I was born and raised in Superior, Montana, which sits on the I-90 corridor between Lookout Pass and Missoula. I have lived between Colville, Washington and Bozeman, Montana for the vast majority of my life. I currently reside with my wife Kathy and our dog Skye in Hayden, Idaho. Growing up in Superior was idealistic for kids that liked to fish, camp and hunt. Our dad grew up in Rivulet and on the Garcia Ranch out at Fish Creek and he took us all over the area. For those who know Montana literature and history; yes, I am a great grandson of Andrew Garcia (Tough Trip Through Paradise). Everything was wide open back in the 1970’s as far as access goes, catch limits were higher (10+) and seeing other people were low. I spent a lot of time hiking and fishing and usually didn’t see many others. Much of my teens and 20’s was spent along the state line between Dry Creek and Fish Creek during all 4 seasons. I did a lot of creek fishing when I was younger, the streams, although brushy can be better than the lakes that feed them. I don’t have a lot of pictures from the 1970’s as either I just didn’t carry a camera all the time or I have lost many of them.
Living in Colville & Chewelah Washington and then Bozeman, Montana during the 1990’s and 2000’s, work and family kept the Great Burn area at arm’s length, with just the occasional guy trips and other family outings. In 2011, the company I worked for moved us to Coeur d’Alene. It wasn’t until 2017 when I really thought about the number of lakes I had been to; it totaled 44 at the time. I created a master list of the lakes between Thompson and Lolo Passes (80) and set a goal of physically visiting 65 lakes by the age of 65. I am just hitting 65 in 2024 and am up to 70 visited lakes with 10 lakes left on my list at the start of 2024. The last couple of years have been busy as I had my failing right hip replaced in 2021 and went to 3 days a week at work in 2023 before fully retiring at the end of that year. I didn’t think about creating a trail guide until a couple years ago; I started physically writing up the descriptions this past year (2023). I have visited over 50 lakes, with 15 first visits along the divide with over 500 miles of trails in the past 3 years so I could write accurate route descriptions for this guide. Of the 10 remaining lakes, only 1 has a trail all the way to the lake, the rest have some level of cross-country travel involved.
The Great Burn area is not the only place that I spent significant time during my life. Chuck & Steve Bauer, Lyle Case and I spent part of each summer roaming Glacier National Park in the 1980’s. We climbed a number of the peaks in the park and did some backpacking in the process. I have hiked about 250 miles of the stated 700 miles of trails in the park; as far north as Boulder Pass and Park Creek on the southern end. Chuck and I even had the good fortune to ski into Granite Park Chalet one winter; and complete a 9-day backpacking trip through the northern half of the park in 1984. With the advent of the lottery system for backcountry camping and just the crush of people, I don’t think that trip is possible today.
I also fell in love with the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness near Georgetown Lake, Montana. I was between my fire crew job in 1985 and school at the University of Montana and I was looking for a different place to go for a couple days of fall backpacking. It is a great little wilderness area with a generous trail system, good fishing, and several peaks to summit. On average, the area is about 3,000 feet higher than the Great Burn Proposed Wilderness Area. I’ve made 6 multi-day trips over the years and even a winter ski trip to Warren Pass in the Carpp Lake drainage.
