Gliding into the Light of Spring

Time is swiftly passing by here on the Continental Divide, and the arrival of our first robin and bluebird heralds the advent of Spring. With the changing seasons come improved conditions, and we are excited to announce the opening of registration for visits to Sage Wall. Mark your calendars for Monday, April 15, 2024, when registration officially begins! At that time, please reach out to us via email to check availability.

Please note, as of this announcement, our area is still blanketed in snow and mud. Therefore, we ask that you plan your visit here for after May 1st. We will be accepting reservations through September 2024, or until the winter snows shut us down! Visitors have the option to choose from two time slots for their visit: 10 am or 2 pm. We look forward to welcoming you to Sage Wall!

For those who have been keeping up with us, you may have noticed a slight increase in our prices. This adjustment is a reflection of the considerable time and effort we are investing to enhance your experience and to conduct more in-depth research into the origins of Sage Wall. Upon receiving your registration link, you will find a variety of options available for selection:

1. Sage Mountain Center Tour (guided): 1 hour, $30/person. 17 years old and under are free. This one-hour guided tour explores our award-winning facility featuring solar and wind off-grid sustainable living, including organic and Permaculture gardens, clean energy systems, natural building materials, and the wisdom and insights offered from this mountain eco-system.

2. Sage Wall and Trail Hike (on your own): 2-hour reservation slots, $75/person. 17 years old and younger are free. Self-guided tour (it’s about a 1/2-mile hike to Sage Wall from the parking lot and takes about 15 min.). Dirt trails are clearly marked and are unfortunately NOT wheelchair accessible.

3. Guided Sage Wall and Trail Hike. Do you want someone to guide you or your personal group up to the Wall? Add $100 for you or your group. Get a deep one-hour orientation of the site with one of the owners as your personal tour guide. This includes the history and discovery of Sage Wall in 1996 along with stories of living here for over 30 years. This is an additional fee on top of your $75 registration.

4. Labyrinth Walk: Donation optional. Enjoy one of the larger labyrinths in the country at ½ mile long. It takes about 20 – 40 minutes to walk, depending on your meditative pace.

In other news, Linda Welsh (co-founder and operator of Sage Mountain Center) has written and published her first book! Congratulations on these profound and poetic reflections on dying and death. Below is a blurb and here is the Amazon link where you can pick up your digital or hard copy.

Facing the Mountain: Poems on Dying and Death, Caregiving and Hope offers comfort for those in bereavement and explores the interwoven themes of dying, death, caregiving, and hope in human nature and Nature itself. In this deeply honest, transparent, and questioning collection of poems, Linda C. Welsh explores the complexities of caring for people in their most vulnerable time of need within the context of a death-phobic society. An innovative fusion shaped from direct experience in the care of the dying, surrender to the transformative forces of life, and reverence for the living world, Facing the Mountain is a lyrical exploration of grief, aloneness, renewal, awakening, and longing.

Linda C. Welsh is a Registered Nurse certified in Hospice and Palliative Care. She has assumed many roles in the delivery of hospice care; but her joy has always been accompanying people one on one. Co-founder of Sage Mountain Center, an education center for sustainable living in Whitehall, Montana, Welsh is also a distance hiker with a Master’s degree in Transformative Learning and Change.

Lastly, we are excited to share that our additional book project, tentatively titled “The Chronicles of Sage Mountain Center: Featuring Sage Wall,” is making steady progress. We are optimistic about its completion by the end of this year. This comprehensive guide will encapsulate the entirety of our rich history and provide the most recent reports and captivating narratives about this remarkable ancient site. Stay tuned for this all-encompassing journey into our past, present, and future.

Be Well,

Chris and the Sage Mountaineers