A winter hike opens up Montana’s mountain mysteries | Opinion

Published

2 weeks ago

February 14, 2026

A winter hike opens up Montana’s mountain mysteries | Opinion

Lisa Schmidt
| Special to the Great Falls Tribune

Even this mild winter can close in on me like dark, imposing walls.

Unanticipated challenges rat-a-tatting at me from left field day after day keep me at the computer and stuck sorting out mental puzzles far more than I prefer.

Add dry wind, short days and the monotony of wintertime chores to the equation and it becomes a desperate need for some mountain time.

My friend, Colleen, said she felt the same way.

Driving along the Rocky Mountain Front is spectacular, but walking among those peaks and crevices eclipses all a drive can offer.

The day was warm and dry, with dense clouds floating high, offering a promise for snow but not really meaning it.

Perfect for a hike.

Neither Colleen nor I could remember the last time we hiked together, but both of us knew we needed to get rid of the Winter Drudgeries.

The white mountain peaks gleamed so we wondered whether we would find deep snow.

Reports from the Bynum area offered low odds so we headed that direction.

Frankly, we knew we could hike throughout most of Montana without worrying about snow. Our friends in the Midwest, the Carolinas and Florida are hogging it.

The well-worn trail pointed us into a canyon of high limestone walls, pine trees and mystery.

Fresh elk scat and pebbles tumbling down the talus told us we weren’t alone.

The trail dissipated, but our dogs found several paths for us to follow. Sometimes, they were the easiest paths and sometimes we found ourselves ducking under branches and tripping over logs.

That didn’t matter.

The scent of the pines mattered.

The stillness of the air mattered.

We didn’t even pretend we would quit talking, though.

The vents were open and words poured out.

Mostly mine.

Mountains do that to me.

Somehow, they expand time and space so my hunched shoulders straighten.

My clenched jaw loosens.

My eyes see colors and shapes that I missed yesterday.

The round glacial rocks provide a background for sharp-cornered, green and brown mineralized rocks.

Wizened sticks curve like horse heads – symbols I relate to, left over after their career of trading air particles.

Trilobite tunnels carve into ancient limestone.

These remind me of Nature’s systems creating the foundation for all life.

As we walk, I think about my brother’s advice: Remember to notice the little things.

He is right – beauty is in the lines in a leaf and the sparkle of an ice crystal.

Or maybe beauty is in the noticing.

The trail crisscrosses a dry creek bed, offering clues to the mystery in the canyon with each bend.

Then we discover a trickle of water tinkling over some rocks.

A little farther upstream, we skate across ice between boulders.

The sun turns the tops of gray limestone walls to that glorious yellow of wintertime angles.

Our cameras come out.

I realize I had stopped venting about life — I just couldn’t think of anything else to complain about.

Instead, we laugh – at ourselves, the dogs playing together, the ice we slip on – anything and everything.

Then we round the final corner of the box canyon.

The mystery of our natural world reveals itself in all its glory.

A waterfall cascades into an icy green pool, Nature’s masterpiece waiting for anyone who makes the effort to find it.

Once again, I am humbled by the awesome wonder of a place far older than humanity.

I don’t know how the mountains do this every single time I arrive, but I count on this gift that I seek when no other gift is enough.

Then I carry the mystery and wonder and power of the mountains back home, sustained for another day.

Lisa Schmidt raises grass-fed beef and lamb at the Graham Ranch near Conrad. Lisa can be reached at L.Schmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.

Source link

Click to comment

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

State

Zip Code

Country

Source link

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

20 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

Source link

Montana

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.

Source link