New edition of the travel guide for hikes in the Flathead Valley published

The popular guidebook, Day Hikes Around the Flathead, was originally published in 1999. Local author Stormy Good Monod recently released the 25th anniversary edition, which highlights over 120 hiking trails in the valley.

“I'm so happy that people are responding so positively to it,” Good said of her book. “I'm constantly trying to add new trails and rehike each trail between updates.”

In the book, the trails are divided into seven sections: Glacier National Park, Galton Range, Swan Crest, Great Bear Wilderness and South Fork, Whitefish Range, Mission Mountains, Salish Mountains and valley hikes.

Good provides a map for each hike with the difficulty level of the hike, elevation gain, total distance, and whether dogs are allowed. Directions to trailheads are clear, and for some hikes, Good suggests parking elsewhere than the trailhead so the vehicle is closer to the end of the hike.

The 25th Anniversary Edition includes 18 hikes not included in the previous book. One of these is Tuchuck Ridge on the North Fork, one of Good's favorite places. It is one of the more remote and challenging hikes in the book.

“You follow the ridge the whole way and if you want, you can climb Tuchuck Mountain and go down another trail. It's a beautiful day hike,” Good said. “However, it's challenging because the trail on Tuchuck Ridge is not maintained, so you have to look for cairns and rocks and stay up there.”

The book includes notes by Lex Blood and Judith Pressmar, who enrich the guidebook with information about the geology of northwest Montana. The hikes are listed in the back of the book by difficulty level and all hikes are easy to find in the alphabetical index.

Good includes kid-friendly hikes, suggests the best times of year for some hikes, offers tips for fun hiking, and gives some historical information about places and names.

“Ten Lakes has been a wilderness study area since 1977,” Good said, speaking of the history of some of the areas. “Senator Lee Metcalf has often said he should have declared it a wilderness area, and the same is true of Jewel Basin.”

“Jewel Basin Road was built because they wanted to drill for oil up there,” she added. “There is actually an oil rig at the head of Bowman Lake. It's still there. It's in the water.”

On page 11, Good offers tips for traveling in bear and cougar country. She said bear spray is necessary for any hike, not just the more remote ones.

“I always carry bear spray,” she said. “I've encountered bears and mountain lions while hiking alone on Skookum's Loop on the State Trust Trails in Happy Valley, so I always carry bear spray.”

There are no personal stories in Good's book. She wrote the guidebook to guide people to the trails so they can have their own experiences and discover their own favorite hikes.

What Good particularly appreciates about Montana is the freedom it offers.

“You can go somewhere and know others have been there, but it feels like no one else is there,” she said. “Even if you see four or five people, you have a shared experience.”

She has removed some hikes from the book that she feels do not need to be promoted as they are remote and should remain that way.

Good has spent most of her life in Montana after moving to the Treasure State at age 13, and now divides her time between Whitefish and Banff, Alberta, Canada.

“My dad was in the Air Force, so we got around quite a bit when I was really little,” she said. “My dad was trying to prevent off-road vehicles from going into the high forests of the Big Belt Mountains in the Great Falls area.”

Her father's interest in conservation shaped Good's view of wild places and her desire to write the guidebook. Her goal is not to flood the trails with people, but to encourage people to experience and advocate for the trails.

“It only takes one act of Congress to transform something remote into something unrecognizable to the public,” she said. “I hope people will stand up for these areas.”

The 25th Anniversary Edition of Day Hikes Around the Flathead is available in Whitefish at Bookworks, Montana Coffee Traders, Sportsman Ski Haus and the Summit Nature Center at Whitefish Mountain Resort or visit www.flatheadguidebooks.com.