Book - Natalie Ogbourne

Encounter | Experience | Explore

Waking Up in the Wilderness invites you to embark on a multi-decade journey through Yellowstone’s wild beauty. With a delicate blend of adventure and reflection, Natalie Ogbourne guides you through landscapes where wonder and peril exist in tandem, revealing glimpses of the park’s grandeur and its quieter truths. Ideal for armchair travelers, outdoor adventurers, and national park aficionados eager to experience Yellowstone’s transformative wilderness.

Let’s go to Yellowstone!

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For Natalie Ogbourne, Yellowstone has never been just a destination—it’s been a lifelong companion. A former park employee and longtime return visitor, she weaves decades of experience into Waking Up in the Wilderness: A Yellowstone Journey. Despite not being the traditional outdoorsy type, she lays claim to a singular athletic bone that divides its time between hiking boots and downhill skis in the very landscapes that inspire her writing. From her home in central Iowa, she invites readers to discover that the wilderness isn’t simply a place to visit, but a new way to see the world–and their lives.

Let’s go to Yellowstone!

Waking Up in the Wilderness is honored to be part of the Inspired by Yellowstone Artist Series.

Endorsments

“Natalie Ogbourne is a long-standing citizen of the Yellowstone Nation, and in Waking Up in the Wilderness she chronicles the richly rewarding arts, skills, and wisdoms she has earned in many seasons of watching “Yellowstone being Yellowstone.” Her enthusiastic and affable tales of exploring the park display not only good sense but an admirable humility in the face of Yellowstone’s wonders.”

~ Paul Schullery, author of Mountain Time, Searching for Yellowstone: Ecology and Wonder in the Last Wilderness, and The Bear Doesn’t Know: Life and Wonder in Bear Country.

"This book is as close as possible to experiencing the beauty and grandeur of Yellowstone without being there. Through Natalie's words and descriptions, the reader can almost hear the thundering waters cascading over the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River or feel the stream of hot water gushing upwards from Old Faithful Geyser. Waking Up in the Wilderness brought back precious memories of my own visits to Yellowstone National Park."

~ Paul Stutzman, author of Hiking Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the AppalachianTrail

“Natalie Ogbourne’s Waking Up in the Wilderness takes us on adventures where the epic wild majesty of Yellowstone National Park is as much a character as Ogbourne and her family. This account of Ogbourne’s repeated pilgrimages to Yellowstone illuminates a place where the wilderness and civilization interact in a very intimate and strange way, like the dynamic landscape in Yellowstone itself. Through this lens of repeated forays into this special place, Ogbourne shows readers the mercies of nature, love, passing time, and family.”—

~ Nicholas Trandahl, award-winning poet, author of Mountain Song and Purgatory

Reviews

"When I think of wilderness, I think of a barren place. But Natalie helped me realize wilderness is wildness: it can be teeming with life. Though there are touristy areas of Yellowstone, paved roads, shops, and cabins, there is also an abundance of wild flora, fauna, and geological wonders."

~ Barbara Lee Harper (read full review here)

"This book is a marvelous journey led by a skilled guide."

~ Pam Crement (read full review here)

From the Back Cover

Experience Yellowstone for Yourself.

Waking up in the Wilderness invites you to embark on a four-decade journey into Yellowstone National Park. Travel with Natalie Ogbourne as she navigates the fine line between isolation and solitude—on the road, on the trail, and in life. Encounter the park’s inseparable dangers and delights. Explore Yellowstone through each of its seasons—hiking, canoeing, fly fishing, snowmobiling, and camping along the way. Experience the transformational power of its wilderness.

It’s said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Or the rotation of a tire. Or the turn of a page.

Let’s go to Yellowstone.

Available online, in Yellowstone, and at these Iowa Booksellers

Availiable at these Iowa Book Sellers: Altoona: Hidden Treasures Des Moines: Barnes & Noble, Beaverdale Books, Choices Grimes: The Wandering Raccoon Grinnell: Stepping Stones Knoxville: Coffee Connection Marshalltown: Stepping Stones Newton: Choices Oskaloosa: Book Vault, Stepping Stones Pella: Iris Coffee