Columns
Searching for opinion based articles? Below we'll share opinion news articles on a wide variety of topics.
Northern Pike: Love or hate?
Before we get full time into outdoor columns about hunting, let me do a final end-of-summer column about fishing.
A mad dash for Hatches
The past couple of years, around mid-August, Hatch chili peppers have found their way into the produce departments at local groceries. It’s a short window for this particular variety of hot pepper that’s gained pop…
King salmon in Montana
The uneducated angler might argue that there is no such thing as a “King” salmon in Montana…Take that bet! Just like in the Great Lakes, there are freshwater Chinook (or King) salmon populating the waters of Fort P…
'Angering the gods' is risky business
One rightfully could call this year’s spring and summer weather in the Flathead fickle. While local long-timers know June is considered “the rainy month,” this year glorious dry June weekends jump-started our warm-…
Seeing an old farm in a new light
Sometimes, finding one’s “happy place” is as simple as rediscovering a backyard.
A battle of wills - Manpower vs. horsepower
The goal was simple enough. Get the old fishing boat sitting behind the garage, fire up the old boat motor and head to Smith Lake. My husband Jim would tool around fishing for the pike and perch Smith Lake is well-…
'Norway in a Nutshell?' You betcha!
I’m going to Norway in September with my adventure-seeking daughter (the one who currently is on a 1,000-mile road trip to the Arctic Ocean through the Northwest Territories) and I’ve been trying to put myself in a…
Jackson, even in June, is worth visiting
Grapple was collecting on the hood of our pickup as we rolled into Wisdom, Montana, on our way to Jackson Hot Springs for a long weekend.
Whither the whitefish
Lake Superior whitefish are back!
Mom's diaries chronicle minutia of life
I was in Minnesota for a week the end of May to spend time with family and make daily visits to my mother at the memory-care facility where she resides. One of the ongoing tasks has been to sort through the boxes o…
Lakers help preserve Flathead's pristine waters
For more than 60 years the Flathead Lakers organization has advocated for clean water and a healthy ecosystem for Flathead Lake and the Flathead Valley watershed.
The naked truth about nude recreation
I’m guessing there are plenty of Flathead folks who don’t know about Nude Recreation Week, a weeklong celebration in July that coincides with the second annual International Skinny Dip Day on July 13, when “bare bu…
Thoughts about neighbors and fences
If I had to choose sides regarding neighbors and fences, I’d side with the narrator in Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall.” While he and his neighbor go about their annual ritual repairing together the stone wall be…
Rotting cow skulls and other moving horror stories
Moving one’s earthly belongings from one place to another may be one of the worst tasks there is. It’s a slog no matter what, and sometimes it borders on unbearable.
Libby Museum boasts dodecagonal design
Anyone who’s traveled U.S. 2 through Libby has spotted the unique 13,500-square-foot building that houses the Heritage Museum.
Get your local on
It’s pretty amazing when you stop and look at all the things the Flathead Valley is known for. Whether it is destinations like the “Crown of the Continent” that Glacier National Park has become known as, to Flathea…