Deep Dive Hikes and Campground Programs

Description: Montana’s free-flowing rivers and clean water are critical to our state’s prosperity, our unmatched way of life, and to our flourishing fish and wildlife. They provide us with drinking water, irrigation water, and world-class recreational opportunities. Montana’s traditional agricultural economy and our rapidly growing $7.1 billion outdoor recreation economy thrive on the abundance of healthy rivers and clean water.

Please join guest speakers Charles Wolf Drimal of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Kascie Herron of American Rivers as they share their decade-long effort to introduce and pass new legislation called the Montana Headwaters Security Act, which would designate new Wild and Scenic Rivers flowing out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and on other public lands in southwest and central Montana.

Meeting Time and Location: West Boulder Campground, 10am.

Covid-19 Considerations: We will keep our group size below ten people and ask all attendees to stay six feet apart from folks who they do not arrive with. Hand sanitizer will be made available and attendees will be in touch with the ABWF during the days leading up to the hike to ensure they are experiencing no relevant symptoms.

Description: Join the ABWF on the Beartooth Plateau to learn route-finding skills while hiking off trail. We will teach and practice identifying features on maps like peaks, drainages, noses, and saddles, while also learning how to use triangulation to identify one’s exact location. Finally, we will shoot some bearings for those times when visibility is limited or the forest is thick. If those skills mean nothing to you yet, or if you want to fine-tune your skills, meet us in the high country for this workshop.

We will hike around 5 miles total during this clinic. However, folks of all hiking abilities are invited to join us, because we can do a lot of the teaching from the parking lot or close to it.

Meeting place and time: 10am on the Beartooth Pass pullout parking lot on July 12th. We will caravan together to a nearby trailhead and get started.

Covid-19 Considerations: We will keep our group size to 6 people. Each person will use their own compass, provided by the ABWF and sanitized pre-use. While viewing the same map for demonstration, teachers and learners will be asked to wear masks. We will maintain six feet of distance while hiking from folks we did not arrive with. We will also be in touch with attendees during the days leading up to the hike to ensure they are not experiencing any related symptoms.

Description: Join the ABWF on the Line Creek Plateau as we learn about two features of the Beartooths that make the region absolutely unique: Tundra and Whitebark Pine. We will walk out onto the Line Creek Plateau off of the Beartooth Highway to discover what makes our tundra special, and our Whitebark Pines so vital to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

This walk will be relatively short, between 2-4 miles round trip. Folks of all hiking abilities are invited to join us, and we will decide how far to hike based on interest and energy levels.

Meeting time and Location: 10am on the Montana/Wyoming state line on the Beartooth Highway 212, July 18. We will then caravan the short drive to the Line Creek trailhead.

Covid-19 Considerations: We will keep our group size below ten people and ask all attendees to stay six feet apart from folks who they do not arrive with. Hand sanitizer will be made available and attendees will be in touch with the ABWF during the days leading up to the hike to ensure they are experiencing no relevant symptoms.

Description: Montana’s free-flowing rivers and clean water are critical to our state’s prosperity, our unmatched way of life, and to our flourishing fish and wildlife. They provide us with drinking water, irrigation water, and world-class recreational opportunities. Montana’s traditional agricultural economy and our rapidly growing $7.1 billion outdoor recreation economy thrive on the abundance of healthy rivers and clean water.

Please join guest speaker Ryan Cruz of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition as he shares his decade-long effort to introduce and pass new legislation called the Montana Headwaters Security Act, which would designate new Wild and Scenic Rivers flowing out of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness and on other public lands in southwest and central Montana.

Meeting Time and Location: 10AM at Lake Fork of Rock Creek trailhead

Covid-19 Considerations: We will keep our group size below ten people and ask all attendees to stay six feet apart from folks who they do not arrive with. Hand sanitizer will be made available and attendees will be in touch with the ABWF during the days leading up to the hike to ensure they are experiencing no relevant symptoms.

Description: Have you been wanting to take your trail cooking skills to the next level? Come out to Basin Campground near Red Lodge and help us crank out some empanadas and a fresh sourdough loaf! We will go over trail baking basics during this collective knowledge share, cooking over fires and using frybakes.

We will also provide an extra frybake or two, in case you would like to bring something of your own to bake! Our doughs and the firewood will be ready to go, so all you need to do is bring yourself, a bit of an appetite, and an excitement for food and cooking on trail.

Meeting Time and Location: 4pm at Basin Campground near Red Lodge on August 10th

Covid 19 considerations: We will keep our group under 10 people and maintain 6 feet of distance between people who arrive in separate groups. If you would like to get hands-on with the bake, we recommend you bring a pair of work/gardening gloves. Please also bring your own plate and silverware for the grub. We will have hand sanitizer, disposable masks, and disinfectant wipes available.

Description: Join Yellowstone Park Botanist and Wetland Ecologist Heidi Anderson as we explore the plants and wetlands up the North Fork of Bear Creek near Gardiner!

As we make make our way about four miles up the trail, expect to ask questions, pull some weeds, and learn about the plants and wetlands we pass through. During the 8 mile trip we will also catch some views of Ash, Moniter, and Sheep peaks.

Meeting time and location: 8AM at the North Fork Bear Creek trailhead.

Covid-19 Considerations: We will keep our group size below ten people and ask all attendees to stay six feet apart from folks who they do not arrive with. Hand sanitizer and masks will be made available and attendees will be in touch with the ABWF during the days leading up to the hike to ensure they are experiencing no relevant symptoms.