Where the Wild Remedies Grow

How long days in the saddle, an old-fashioned cottonwood balm, and the wild landscape of Alaska inspired one of Essential Journeys’ most enduring collections.

During the summers of 1995 through 1999, I lived in Skagway, Alaska, where I guided bicycle tours for Sockeye Cycle Alaska Bicycle Tours and spent hours every day on my bike. I also guided sea-kayaking tours from Skagway Harbor into Long Bay and toward Dyea. My days were active, physical, and shaped almost entirely by the wild landscape around me.

Once or twice a month, I caught a ride 110 miles north to Whitehorse, the capital of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Whitehorse had a large grocery store where I could stock up, as well as Three Beans Natural Foods, where I remember discovering arnica gel. After long days of cycling, hiking, and paddling, I began using it on my tired, aching muscles.

Around the same time, a friend in Skagway was making and selling Balm of Gilead from the fragrant buds of cottonwood trees, which grew prolifically throughout the Skagway Valley. I was fascinated by the idea that something so soothing could be gathered from the trees surrounding us and transformed into a balm. It belonged to the world of herbal concoctions, ancient remedies, and almost magical brews created from roots, flowers, leaves, and oils.

Surrounded by that vast northern landscape—and intrigued by remedies drawn directly from the earth—I began researching ingredients and experimenting with formulations of my own. When I discovered an exceptional supplier of wildcrafted arnica, something clicked. I wasn’t simply trying to reproduce the gel I had been using. I wanted to create my own rich, soothing arnica remedy: something rooted in old herbal traditions but made for the aches and adventures of modern life.

The first product I created was Rosemary Mint Arnica Salve, a rich blend of arnica, shea butter, and cocoa butter. Over time, it grew into a larger arnica collection, and we are now renaming the salves Arnica Soufflés—a name that better captures their light, creamy texture and deeply moisturizing feel. My fascination with arnica also led me to incorporate it into bath salts, soaps, and scrubs.

When I look at the collection today, I see more than a line of products. I see the wild landscape that first awakened my curiosity: long days on my bicycle, paddling out from Skagway Harbor, the road north to Whitehorse, and cottonwood trees growing throughout the valley. Those summers taught me to look more closely at the plants around me—and to appreciate the old tradition of transforming what grows from the earth into nourishing care for the body.

What began with a tube of arnica gel from a little natural-food store and a friend gathering cottonwood buds for Balm of Gilead eventually found its way home with me. Decades later, that sense of discovery still lives in every Essential Journeys® Arnica product.