In 2006 I wrote and had published my first book,"The Missing Chapters: the Untold Story of Ezra Meeker's Old Oregon Trail Monument Expedition" (Ezra Meeker Historical Society). This was followed in 2009 by "Slick As A Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise" (Washington State University Press). In 2012 I co-authored "Our Faces Are Westward" (Oregon-California Trails Association) and in 2013 "A Yankee on Puget Sound" (Washington State University Press). My fifth book published by WSU Press, titled "Hop King: Ezra Meeker's Boom Years," came out in August 2016. My latest book published by WSU Press in the Spring of. 2020 is titled Saving the Oregon Trail.
In addition, I have written many articles for various historical periodicals over the years and I often lecture around the northwest about early northwest pioneers.

After a 28 year career in public education, wearing many hats, such as history teacher, head football coach, athletic director, ASB advisor, social studies department chairman, etc. I retired from Yelm High School in 2001. An accident in the Olympic Mountains in 1994 eventually led to a series of back surgeries and procedures. I toughed it out until 2004 when I was evacuated off the Appalachian Trail ending our thru-hike. That put an end to my lifelong joy of backpacking in the mountains. I channeled my love of the outdoors into less vigorous but still rewarding activities, such as birding, day-hiking, geocaching, and traveling around North America with my wife in our 17-foot long Casita travel trailer. I am proud to note that I have recorded 664 ABA life birds in my National Geographic Guide to Birds of North America; a record I have kept since 1988. Before I totally crashed and burned my wife and I managed to hike all the trails in Mt Rainier and Olympic National Parks, the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington, the John Muir Trail in California, the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Connecticut, and many backpacking trips in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. In the summer of 2016 we trekked to Alaska's Lake Clark National Park and Wrangell St. Elias National Park on my quest to visit all the national parks in the fifty states. Near McCarthy in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park we had a rather nasty and scary encounter with a very unfriendly grizzly bear. A magic umbrella saved the day and our hides. My 61st and final park. New River Gorge , I completed in April 2024.

My top 10 wildlife encounters:
1. Waking up in ANWR surrounded by thousands of caribou
2. Being charged by a grizzly bear in Wrangle St. Elias NP and fending him off with open umbrellas
3. Watching a wolf run down and kill a caribou in front of our camp on April Creek in the Gates of the Arctic NP and then go up on a nearby hill and call in the pack
4. Seeing herds of musk oxen on Ellesmere Island
5. Watching a bobcat family hunt and play in Big Bend NP
6. Seeing my one and only Lynx on the Cassiar Highway
7. Hiding in the brush along the Brooks river while three grizzly bears marched down the river where we were fishing snarling and growling at each other in Katmai NP
8. Canoeing down the Noatak River and having wolves on both banks of the river howling as we passed through, and hiding in the bushes while a wolf stalked and tried to circle around us until it figured out we were human; then it ran
9. Watching a black bear and grizzly bear encounter in Edziza Provincial Park, BC
10. Watching caribou swimming across a lake in Spazizi Provincial Park in BC

My lecture at the Schmidt House in Tumwater on January 21, 2016 was televised on TCTTV channel 26 and may be viewed at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnET7zHFnjU.

My lecture of March 16, 2017 at the Schmidt House in Tumwater was also televised and placed on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omWD6CXBARk

The trailer for Slick as a Mitten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3EyST-P4BU

Link to Geni: http://www.geni.com/people/Dennis-Larsen/6000000013478048985

Link to interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8WEZWK9qQs&feature=youtu.be
17:20

Schmidt House, Tumwater, WA June 14 link to televised talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFf3fz1Bizg

Link to Sept 24, 2019 talk at Lacey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I6CLDPyxJU

Link to, Jan 9, 2020 at the Schmidt House in Tumwater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXmz9LNQjCU

Link to Vietnam interview May 2021
http://www.voiceofvashon.org/user-content/vietnam-series-episode-3b-dennis-larsen/

Link to Interview WSHS May 2021
https://soundcloud.com/user-585115914/columbia-conversations-episode-25-ezra-meeker-scholar-and-author-dennis-larsen

Link to December 2023 zoom presentation about an 1880 wagon train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a4H1cOjZM8

In 2006 I wrote and had published my first book,"The Missing Chapters: the Untold Story of Ezra Meeker's Old Oregon Trail Monument Expedition" (Ezra Meeker Historical Society). This was followed in 2009 by "Slick As A Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise" (Washington State University Press). In 2012 I co-authored "Our Faces Are Westward" (Oregon-California Trails Association) and in 2013 "A Yankee on Puget Sound" (Washington State University Press). My fifth book published by WSU Press, titled "Hop King: Ezra Meeker's Boom Years," came out in August 2016. My latest book published by WSU Press in the Spring of. 2020 is titled Saving the Oregon Trail.
In addition, I have written many articles for various historical periodicals over the years and I often lecture around the northwest about early northwest pioneers.

After a 28 year career in public education, wearing many hats, such as history teacher, head football coach, athletic director, ASB advisor, social studies department chairman, etc. I retired from Yelm High School in 2001. An accident in the Olympic Mountains in 1994 eventually led to a series of back surgeries and procedures. I toughed it out until 2004 when I was evacuated off the Appalachian Trail ending our thru-hike. That put an end to my lifelong joy of backpacking in the mountains. I channeled my love of the outdoors into less vigorous but still rewarding activities, such as birding, day-hiking, geocaching, and traveling around North America with my wife in our 17-foot long Casita travel trailer. I am proud to note that I have recorded 664 ABA life birds in my National Geographic Guide to Birds of North America; a record I have kept since 1988. Before I totally crashed and burned my wife and I managed to hike all the trails in Mt Rainier and Olympic National Parks, the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington, the John Muir Trail in California, the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Connecticut, and many backpacking trips in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. In the summer of 2016 we trekked to Alaska's Lake Clark National Park and Wrangell St. Elias National Park on my quest to visit all the national parks in the fifty states. Near McCarthy in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park we had a rather nasty and scary encounter with a very unfriendly grizzly bear. A magic umbrella saved the day and our hides. My 61st and final park. New River Gorge , I completed in April 2024.

My top 10 wildlife encounters:
1. Waking up in ANWR surrounded by thousands of caribou
2. Being charged by a grizzly bear in Wrangle St. Elias NP and fending him off with open umbrellas
3. Watching a wolf run down and kill a caribou in front of our camp on April Creek in the Gates of the Arctic NP and then go up on a nearby hill and call in the pack
4. Seeing herds of musk oxen on Ellesmere Island
5. Watching a bobcat family hunt and play in Big Bend NP
6. Seeing my one and only Lynx on the Cassiar Highway
7. Hiding in the brush along the Brooks river while three grizzly bears marched down the river where we were fishing snarling and growling at each other in Katmai NP
8. Canoeing down the Noatak River and having wolves on both banks of the river howling as we passed through, and hiding in the bushes while a wolf stalked and tried to circle around us until it figured out we were human; then it ran
9. Watching a black bear and grizzly bear encounter in Edziza Provincial Park, BC
10. Watching caribou swimming across a lake in Spazizi Provincial Park in BC

My lecture at the Schmidt House in Tumwater on January 21, 2016 was televised on TCTTV channel 26 and may be viewed at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnET7zHFnjU.

My lecture of March 16, 2017 at the Schmidt House in Tumwater was also televised and placed on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omWD6CXBARk

The trailer for Slick as a Mitten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3EyST-P4BU

Link to Geni: http://www.geni.com/people/Dennis-Larsen/6000000013478048985

Link to interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8WEZWK9qQs&feature=youtu.be
17:20

Schmidt House, Tumwater, WA June 14 link to televised talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFf3fz1Bizg

Link to Sept 24, 2019 talk at Lacey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I6CLDPyxJU

Link to, Jan 9, 2020 at the Schmidt House in Tumwater https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXmz9LNQjCU

Link to Vietnam interview May 2021
http://www.voiceofvashon.org/user-content/vietnam-series-episode-3b-dennis-larsen/

Link to Interview WSHS May 2021
https://soundcloud.com/user-585115914/columbia-conversations-episode-25-ezra-meeker-scholar-and-author-dennis-larsen

Link to December 2023 zoom presentation about an 1880 wagon train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a4H1cOjZM8