Cothern, Mike: - Mike Cothern grew up on a family farm in southern Idaho and then attended the University of Idaho. After receiving a degree in Wildland Recreation Management from that institution circumstances dictated that he return to the farm to run the operation. After farming for twenty years he joined the Natural Resources Conservation Service. At that time he also began writing stories about the wildest places he could find in south-central Idaho. His hiking adventures covered landscapes from remote desert canyons to some of the highest mountain ranges found in the Northwest.