Lost goat finds new home in Seeley Lake

HOLLAND LAKE – Finding a Billy Goat in distress near Upper Holland Lake was not something Jennifer Fife of Great Falls and her friend Ryan Seyler expected to find on their first day hiking into Big Salmon Lake in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. However after answering the goat's calls of distress and coming to its aid, they hiked out with "Penelope" to find its owner. With the assistance of Missoula County Sheriff's Sergeant Robert Parcell, the goat now has a new home in Seeley Lake.

On June 25 Fife and Seyler started on a four-day backpacking trip into Big Salmon Lake. Within a mile of Upper Holland Lake, before one of the last creek crossings, they heard a goat bleating.

"I turned around and asked Ryan 'do mountain goats make that noise?'" Fife said.

"He said, 'No, they don't.'"

They continued to hear the goat bleating from across the valley but couldn't see it. After watching the hillside for a few minutes they finally saw it pop out on the steep hillside on the other side of the creek.

"It was just crying and crying," Fife said. "It was obviously super distressed."

They hiked a little further passed the creek crossing and dropped their packs. Then they hiked about 45 minutes down the steep ravine to the creek.

"We had almost given up and then we finally saw it," Fife said. "As soon as it saw us and heard us it looked so excited and it ran up the hill towards us and immediately came right up towards us and wanted to be petted. We tied it to a rope and brought it to the trail."

They only kept the goat on the lead for about 10 minutes because Fife said, "all it wanted to do was follow us." They asked everyone they met along the trail if they were missing a goat or knew someone who was missing a goat. They continued into Upper Holland Lake in hopes of finding the owner. However after talking with everyone at the lake, no one knew anything about it.

They decided to camp Friday night with the goat since the Swan Lake Ranger District would be closed for the weekend. Fife said they set up a high line between their tents so Penelope could see both of them.

"It was just the sweetest thing. It was so attached to Ryan and it would not let him get more than like five feet away before it would jump up and follow him," Fife said. "If you stepped behind a tree it would cry until you came back out. It fell asleep on our legs and it wanted to play with my dog. It obviously had been handled a lot."

They sat around camp for a while thinking about what they were going to do. After other hikers offered to take it out so they could continue into Big Salmon, they decided they were so attached that they wanted to be the ones to make sure it got somewhere safe.

"[We figured] that someone is probably just distraught looking for their goat. Oh that would be really selfish for us to finish our hike and leave someone waiting for this goat," Fife said. "We assumed someone would be at the trailhead or at some point we would pass them hiking, but we never did."

They changed their plans and hiked out to Holland Lake Trailhead Saturday again talking to everyone they met on the trail to see if they were looking for a goat or knew of someone who was. Finally, someone said there was a sign posted at the trailhead for a missing goat.

"The sign was a little chicken scratch sign that basically said lost pack goat and gave the number for the Forest Service," Fife said.

Because it was Saturday and the Swan Lake Ranger District was not open, they brought the goat over to Holland Lake Lodge where they happened to meet Missoula County Sheriff Sergeant Robert Parcell. Parcell agreed to keep the goat until Monday when the District office opened.

Fife said the goat rested on the Lodge's lawn for 30-45 minutes while they waited for Parcell's daughter to come. They borrowed a trailer from the owner of Holland Lake Lodge and took the goat to Parcell's residence.

After several days of calling the District, Parcell said he was finally able to find someone that had been told about the missing pack goat. He called the owner in Helena. According to Parcell, the owner was out training a few pack goats when this one, named Danny, fell behind and got separated June 21. Unable to find it, she left the note to call the District at the trailhead.

"I couldn't believe the goat survived five days out there screaming its head off," Parcell said noting typically distress calls like that would attract predators.

Parcell said the owner was happy that Danny was found, however, she was moving and no longer able to care for it. Parcell said he knew of a Seeley Lake family that would be excited to have a goat. The owner agreed that it could be rehomed. After nearly two weeks with the Parcells, Danny found a new permanent home.

"It is kind of neat what [Jennifer and Ryan] did," Parcell said. "They canceled their trip and shortened it a lot. They came all the way out with that thing."

Fife was just glad to hear that her Penelope, now Danny, had found a home.

"She was honestly like the most loyal dog you could ever imagine," Fife said. "I'm in Seeley Lake all the time and I would love to see her again."