Page 55 - Flathead Beacon // 8.24.16

MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
OUTDOORS IN BRIEF
SWAN MOUNTAIN OUTFITTERS RETAINS GLACIER HORSEBACK CONTRACT
The National Park Service announced last week that Swan Mountain Out tters was suc- cessful in its bid for another 10-year concessioner contract to provide horseback trail rides and other packing services in Glacier National Park.
NPS Intermountain Regional Director Sue Masica said Swan Mountain Out tters will be awarded a new 10-year contrac- tion for guided interpretive horse- back trail rides and pack animal services in the local park. The new contract is anticipated to com- mence Jan. 1, 2017. The agency began accepting bids for the ser- vices this spring.
Swan Mountain Out tters – Glacier Division LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swan Moun- tain Out tters, a local out tting company. Swan Mountain Out- tters has over 12 years of expe- rience providing trail rides and pack trips out of seven locations in and around Glacier National Park
includingprovidingtheseservices in the park since 2007.
The horseback concession- aire runs three corrals within the park’s boundaries, located at Apgar, Lake McDonald, and Many Glacier. The Apgar site tends to run trail rides on six major loops, the Lake McDonald site typically includes four major trails, and the Many Glacier site regularly covers seven trails.
Speci c operating standards and requirements include o er- ing daily horseback trail rides, ranging from one hour to all day, as well as having one wrangler per nine riders.
Swan Mountain Out tters, which also runs out tting trips outside the park’s boundaries as well, had its busiest year ever in 2015.
The horses hit the trail in Gla- cier Park typically in mid-May, and continue their work until after Labor Day.
OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING SEASON OF THE SEASONS
IS UPON US
ILINGERED IN BED THE OTHER morning, arguing with the day about whether it should begin.
The day won. It remains undefeated.
Before I conceded I took notice of the weather. The afternoon before I had put the mower to my shaggy lawn. It was a typical hot August afternoon requir- ing an ample supply of cold beverages to complete any laborious task, and I con- sider shaggy lawn trimming extremely laborious.
The morning was di erent. I had left the windows open and in poured cool, crisp air. The leaves of the apple tree out back clattered in a sti breeze. I heard the occasional thud of falling fruit.
This weather is also typical of August. It always turns, albeit temporarily, to remind us that summer is soon over. When we get that rst real taste of fall we mutter things like “Well, that went fast,” when we bump into friends in the grocery store. Soon everyone is wearing eece that has been put away since June.
It will warm up again before summer’s nale, so it’s not quite time to retire the ip- ops. But the days of sock-less foot- wear are limited.
I don’t mind one bit. In fact, I’ve been waiting for this. Fall is my season, the best of the four. It’s not that I don’t love summer, but by August I’m usually tired of it. The world feels baked. The rivers are low. The trout are in a funk. And in every direction the mountains are on re.
So a cool August morning feels me with anticipation.
There’s a lot to like about fall. After a summer of ignoring sports, it’s time to check in and see if my favorite ball club is in a pennant race. It’s also the season where I brie y set aside my IPA obsession and drink a dark ale or two. The cooler temperatures also get the trout feeling
perky again. Some of the best dry y sh- ing of the year is about to happen.
But the main reason fall is my main season is hunting. I sometimes wonder which is my favorite obsession, y shing or bird hunting. It’s hard to decide, but I know that I get extra hyped for hunting. Fly shing I can do year round, but hunt- ing season starts and ends. During that time y shing takes the back seat.
Since I’m a bird hunter my season lin- gers for months. Grouse and partridge open September 1 and you can still hunt pheasant as late as December. A few years back I spent a Christmas Day afternoon at Blasdel in the south valley. My setter Doll put up a rooster but I shot wildly, almost as though I was trying to miss. It was Christmas after all.
For the next few months, I’ll spend every available day in the eld behind Doll, desperate to see her get birdy and go on point. I’ll walk so much I’ll lose 10 pounds without dieting.
Actually, I do the opposite as a freezer full of game birds translates into pots of coq au vin and my new favorite, ragù made with smoked chukar. If you nish some al dente rigatoni in a pan with just enough ragù to coat the pasta, toss in a bit of Pecorino Romano and Italian parsley, then drizzle with good olive oil, you’re on your way to heaven. A Willamette Valley pinot noir from vines grown with their toes in soil deposited by Glacial Lake Missoula completes the journey.
I’m chomping at the bit for the smell of wood smoke (not the same as forest re smoke) and snow-dusted peaks and that rst time I get to tell Doll, “Find birds.”
If you need to reach me on a non-hunt- ing matter don’t expect to hear back until after the rst of the year.
I’m busy right now.
Rob Breeding writes and teaches when he’s not shing or hunting.
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AUGUST 24, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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