[4] LaBastille was married for seven years to C.V. “Major” Bowes (born 29 Apr 1919; died 25 Oct 2012),[5] the owner of the Covewood Lodge on Big Moose Lake, New York.

She traveled around the world and worked with many non-profit organizations to study and alleviate the destructive effects of acid rain and pollution on lakes and wildlife.

LaBastille's most popular books, the Woodswoman series, were a set of four memoirs spanning four decades of her life in the Adirondack Mountains and chronicled her relationship with the wilderness.

Inspired by Henry David Thoreau's Walden, LaBastille purchased land on the edge of a mountain lake in the Adirondacks, where she built a log cabin in 1964.

The remainder of Woodswoman records her adventures living in this log cabin without comforts such as electricity or running water, as well as her explorations into the wilderness of the Adirondacks.

In her second book, Beyond Black Bear Lake (1987), she described how she built her smaller second cabin, Thoreau II, on a more remote area of her property in order to obtain a more Walden-like experience.

Both the first and second books explored her friendships, romances, her previous marriage, her close bonds to her German Shepherd dogs, the ebb and flow of nature, and her conservation efforts.

In both volumes, LaBastille included stories illustrating the increasing difficulty of juggling a multifaceted career consisting of freelance writing, academic teaching, and conservation consulting work, with her ever-present desire to retreat into the wilderness.

LaBastille's photos were mostly taken in upstate New York and show a variety of subjects, including natural beauty and wildlife, environmental problems, urban sprawl, and everyday life in small towns.

In Woodswoman IIII and in an interview with the Cornell Alumni Magazine, LaBastille noted that rising global temperatures had transformed her lakeside property from a year-round home into a seasonal retreat.