A Firefighter and a Poet: Wild Pursuits in the Santa Rita Mountains

• Group size30 people

Join local authors Linda Strader and Stephen Chaffee as they share the journeys that shaped their lives in the Santa Rita Mountains. Rising dramatically from desert grasslands to cool pine forests, these mountains create a rare meeting place of ecosystems, where elusive wildlife, high-country solitude, and sweeping views define every mile. It’s a place that invites both challenge and reflection, and it’s where these two storytellers found their voice. Through vivid readings and conversation, Stephen Chaffee brings a poet’s lens to the rhythms of the natural world, capturing quiet encounters, moving light, and the deep interconnectedness of wild places. Linda Strader shares her powerful memoir of becoming one of the first women wildland firefighters, stepping into the rugged backcountry of Arizona and Alaska to carve out a path in a demanding and male-dominated field. Together, their stories speak to resilience, discovery, and the transformative pull of time spent outdoors. This event offers a window into the beauty and intensity of life on the land that celebrates the spirit of adventure and the enduring power of wild places. About our speakers: Stephen Chaffee is a former National Park Service ranger and longtime backpacker whose poetry collections are inspired by decades of trail experience. Linda Strader is an author, landscape architect, and former wildland firefighter whose work draws from her groundbreaking experiences across the American West.