Travel lightly, exploring the world of nature through words, images and
About Lora Hein
Lora Hein was born in Oregon to parents who met in a college club called the Naturalists and instilled in her a love of nature, art, music, and reading.
Lora is currently working on a memoir, “Just Me and the Bears.” When she was 19 years old, between stints in college, she fled Oakland, CA for the Sierra where she spent a year and five summers working, hiking and backpacking in Yosemite National Park. Exploring wilderness alone gave her strength and trust in her own capabilities from close encounters with the wildlife of Yosemite. There she discovered what she longed to bring to the world.
After her true education from direct interaction with nature and earning a degree in Environmental Studies from Sonoma State University, Lora pursued a variety of ways to earn a living while being close to nature, including being a seasonal park ranger and fire lookout in the North Cascades, air pollution control technician and inspector, teaching for Upward Bound and Concrete School District, and designing and building passive solar houses in Washington State.
Her previous work in progress (“Tortoise Moon,” a young naturalist’s discoveries in the Galápagos Islands) was selected as a finalist in the Nonfiction/Memoir category of the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association Literary Contest. An excerpt from it was published in True Stories, Vol I, The Narrative Project. Her story “The Rose Lady and Honey” won second place in the Write on the Sound non-fiction short story contest in 2022. “Climbing Half Dome,” the story of being part of the first all woman pair to climb a grade lV route on that icon, won a place in the Red Wheelbarrow Writers’ contest, published as an anthology, Spring And All. “High Water and the Biggest Bear,” a story compiled of snippets from her last season as a backcountry ranger in Yosemite, has been included in True Stories, Vol VI.
Lora now calls Edmonds, Washington, home, where she and her spouse enjoy, appreciate and enhance the arts, natural surroundings, and community with as sustainable a lifestyle as possible.
Lora By The Numbers
U.S. National Parks Visited
Countries Visited
States Visited
Just Call Me Banisher of Bears
In a snippet from Lora’s memoir in progress, JUST ME AND THE BEARS, Lora is the first female to be fitted in the male version of the park ranger uniform. While on her first patrol as a backpacking ranger in Yosemite she scares three bears away from a crowded camp area, convincing a child of her authenticity as a ranger.
High Water and the Biggest Bear
A story about a few challenges Lora grappled with in her third season in Yosemite, was included in the anthology True Stories: The Narrative Project Vl published in January 2024. Ask for True Stories at your local bookstore, or order direct from the publisher at the adjacent link!
Climbing Half Dome
A story from adventures included in “Just Me and the Bears.”
Spring and All, published in June 2023, contains the story of how Lora came to be part of the first all woman pair to climb a grade lV route on that iconic summit. Ask for Spring and All at your local bookstore!
Left Behind
An excerpt from Tortoise Moon
True Stories, The Narrative Project Volume 1, published January 2019 contains a chapter in progress from Lora’s memoir, Tortoise Moon, as a stand-alone piece in this anthology.
This adventure within an adventure piece details one of Lora’s experiences in the Galápagos Islands in 1973. Struggling with feeling unaccepted, rejected by the trip leader, Lora and one of her fellow travelers become lost in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island and fear they will be left behind when the fishing boat they are due to depart on leaves the next day. This excerpt
Additional Publications
Edmonds woman recounts how she became first female backpacking ranger in National Park Service, My Edmonds News, June 2024
A Force Outside Myself: Citizens Over 60 Speak, McSweeney’s, June 2020
Recent Posts
There’s more to who you are than what you do. Getting in touch with nature reveals your true being.
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