the same experiences," he said. "Every person that goes there leaves their spirit behind … You can be there with the spirits of the chalet."

Follett said someone told him to write a poem about this and so he did.

The result is called "The Spirits of Sperry."

Come with me to Sperry Chalet

Where the grizzlies roam

And the white goats play

Where the marmots whistle

Splits the Sky

And the Eagles shadow

Tells you why.

Walk where wolverines

Play in the snow

On a warm spring day

When the waterfalls

Go with a rush

To the lake below

And on to find their destiny

So far away-in the quiet sea.

Gather at night

When the day is done

And the firelight

Laughs at the setting sun

And join all the ghosts

Of days gone by

Who come out to dance

When the moon is high.

And as you leave

When it's time to go

And you stop to wave

From the trail below

I think you'll see

With the Sperry crew

Your spirit-

Waving back at you.

"That's what I wanted to get at, to mention the experiences that everyone has had," he said.

Many of his rhymes, as he calls them, are inspired by the simple things around him.

He recites them smoothly and carefully as if he's spinning a story for the listener. In fact, most come with their own story told beforehand about when and where he was inspired to write the ryhme.

Follett was prompted to take up his pen again later while he was in the midst of helping the Travel Channel film a show in Glacier. Someone asked him to tell one outstanding experience he's had while working in Glacier.

"I couldn't think of it, so I told a bear story," he said. "But I thought 'why did I not have one' when it's possible to have so many."

He said when one lives in Glacier you begin to take these once in a lifetime experiences for granted when most people have only one.

He began to think about all the experiences he'd had hiking from Logan Pass to Granite Chalet. His goal was to again write something to help him remember.

Then one fall day when he was driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road he saw a family of mountain goats framed perfectly by bushes of mountain ash berries. He said it was different than before just because the Park has a different feeling in the fall.

"After all these years, here was something that's a once in a lifetime experience," he said.

So, he wrote about it in "Come Back in September."

And walk with me

On the Garden Wall

On an autumn day

When the wild geese call

As they head south

For the winter stay

In far away places

Like Uruguay

Walk with me

And see the goats

On the mountainside

In their new white coats

Standing bright

Against the sky

Looking down on you and I

Come to the place

Where the eagles fly

And tumble wildly

Through the sky

Giving truth

To Ancient words

That sometimes

Love-is for the birds

Walk with me

Where big horns climb

And do a dance

As old as time

Banging heads

'Till they might die

And never even

Asking why

Come with me

Where the Sentry's whistle

Warns the world

Of a deadly missile

Not on two legs

Nor on four

But form the sky

With a sudden roar

That takes a life

In a single breath

And is gone again

On wings of death

Walk with me

Where the grizzlies roam

And see the places

They call home

Alpine meadows

Flower filled

Hanging valleys

Glacier chilled

Lords of everything

They see

The world around

And you and me

Walk with me

When north winds blow

And whisper

Of the coming snow

Tossing golden leaves

On high

As summer bids

A sad goodbye

These and other things

You'll see-

If you will come

And walk with me-!

"I took an experience that many, many people had and picked out one and put it to rhyme," he said.

Follett said the length of the rhyme effects how long it takes him to write it. But he recites them with ease, no matter the length.

Right now he's working on a few that aren't going perfectly.

"I might be trying to put two different things together. Maybe that's the problem," he said. "I don't take credit for them, they just come."

Follett has been approached about publishing his rhymes in a book, but hasn't yet. For now he just passes out copies to anyone he meets on the trail.

Follett has a long history with the Park.

He was born in Fernie B.C. in 1926 and first came to the Park in 1927. His father brought him to East Glacier while he helped run the Great Northern depot for the summer.

Follett said he and his mother spent their time socializing with the old timers and the Blackfeet Tribe.

"I learned to walk in the Glacier Park Lodge and my mother who is 102 years old reminds me of this every day. She says 'you know you've been in the Park a long time' and I never argue with her," he said.

He first worked in the Park at age 16 pulling gooseberry bushes for the White Pine Blister Rust Control Program. He began his career as a seasonal ranger naturalist in 1960.

He spent 11 years working at the Hungry Horse Dam, for a combined 57 years working for the Department of the Interior. He also spent time teaching American history at Columbia Falls High School.

As he looks back, his poetry is a reflection of his time spent in Glacier and that of many others.

"'Sperry' is for the people who have been to Sperry-to appreciate the idea of that," he said. "(The one about) Garden Wall is to make note of the once in a lifetime experiences that anyone can have an a walk on the Wall. Which is what Glacier and our National Parks are all about."