Sharing the Swan

Story and photos by Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake

Group takes weekly sojourns into East Valley mountain range

Snow-laden hemlock and birch bend over the trail, forming a series of white archways as the fourteen skiers glide through the lower reaches of Krause Basin.

The skiers cross an open section of recently logged state lands and are soon skiing beneath a towering stand of old growth western hemlock on Flathead National Forest. A fork of Krause Creek parallels the trail, though it's snow-covered now and criss-crossed with snowshoe-hare tracks. Farther up the trail, the dense canopy opens up into a meadow, where grand old cottonwood trees beckon.

A golden-crowned kinglet's high-pitched song rings out from above. A mound of snow drops with a thud from an overhanging branch. A conversation develops between two of the skiers.

Except for those few sounds, the forest is quiet.

And that's one of the things that draws this group of skiers here. The quiet.

The skiers who gather are about a thousand feet below Strawberry Lake, at the base of the northern Swan Range, 15 miles east of Kalispell. It's raining in Kalispell this morning in early February, but snowing (though barely) out here.

This ski outing up Krause Creek is the

116th outing of the Swan Rangers, an informal hiking and skiing group that meets each Saturday morning to explore a part of the Swan Range. The group meets at the Echo Lake Cafe for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and leaves for the outing around 9:30 a.m. The group determines where to go based on the interests and abilities of each participant. The outings usually cover 3 to 8 miles, with some longer trips on summer days.

For Swan Rangers founder Keith Hammer, the group is about community-building and enjoying the spectacular Swan Range with a group of interesting people.

"I am continually amazed at the diversity of people and their backgrounds and careers that share the common denominator of seeking out quiet, beautiful places in which to get quiet, healthy exercise while surrounded by wildlife, forests, mountains, etc.," he wrote in a recent e-mail.

While people from across the valley are welcome on the outings, Hammer is focused on developing community in the fast-growing East Valley. He sees a growing focus on Kalispell and "north Kalispell," he said and wanted to provide recreational gatherings for Swan Range area residents "so that people don't have to drive their brains out" motoring across the valley.

For 40 years, Hammer has been exploring the Swan Range and he wants to share it with others.

While he attends 99 percent of the outings, he stresses that he does not lead the hikes and ski trips. In fact, other participants often take turns leading the outings and choosing the destination. While Hammer has advanced backcountry and medical training, he says that the trips are not "guided outings."

The group avoids mountaineering or extreme sports and stays clear of avalanche zones in the winter.

Learning from one another is one of the goals of the outings, says Hammer. Whether the topic is outdoor safety skills, plants, wildlife or land-management issues, Hammer appreciates the varied knowledge of his fellow adventurers.

Hammer, who has kept meticulous notes on his outings and sends out a weekly e-mail report about each trip, says that the outings have attracted more than 120 different people, with an average of six people per outing.

"We've had from toddlers to folks in their 80s," he said, "and I hope to still be going on Swan Ranger outings when I am 80-plus."

Swan Rangers participant Joel Vignere says he joins the group 10 to 12 times each year.

A retired pilot, he enjoys the exercise and appreciates the varied ages and interests of the participants.

"For many years almost all my outdoor adventures were solo, so it's nice to have someone to share the fun with. Another plus is that it's a great way to help keep in shape over the winter doldrums where it is sometimes difficult to motivate oneself," he said.

The camaraderie among Swan Rangers is clearly another lure of the Swan Rangers outings. Vignere and Tom Reynolds, who just recently joined the group, learned during a recent trip that they share a background as pilots in the military.

"Other folks have met and become hiking or skiing companions as they found their skill levels matched up well," Hammer said. Some people come to learn about new areas in the Swan Range and later return to those places on their own.

Hammer, now 53, moved to the Flathead Valley in 1964 when his father was hired to manage the Creston Fish Hatchery and he has lived in the Flathead Valley most of his life. He has worked as a logger, trail-crew worker, backcountry guide, and in 1984, he co-founded the Swan View Coalition, which he continues to direct.

The spectacular Swan Range has been Hammer's backyard and his passion for years. As the Flathead Valley's population grows, the public land in the Swan Range has become even more important for recreation and solitude, he says.

Hammer co-founded the Swan View Coalition in 1984 in order to address a plan to log a dozen 20-acre-square clearcuts on the west face of the Swan Range. His group stopped the logging project and has been deeply involved in land-management issues in the area ever since. The group also helped develop the Krause Basin Interpretive Trail, which loops through an old western hemlock forest and a regenerating clearcut.

But Hammer formed the Swan Rangers to focus on community-building and appreciation of the natural world. On one trip last fall, hikers watched golden eagles and hawks soar above the Swan Range on their migration south. On another trip, a herd of elk moved in behind the group as they settled in for lunch up Wolf Creek Canyon. On winter treks, they've found wolverine and grizzly tracks and once watched a roaming grizzly on a trip near Wildcat Lake.

For those seeking exercise while enjoying nature and fellowship, The Swan Rangers fits the bill.

"This is definitely a 'stop and smell the roses' hiking club that values the trip as much or more than the destination," Hammer wrote last fall.

For more information on the Swan Rangers, visit www.swanrange.org or contact Hammer by e-mail at keith@swanview.org