Thursday, July 22, 2010

Meet Your Peers: Montana Hodges


My name is Montana Hodges (ironic, I know), but I was born that way, and couldn’t be happier with the decision from my hippy parents. I always say, if they had named me Virginia, things would have turned out so differently. The Appalachians were once as high as the Himalayas, but that billion years sure has worn them down! I am honored to be named after the mountainous 41st state and her admittedly more humbling peaks.

I am originally from Northern California where the Sierra Nevada Mountains make a decent playground for the outdoor junkies. My time in the natural world led me into my two biggest passions—rocks and writing. With a double bachelor’s in journalism and geology from CSU Sacramento, I found my niche writing outdoor travel guides after college.

I’ve spent the last several years penning books between Alaska, Montana and my hometown of Sloughhouse, California. I am deeply enthralled with the geology of the west and the great writers and scientists that have been influenced by the University of Montana. I look forward to the time with my classmates and professors and hope that through this program I can help humanity to appear as more than just a brief oil slick in the geologic record. When I’m not busy researching my thesis, I also plan to unravel the mystery of why hay bales are rolled in some states and packed squarely in others.

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