Skip to Main Content
The Outdoor Magazine of the U

Wasatch Magazine

The Outdoor Magazine of the U

Wasatch Magazine

The Outdoor Magazine of the U

Wasatch Magazine

Ren Shields

Ren Shields, Writer

Ren is a senior at the University of Utah, studying child psychology and environmental science. She dedicates most of her time to school and the U’s female/non-binary outdoors club, Backcountry Squatters. Ren is an outdoor enthusiast and, per the description, loves boating, skiing, climbing, backpacking or anything else outside. Additionally, she loves to write creatively through poems, short stories and journalism via The Wasatch mag. Ren is preparing to graduate next spring and getting excited about the future ahead and assessing how to bring her hobbies into her life and career. 

All content by Ren Shields
An Interview with Pro Skier, Megan Dingman

An Interview with Pro Skier, Megan Dingman

Ren Shields, Staff Writer
May 10, 2024

Steep narrow canyons draw in elite skiers the way that porch lights beacon moths. The danger and adrenaline rush combine to create a magnetic attraction. The possibility that such geology could be conquered...

Recent Archeological Findings Reveal Human Occupancy of North America 2,000 Years Prior to Original Assumptions. 

Recent Archeological Findings Reveal Human Occupancy of North America 2,000 Years Prior to Original Assumptions. 

Ren Shields, Staff Writer
April 17, 2024

Roughly 20,000 years ago, the Earth’s atmosphere was shifting dramatically as an ice age which had begun 100,000 years ago was beginning to thaw. Geologists and Archaeologists alike believe that the...

Upon A Red Morning

Ren Shields, Staff Writer
April 1, 2024

Upon A Red Morning  Canyons wake up slowly, so we do too: fifteen tousled heads and thirty dirty feet pressed in a row. Warm inside our wax paper envelopes like tootsie rolls, too cold to poke heads...

I Come Alive In The Summertime

Ren Shields, Staff Writer
November 16, 2023

I come alive in the summertime As the heat blisters my weathered hands And a pink tan sets on my cheeks The light from late nightfall and early sunrise awakens a lightness in me   I...

In the Panhandle of Idaho

In the Panhandle of Idaho

Ren Shields, Staff Writer
October 21, 2023

In the panhandle of Idaho where the world feels a little holier, I was a brand-new river guide. On my first commercial trip I ran the Main Salmon, a section of “wild and scenic” river protected under...

Desert Song / Seasons of the Incadesent Sun

Desert Song / Seasons of the Incadesent Sun

Lauren Shields, Staff Writer
April 3, 2023

Desert Song  And the coyotes howled  Speaking to the heavens like an old friend calling to a lonesome night A language only understood by the burnt cliffs A tongue adopted through the erosion...

The Adventuresome Mother

The Adventuresome Mother

Lauren Shields, Writer
January 16, 2023

Life is inherently risky, from rolling out of bed in the morning, to dawning shoes and a shirt, we cycle through (unlikely), but possible risks in our everyday existence. Death is a possibility that we...

What to Do with College Breaks

What to Do with College Breaks

Lauren Shields, Staff Writer
January 12, 2023

In college we live day to day, week to week, moving through the world with minds full of algorithms, due dates, and weekend plans. By the time a break rolls around, we have no plans. What to do, what to...

Wild and Scenic?

Wild and Scenic?

Lauren Shields, Staff Writer
October 20, 2022

There is a place in the panhandle of Idaho where the world feels a little holier, where the water flows blue and cold and reckless, where sunsets creep over cliff-sides towering above the river bank. This...

Utah's Native Pharmacy

Utah’s Native Pharmacy

Lauren Shields and Leah Button
June 16, 2022

The natural world holds within it the wonders of healing. Each blade of grass, riverside cattail, or desert brush possess medicinal properties that our ancestors, or early humans, once relied entirely...

Scarred and Un-broke

Scarred and Un-broke

Lauren Shields, Staff Writer
May 23, 2022

Wild stallion bucks his head challenging muzzles Romping in the west desert of Utah They live free amongst the sagebrush clinging to the hillside A relentless wind rustles their mane Magnifying glory Their...

Mother Earth’s Hot Tubs: A Short Guide to Utah’s Hot Springs

Mother Earth’s Hot Tubs: A Short Guide to Utah’s Hot Springs

Lauren Shields, Staff Writer
May 12, 2022

Hot springs are like treasures; their sources are buried deep in the Earth with steam rising from the water like mother earth’s hot tub. But where the heck are these things? Utah is teeming with these...

Wild Imagination: A Child’s Perspective on Nature

Wild Imagination: A Child’s Perspective on Nature

Lauren Shields, Staff Writer
April 18, 2022

A child’s perception of the world is magical. It’s filled with wonder and a euphoric understanding of the simple pleasures found in bugs, grass, the shapes of clouds, and even the nostalgic smell...

Load More Stories