ABOUT

Sawtooth Outback is a vision Kirk Bachman now shares with his wife Kelley from their home on Nip ‘N Tuck Creek in Lower Stanley.  Their home base also serves as a guest house and is the residence for continued yurt projects, adventure dreams, and sharing life’s stories. 

Initially, Kirk graduated from Idaho State University in the seventies with a degree in American Studies and emphases in philosophy & environmental studies.  While at the university, he concurrently began developing  his training and experience as  a ‘paid outdoor leader’ with the ISU Outdoor Program. (foto ISU) 

Kirk’s vision took root with a move to the Sawtooth Valley, to reside in a yurt he personally constructed while at the university.  Applying his passion for adventure with his education, Kirk began working as a ski guide and river kayak instructor, initially under the  mentorship of Sawtooth legend, Joe Leonard. The combination of guiding, a passion for exploring the mountains and rivers, and continuing to build yurts while developing shared skills and craft with others, formed the roots and genesis of Sawtooth Outback,

Following his two year mentorship, Kirk returned back to the Tetons (his boyhood home) for a five year period to join friends in operating a backcountry skiing company  in the winter months in Driggs.  In summer, he began work as a climbing guide in Grand Teton National Park.  These years served as a valuable period to gain experience in mountain guiding and entrepreneurship. Woodworking skills continued to develop through stints as a carpenter, while also continuing yurt building projects for others. However, the pull of returning to the Sawtooths won out as Kirk remembered a quip from his mentor Joe, “If you drink from the Salmon River’s headwaters you will always return.”

Founding Sawtooth Mountain Guides (SMG) in 1985 was Kirk’s solution to having a livelihood which anchored him to the mountains and rivers he loved. Operating SMG for 27 years beginning in the mid-eighties through 2013 consumed a large part of  Kirk’s attention.  SMG spawned a strong tight knit group of professional guides who now own and continue to develop and run a successful company. Throughout that 33-year period, the broader vision of Sawtooth Outback has remained as Kirk’s spirit continuing work in Design - building a hand crafted home, a woodworker, yurt builder and adventure guide.

Over the span of time Kirk’s professional work as a guide has taken him to many of the special locales around the world including numerous stints to the South American Andes, Alaska, throughout the western US/Canada and explorations in the Himalaya, Europe and New Zealand…and the adventure continues…