Exploring Glacier's trails in winter

Glacier National Park is a good place to get lost.

Standing amid a million acres of preserved wild nature, surrounded by mountains as high as clouds, it’s easy to forget the congested world and all of its bustle. And today, is there a greater modern escape than being out of cell-phone service?

But at the same time, for people such as Jane Brown and countless others, the Crown of the Continent can be so big, so vast, that it’s too much to take on unassisted, and getting lost in an unpleasant sort of way can be just as likely. That’s why Glacier Outdoor Center is there to help.

Since last winter, the Outdoor Center situated off U.S. 2 outside West Glacier has operated guided snowshoe and cross-country ski trips in Glacier Park. With more than 730 miles of trails inside the park, the guided trips can run anywhere from a half-day couple-mile tour to a full-day elevation climb.

Store manager Karsten Carlson says there’s something for everyone, which is why starting up the winter tours seemed like an obvious addition for the year-round adventure company.

“I think it was just a natural fit for our business,” he said. “We offer rafting and fishing trips all summer, but then during the winter there’s still plenty to do inside the park.”

During the peak season from June through September, the Outdoor Center employs more than 30 guides who take thousands of visitors on an assortment of adventures. With the slower winter season, only four full-time guides stay on, including veteran Marc Evans, who started working there in 1994.

On a recent bluebird day, Evans led an uncommon group — Brown, a first-time visitor, along with a young couple and a reporter — into a remote slice of wild land that promised to be a first-time experience for everyone but Evans.

After loading the crew up with snowshoes and a lunch, Evans took the wheel and headed toward the Ole Creek trailhead on U.S. 2 as the cell phone service faded.

Along the 30-minute drive, the in-car topics ranged from history (particularly fires), to wildlife possibilities (lions and wolves and bears aplenty), to safety precautions (avalanche, avalanche, avalanche).

Last year, Evans said he took only about six snowshoe trips, but now that the word has gotten out the number has at least doubled this winter.

“Not a lot of people know the park is open during the winter,” he said.

The plan for the guided trips is to find a trail off the beaten path so that even local visitors can possibly find a new path of adventure.

“We do it mainly to get away from the crowds because on weekends going into the West Glacier entrance can just be piled with people, which is not a bad thing,” Evans said. “It’s good to see people getting out, but sometimes it’s nice to have the trail to yourself, and then you see some things.”

Many of the center’s winter clients so far have been out-of-towners such as Brown, who recently visited Kalispell for the first time.

“I thought I would take advantage of the great Montana outdoors while I was up here,” she said.

The 40-year-old from North Carolina followed Evans’ lead on the five-mile hike, having never strapped on a pair of snowshoes before. With temperatures ranging into the 50s, at times the snowshoes felt unnecessary since the trip felt more like a summer tour, but there were no complaints from the snowshoers, who were stripped down to T-shirts by day’s end.

As each person followed at his or her own pace, the day passed by in surrounding silence while other times were filled with joking and storytelling (ask Evans about his friend’s bear encounter). The crew didn’t make the whole five-mile summit, but everyone was just as pleased to stop at an open ridge of sun-baked snow and eat lunch before turning back.

And just as noticeable as the wide landscape views was the reverent following of the old saying “Take only pictures, leave only footprints.”

At one point, passing a candy wrapper tossed into the muddy trail, one of the out-of-town guests bent over and picked up the trash and stuffed it into his pocket. Compared with it all, it seemed only right, even to someone foreign to the park.

And in that same sense, the group, in each individual’s own way, was able to preserve the day’s memory and get lost, if only for a moment, in the whole experience. All the while Evans kept a watchful eye from behind.

Later, Brown would say that she definitely would recommend the trip to everyone.

“The thing that I have really been taken by, not only by the hike but about Montana in general, is the feel of it,” she said. “The openness, just the largeness of it. I like that this area is not very populated and everybody has been so friendly. It has a very different feel than North Carolina. Even though North Carolina has mountains and friendly people, it just has its own unique feel here, and I really like it.”

For information on the Glacier Outdoor Center, visit www.glacierraftco.com, or call 1-800-235-6781.

Reporter Dillon Tabish can be reached at 758-4463 or by e-mail at dtabish@dailyinterlake.com.