Mountain Trails and Forest Tales is a collection of stories from a lifetime love affair with wild places and adventures while working for the Forest Service in Yaak Montana. Mark's stories capture some of the incredible people, places and stories from by gone days of the Forest Service and life working on the Yaak Ranger District in Northwest Montana. Mark started working on the Yaak Ranger District in the spring of 1979. He fell in love with its wildness and beauty and spent the rest of his Forest Service career there. He can be found still exploring the many wonders and beautiful places of the Yaak, his "Places of the Heart". Mark was born and raised in Minnesota. He attended Vermilion Community College in Ely, Minnesota, graduating in 1978. He worked for the Forest Service in Isabella Minnesota for a short time before moving to northwest Montana. Mark began working as a forest ranger on the Yaak Ranger District in Northwest Montana in the Spring of 1979. He fell in love with its wildness and beauty and spent the next 35 years of his Forest Service career there. Mark can still be found exploring the many wonders and beautiful places of the Yaak, which he calls his "Places of the Heart."