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SEELEY LAKE – Thunderstorms rolled through the Clearwater and Blackfoot valleys starting Saturday afternoon that dropped up to golf ball-sized hail, three-quarters of an inch of precipitation in some areas and putting down lightning strikes until sunrise Sunday morning. In Seeley Lake some roads were blocked due to downed trees and vehicle damage was reported in the Ovando area. Saturday, July 13 just after 4 p.m. parts of Seeley Lake saw quarter-sized hail. Just after 10:30 p.m. Blackfoot V...
SEELEY LAKE – A lone trumpet playing the Star Spangled Banner echoed across Seeley Lake just moments before the main fireworks display lit up the sky. This was the grand finale to a full day of Fourth of July festivities in Seeley Lake celebrating our country's independence and freedom. For the early risers, a hot pancake breakfast was waiting for them at the Seeley Lake Fire Hall starting at 7 a.m. The Seeley Lake Volunteer Fire Foundation served around 600 people and raised about $4,000 for th...
SEELEY LAKE – A lone trumpet playing the Star Spangled Banner echoed across Seeley Lake just moments before the main fireworks display lit up the sky. This was the grand finale to a full day of Fourth of July festivities in Seeley Lake celebrating our country's independence and freedom. For the early risers, a hot pancake breakfast was waiting for them at the Seeley Lake Fire Hall starting at 7 a.m. The Seeley Lake Volunteer Fire Foundation served around 600 people and raised about $4,000 for th...
SEELEY LAKE - Sam Weisenburger, 17, joined the ranks of his piloting heritage by obtaining his private pilot's license this May. By doing so, he moves a step closer to his goal of attending the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colo. Becoming a pilot wasn't always one of Sam's goals. Sam would tag along while his older brother Adam was training to become a pilot and he would often become nauseous. The more time he spent around pilots, the more the career began to...
Jump out of your La-Z-Boy® and into your jet propelled roller blades for this amazing biography of a late 20th century naughty girl, flying on her wits and outstanding skill, to top corporate woman, completely at home in the walls of extra-normality, in her well deserved 21st century space in downtown IT land. From beginning to end of this biographic thriller, "Breaking and Entering: The Extraordinary Story of a Hacker Called "Alien", the pages turn like stadium turnstiles for the super bowl...
Tucked in the valleys and mountains that surround Ovando and Seeley Lake are the many creeks that feed into the Blackfoot River. Among them are North Fork of the Blackfoot, Monture Creek, Morrell Creek and West Fork of the Clearwater. These tributaries are the lifeblood of the Blackfoot watershed and its fishery, as explained in a recently released short film titled “Hallowed Waters: The Legacy and Lifeblood of the Big Blackfoot.” To protect the Blackfoot River long-term, we need to start with protecting these key tributaries. That’s what...
SEELEY LAKE – Though residents in the Seeley Lake and Swan Valley area know Robert "Bob" Parcell as the local Deputy Sheriff, woven through his award-filled law enforcement career is an equally distinguished and impressive military career. Backed by a Forestry Degree from Northern Arizona University, smokejumper certification and several summers of firefighting, in 1974 Parcell enrolled in U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School. He said he had brothers in each of the other services and t...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Fire Department and Seeley-Swan Search and Rescue responded to a call early Saturday afternoon about a 58-year-old woman who was injured riding the trail to the Lake Elsina Warming Hut. After volunteers transported her part of the way out in the rescue toboggan behind a snowmobile, Lifeflight was able to land and flew her to Missoula where she was treated for head and chest injuries. According to Missoula County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Robert Parcell, the woman f...
OVANDO & SEELEY LAKE – Margaret Bauer said her family likes to make gingersnaps. She said, “We like the smell; it fills the house. Everybody likes to eat them for snacks and we give them as gifts.” Shawna Jarrell said her grandma’s punch always makes Christmas Day special. It’s a concoction of Hawaiian punch, Kool-Aid, 7-Up and orange juice. For Ovando’s Fly family, Christmas dinner is always surf and turf – some kind of seafood and steak. For Sharon Jacobs it’s apple pie that makes the Christmas meal special. She added proudly, “I mak...
It may seem far away now, but we all remember the wet, chilly days of last spring and the water that seemed to be everywhere as streams overflowed when the snow melted. Those conditions made it challenging for the trumpeter swans that, with help from many concerned landowners and others, have been trying to make a comeback in the Blackfoot Watershed. At least one nest site was under water for weeks, making it impossible for the swans to nest. And eggs or young cygnets in other nests may have...
SEELEY LAKE - "Sober, steadfast, quiet and true. This can be said of very few." Neil Gordon Ruttenbur of Seeley Lake, age 77, died of complications from cancer on Nov. 6 under the care of Hospice in Missoula. Neil was born on May 16, 1941 in Deer Lodge, Mont. to parents Gordon and June Ruttenbur. After his graduation from Powell County High School in 1959, he accepted a position as a driver for Meadow Gold Dairies where he worked for more than 36 years. Neil married the sparky Sherry Ann...
There was an airline pilot flying over the Tennessee mountains and pointed out a lake to his copilot. “See that little lake?” he said. “When I was a kid I used to sit in a rowboat down there, fishing. Every time a plane would fly overhead, I’d look up and wish I was flying it. Now I look down and wish I was in a rowboat, fishing.” Contentment can be an elusive pursuit. We go after what we think will make us happy and content only to get it and find out that it didn’t work. Our nation shows our lack of contentment in many ways, such as our high...
On Aug. 2, 2017, aerial operations on the Rice Ridge fire near Seeley Lake were shut down due to a drone incursion. Several scooper planes, a couple of helicopters, retardant planes, air attack and lead planes for the retardant were all grounded until the drone was secured. This was one of three drone incursions on the more than 160,000-acre wildfire that threatened Seeley Lake last summer. "It was significant," said U.S. Forest Service Federal Law Enforcement Officer Tyler Robinson who...
bWOODWORTH – "Clear prop," said Rob Henrekin as he pulled his Kawasaki 440 engine to life on his powered parachute. The morning was cool July 12 as the sun rose above the mountains. Henrekin put on his helmet, strapped himself in and in less than 15 seconds was air borne. "This country is just fascinating to me. The part that is the most fun is flying over this country during a beautiful morning like this," said Henrekin who has lived on Woodworth Road since 1985. "Even though it is a motor, i...
SEELEY LAKE - Strings, anchors, balloons, the colors of the rainbow: To hear students and teachers talk about the Kaleidoscope Connect program's lessons sounds like listening to attendees of a New Age carnival. But to the seventh and eighth graders at Seeley Lake Elementary, each color and code word represents a concrete aspect of what each student needs in order to be resilient and healthy. Kaleidoscope Connect is a program Seeley Lake Elementary uses to help middle school-aged students build...
SEELEY LAKE - Over the weekend, the Recreational Aviation Foundation hosted a fly-in event at the Seeley Lake Airport to show its support for small, backcountry airstrips in rural communities. Attendees included local pilots from Seeley Lake and other towns in Montana as well as pilots from Canada and as far away as Atlanta, Ga. Many attended the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association Fly-in which was held in Missoula in the days before. "Instead of everyone flying in and only seeing Missoula,...
SEELEY LAKE - Sixteen-year-old Bailey Boyles shouted "Hip hip!" and the boat she was trailing behind accelerated, allowing her to sit upright on her hydrofoil. The group of people in the boat cheered as she rode, they were all members of her family or other hydrofoilers that her family had known for years. The 10th annual Seeley Lake Invitational hydrofoiling event took place over this Memorial Day weekend, hosted by Missoula residents Keith Gyles, his wife Robin and Seeley Lake resident Woody...
SEELEY LAKE – After more than 1,350 hours over the past two and a half years, Seeley Lake residents Erik Gullikson and Bob Thorne's two-seater S-20 Raven experimental airplane lifted off for the first time Monday, May 14. Both are excited to be in the air again after selling their other plane in April 2015. Thorne and Gullikson have both been flying since the mid-1970s. Thorne started flying as a jet pilot in the Marine Corps. He retired from Delta as a commercial airline pilot. Gullikson s...
Lead is cheap with a long tradition of use in fishing tackle. Many western societies have eliminated it in paints, gasoline, solders and in shot for waterfowl hunting. Despite this, lead products continue to be used for angling. Although lead is toxic to all wildlife, birds hold lead objects in the gizzard rather than passing it through their system, making them particularly at risk. Lead poisoning is a leading cause of mortality in adult common loons. One recent New Hampshire study found that...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council hosted two candidate forums, April 9 and 11, covering eight races with 31 candidates in attendance. All candidates on the May 8 Special District Mail-in ballot and June 5 primary were invited. Absentee ballots for the June 5 election were mailed May 11. For the next two weeks, the Pathfinder will feature two of the races from the Candidate Forum. This week the Pathfinder features the candidates for U.S. Senate that will appear on the ballot during...
With the primary election less than a month away it's time to reflect on where we have been and where we are headed. I have been busy knocking on doors and enjoyed visiting with many of you about the important issues and topics across our diverse district. One thing I know to be true; from Clinton to East Missoula to the Swan Valley you are an engaged and passionate group of constituents. While the issues are as diverse as the people in the district, a few key topics rose to the forefront of...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley-Swan High School senior Adam Weisenburger added the power to the 1966 Cessna 172 Skyhawk. He'd been given clearance to taxi for his pre-check ride in Missoula for his private pilot's license. "I was sitting there and not moving. I got to half power and I got to thinking, I'm on flat level tarmac, I should be moving," said Adam. Adam asked the certifier if he had his feet on the brake. When that was not the case, he made sure there was nothing lodged in the foot pedals. "Then...
Opening for Placid and Salmon Lake State Parks Delayed Due to Flooding SEELEY LAKE - Montana State Parks delayed the opening of Placid Lake State Park and Salmon Lake State Park due to spring flooding at both sites. To address public safety concerns and resource damage control, both parks will remain closed until further notice. The parks were expected to open May 1 but high water levels in both lakes have resulted in flooding to park areas and roads. Extended flooding is expected due to weather conditions and excessive amounts of winter...
The winds of Montana's Rocky Mountain Front buffet the empty Dupuyer Elementary School. At one time the grasslands around it teemed with family-run ranches and Dupuyer was the heart of its region. In 1966 there were 63 students. In 2015, only one remained, with a lone teacher to instruct him. It shocked no one when the school shuttered last year. Welcome to Dupuyer. Population 86. John Hayne, a jovial man with thickly calloused hands, graduated from Dupuyer Elementary and is now a member of the...
SEELEY LAKE – Around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, Seeley Lake volunteers and Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Jacob Parks responded to a vehicle/pedestrian collision on Highway 83. The pedestrian was transported to Missoula and released later in the day. There were no injuries to the driver and passenger in the vehicle. Alcohol was not suspected as a factor for the driver but was for the pedestrian. The vehicle was heading north on Highway 83 when a pedestrian tried to cross from west to east just north of Seeley Lake. The area was unlit and there...
