The 2010 Fishtrap Writing Outpost at Billy Meadows with Charles Goodrich

Travelling in Place: The Outpost Workshop at Billy Meadows

Does a place belong to us, or do we belong to a place? Or do we, perhaps, co-belong, co-habit, with our places? For the Outpost workshop, we will make a pact with place, and let ourselves for a few days be owned by Billy Meadows. Roaming the woods, roads, and meadows, we’ll discover what makes this flowery enclave in the forest so alive. In our daily writing, we’ll look for vital correspondences between nature and ourselves. We’ll write a lot, and discover things we didn’t know we knew. Poets, prose writers, and genre-benders are equally welcome.

Charles Goodrich’s latest chapbook, In the Chesnim Country, includes writings from his 2009 Werner Writer’s Residency at Billy Meadows. He is the author of Insects of South Corvallis and The Practice of Home, and co-editor of In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens. After a long career as a professional gardener, he now serves as Program Director for the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State University. A new collection of prose poems, Going to Seed: Dispatches from the Garden, is due out in April. His website is www.charlesgoodrich.com.

OUTPOST: Writing about Place in Northeast Oregon

“Outpost” is a new twig on an old tree here at Fishtrap. Our goal with the Outpost workshop at Summer Fishtrap is to help you better understand, appreciate, and write about the natural landscape of the Wallowa country. What better way for you to do this than to immerse yourself in the landscape of Wallowa County, at a location far from the crowds, in the company of likeminded writers, with the guidance of a favorite writing mentor and naturalists? Outpost takes Fishtrap a step closer to the wild.

For this, its second year, the Outpost workshop will again be held at Billy Meadows, located “out north” in Wallowa County, in the ponderosa pine country between the Zumwalt Prairie and Joseph Canyon. It’s about 40 miles on good gravel roads from Summer Fishtrap at the head of Wallowa Lake. Billy Meadows is a Forest Service facility, with a couple of barns, a corral, and an historic main house built by Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Outpost workshop participants will assemble at Wallowa Lake on the afternoon of Sunday, July 11, then travel together in a van to Billy Meadows, stopping along the way at Red Hill Lookout to take in the full panorama of landscapes in Wallowa County: the Wallowa Mountains to the south and west, the small towns and farms in the valley, the rolling hills of the Zumwalt, Findley Buttes, the big canyons of the Imnaha and Snake rivers to the east, and timbered hills to the north.

You will stay at Billy Meadows through Wednesday night, with one or two short field trips to visit the breaks (edge) of Joseph Canyon and the beautiful fingered ridges reaching north toward the Snake River. On Thursday, you will return to Wallowa Lake before evening, so that you can join everyone else for the opening of the Gathering. On Friday morning, you will have a final workshop session at Wallowa Lake.

In addition to Charles Goodrich as a writing guide, Fishtrap will provide one or two naturalists who will make guest appearances to enrich your experience.

Housing: While at Billy Meadows, you have your choice of lodging. You can sleep in one of the beds in a modern and comfortable bunkhouse, or you can sleep on the finest bed there is: a blanket of pine needles on the forest floor. Fishtrap can supply large nylon camping tents (one person per tent), and inflatable air mattresses on request.

Meals: When you sign up for Outpost, you must also sign up for the full workshop meal package (Option B). At Billy Meadows, you will enjoy fine and hearty home cooking. You may bring your own alcohol.

Water: The bunkhouse has two showers and two toilets. The water at Billy Meadows is safe for washing and showering, but not for drinking. Fishtrap will supply ample drinking water in 2 gallon jugs.

Lights & Electricity: There will be propane lights and lanterns available at Outpost. Electricity will not be available. Although there is a propane-powered electric generator, it will be used only in an emergency. Participants are encouraged to write with pen and paper.

Transportation: You may leave your vehicle at Wallowa Lake Camp and take a Fishtrap-supplied van to Billy Meadows. If you wish, you may drive (on gravel) to Billy Meadows in your own vehicle.

To register: Sign up as you would for any other Summer Fishtrap workshop, at www.fishtrap.org, or by calling us at 541-426-3623. Participants in Outpost will receive more detailed instructions before arrival, about what to bring and how to prepare.

[Download a printable .pdf version of this information here]