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Between 200 and 300 kids turned out for the annual Seeley Lake Easter Lions Club Easter Scavenger Hunt last weekend, as youngsters set off in search around 2,500 eggs stuffed with candy and prize tickets. Above are the top prize winners with Seeley Lake Lions Club member Cheryl Lewis. From right: First place prize went to Mia Trevino, Grade 5; second place prize went to Eli Ford, also Grade 5; and third place prize went to Jakob Duran, Grade 7....
The annual Fur Dinner was held at Ovando's The Stray Bullet back in February. The only requirements was to wear a fur item and have a great time. The annual Fur Dinner location has been in Seeley Lake, Potomac, Lincoln and Ovando as a way to promote fur and trapping in Montana....
Seeley Lake dog sledder Jessie Royer has completed her 20th Iditarod race, a grueling 998-mile route from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. Royer, 46, covered this in ten days, two hours and 35 minutes, securing a 14th place position when she arrived in Nome last Thursday, March 16. In an interview with the Iditarod press team early in the race, Royer - who has had eight top-ten finishes since she began competing in the race - said that her 2023 dog team was "a wild card" with 13 rookies and one...
The Seeley Swan Pathfinder has a new editor transitioning into the newspaper this winter. Asa Thomas Metcalfe, a recent graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism, grew up in Proctor, Vt. - a town that is about the same size as Seeley Lake. Metcalfe said that while this gives him an understanding of rural communities, he appreciates that small-town life in Montana has a different feel than the population of 1,600 he grew up in, in Vermont. “My town is similar,” he explained. “There were 22 students in my graduating class...
Many years ago Dick Geary told me that I’d always have a horse when I wanted to take an afternoon off and go for a ride. Dick and I never met in person. We communicated through weekly check-in emails and our columns. Both of us were bound to Montana - Dick was born into a Helmville ranching family; I had married a fly-fishing guide - but we each had a place in the world we held on to and wrote about frequently; a place that had shaped us as youth. For me, it was New Zealand. For Dick, it was Brazil. We each had a boot in a land that still g...
A Seeley Lake man who lost the three-bedroom, A-frame house on Hickory Lane he built himself 40 years ago, to a chimney fire last Sunday morning, Feb. 5, says that despite the event, he is thankful for the support from the community as he decides his next move. Pat Caffrey, a retired industrial forester, said he was in the living room near the fireplace when the chimney fire started, just as he was getting ready to go out that morning to an event. "I heard crackling," he described. "Then I...
The Seeley Swan Pathfinder understands a structure blaze on Hickory Lane in Seeley Lake on Sunday, Feb. 5, was attended by the Seeley Lake Rural Fire District firefighters. No injuries were reported. The extent of the damage to the house was still being determined as of Monday morning, Feb. 6. A story will be in next week’s Seeley Swan Pathfinder....
A search and rescue effort to find a lost snowmobiler overnight on Saturday, Jan. 21 in Lolo National Forest had a happy ending, after family, friends and volunteers with the Seeley Swan Search and Rescue worked in darkness and wintry conditions to bring the woman home safe. Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jeannette Smith said the department got a call just after 6 p.m. on Jan. 21 that there was a lost snowmobiler in the Mt. Henry area of Lolo National Forest. Seeley Swan Search and Rescue was deployed within the h...
Members of the Save Holland Lake Lodge group have requested any new information related to a special use application, master development plan or proposal to expand Holland Lake Lodge - but a spokesperson for POWDR Corporation says there is nothing to report. In a letter addressed to Flathead National Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele, POWDR Corporation Chief Executive Officer Justin Sibley and Christian Wohlfeil, who has owned the lodged, but is now listed as an employee, it is stated that a request is being made that the entities release the 2023...
A storytelling event that began in October 2021 with the aim of bringing people together through common values will continue on Feb. 1 at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation Building starting at 7 p.m. - but more storytellers are being sought out to get involved. “Why Did We Come Here, Why Do We Stay” has hosted 40 storytellers since its inception, all members of the Seeley Lake region with a strong pull to the area. Organizer Tom Beers said that the idea for the event first started as a question: “How do we communicate with each other when...
By Gwyneth Hyndman The proposed expansion of Holland Lake Lodge by a Utah-based company - and the proposal’s subsequent denial by the Flathead National Forest before Thanksgiving - is a process that is being watched across the country, a long-time journalist and author said this month, following the Flathead National Forest’s direction to POWDR that a new master plan must be drawn up to move forward. “What’s happening in Holland Lake with a private company seeking to expand on public land is something that is happening across the west,...
By Gwyneth Hyndman SWAN VALLEY - A new non-profit has formed with an aim to conserve and enhance the natural resources and rural way of life in the Swan Valley, largely in response to the controversial proposed expansion of Holland Lake Lodge. Founder Grace Siloti, a Condon resident since 1976, said that the fight over the proposed development at Holland Lake Lodge by Utah-based group POWDR - a project that was sent back to the drawing board by the Flathead National Forest just before Thanksgiving - “has really shaken people up” and she add...
By Gwyneth Hyndman A local woman who was struck and killed by a vehicle after stopping to help stranded motorists on Hwy 200 on Dec. 21 has been named by Missoula County Sheriff and Coroner TJ McDermott. Victoria E. Richardson, 61, of Potomac, had pulled over near mile marker 18 to assist in the recovery of a vehicle that had slid off the road, just before 7 p.m. that night. Court documents state that a Toyota 4Runner driven by Kerry Glenn Drew, 68, of Seeley Lake, drove off the road and hit Richardson, who died at the scene. “Our heartfelt c...
By Gwyneth Hyndman A fire that was reported at the Pyramid Mountain Lumber Mill in Seeley Lake just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7, had largely been put out by mill staff by the time fire crews arrived, said Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane. One fire engine, an ambulance, a utility vehicle and a command vehicle attended the fire in the 20x20 foot control room structure at the center of the mill property, after being called out at about 5:45 p.m. Lane said the structure was about 50 percent engulfed but that mill staff had been able to...
Six years ago this month, my parents gifted John and I a wooden bowl as a wedding gift. It had been carved out of one of the eight walnut trees in the backyard I had grown up in, after they decided to cull the trees on the orchard our house had been built on back in the 70s. In the last few years the walnut bowl has lived in different spots around our home in Philipsburg. I haven't known exactly how to make use of it. Its ridges are as rough as the limbs my brother and I built tree forts on; it...
By Gwyneth Hyndman Icy road conditions led to a county school bus having a minor slide-off into a ditch just before arriving at Potomac school on Dec. 6 - but the event ended up being an example of a small community rallying together. No injuries were reported as a result of the 7:48 a.m. slide-off at a “notorious intersection” just before reaching school and a second bus was on hand in minutes to pull the bus out and get the students to class, just 8 minutes late, said Mike Krout of Majestic Bus Service. “Many community members were there...
By Gwyneth Hyndman For more than a year a neighborhood tech support group has been volunteering time to help locals upgrade their computer skills on Thursdays - now the Coffee & Computers group will be offering a pre-Christmas session this Saturday, Dec. 17, for anyone unsure of a gadget gift purchase or for help in correctly configuring tech they’re about to give. Volunteer Tom Browder said the group of roughly six volunteers started to offer the service in October 2021 in the Seeley Lake Community Foundation Building, pinning down each sessio...
By Gwyneth Hyndman A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Austin Ailport of Potomac, who was hired as the Seeley Lake Rural Fire District’s first paid EMT/Firefighter in June, but was fired for the alleged theft of cash, tools and fuel over a two month period before his termination. According to court documents, Ailport was charged Oct. 3 with felony burglary and deceptive practices misdemeanor; however, the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office failed to locate him to serve him papers. Ailport missed two arraignment hearings held Oct. 27 and...
By Gwyneth Hyndman As a trauma therapist who routinely sees new patients from around western Montana, Gyspy Soul Ray knows what the expectations are when she first greets them in her office. “They are expecting me to have a broom skirt and braids,” she laughed and added: “That’s my mother.” Named after a line from the 1970 Van Morrison hit “Into the Mystic,” Ray pointed out that like all newborns, she was at the mercy of her parents’ quirks and had no input on what ended up on her birth certificate. This is just one of the backstories Ray goes...
By Gwyneth Hyndman A proposed expansion of Holland Lake Lodge is not in the best interest of the public, has had a flawed public comment process, and the master development plan from Park City, Utah-based group POWDR has numerous inaccuracies, lacks essential information and ultimately should be denied, the Seeley Lake Community Council and about 15 members of the public heard on Monday night, Nov. 14, at the council's regular meeting. The presentation was made by members of the Save Holland...
By Gwyneth Hyndman The body of an individual found in a mobile home blaze on Hwy 83 on Nov.9 has been identified, and the name has been released by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office. Arthur D. Bailey, 75, of Seeley Lake, was found within the mobile home when fire and emergency crews arrived, after being alerted to the blaze at 11:29 p.m. Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane told the Seeley Swan Pathfinder that the home was about 50% ablaze when they arrived. The crew of four had been advised that there was “potential for an occupant” and confi...
By Gwyneth Hyndman Mike Lindemer, owner of Lindy’s RV Dump Station told the public and members of the Seeley Lake Community Council last Monday night, Nov. 14, that he offers a service that helps the community succeed. “That’s my opinion,” Lindemer said, adding that there were “multiple rumors” going around about the dump site, including one that Lindemer had a refuse pipe running down into the lake, which he said was not true. Lindemer, who was on the agenda at the council meeting, said he wanted to clarify that his site was approved by...
Our house is dark on this cold November night, and by the soft glow of cheap, supermarket candles I've lit along the bookshelves, I can watch the snow fall. Every year I forget how mesmerizing it is, to just lay on the couch and follow the slow, gentle descent of white flakes outside the windows, as Gabe the dog snores at my feet, an open book resting on my stomach. I have my husband's good bourbon, my kids' Halloween candy, and the final pages of our book club choice, Daisy Jones & The Six....
By Gwyneth Hyndman A local search and rescue team was called off last minute on Sunday, Nov. 6, in the Seeley Lake Ranger District, when two snowmobilers who were illegally snowmobiling up to Lake Elsina in the Lolo National Forest broke down and were believed to be in trouble, as a severe weather warning for the area approached. Missoula County Sheriff Sergeant Bob Parcell said his office was alerted to the situation just before 7 p.m., after a group of “irate hunters” called the U.S. Forest Service about two snowmobilers who had ridden rig...
By Gwyneth Hyndman The Seeley-Swan area was dealt a winter weather warning last Wednesday morning, Nov. 9, along with much of western Montana, as road crews, law enforcement and local schools braced for the abrupt - though not entirely unwelcome - change of seasons. “It’s been a pretty steady snowfall,” said Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) Communications Specialist Tyler Christensen. While last week’s winter weather also prompted MCPS to cancel all after-school athletics and activities in most of the county, Seeley-Swan High School...
