Rangers first snowy trip of season

Snowshoe hare tracks bound deep in the snow next to the trail above Krause Creek. They criss-cross it, run along side it and disappear into the trees.

The snow is light and muffles the sound of movement.

It’s the first snowshoe and cross-country ski trip of the season for the Swan Rangers hiking group. Keith Hammer, who started the weekly hiking group in 2005, said they usually are snowshoeing and cross-country skiing by mid- to late December.

“This year, it’s like we’re at least a month late,” Hammer said. “There’s a lot of trails that up to a few days ago were bare.”

The group did snowshoe a trail in December, but only because they went above 5,000 feet.

Twelve people met at the Echo Lake cafe Saturday morning, excited to get on their skis and snowshoes for the Swan Rangers 371st trip. The group, although not always with the same faces and the same number, meets at the cafe every Saturday for breakfast before heading into the Swan Range. Rain, snow, sleet or shine. The only time a Saturday gets missed is if it falls on a holiday.

In the summer they meet at 7:30 a.m. During winter everyone gets to sleep in, they don’t meet until 8:30 a.m.

Everyone is welcome and hikes are discussed and chosen based on the abilities of all in the group that shows up. The hikes range anywhere from four to twelve miles, anyplace from Swan Lake up to Columbia Falls.

“Part of what’s neat about having a hiking group is people bring their own ideas about where to go,” Hammer said.

It was Krause Basin last Saturday and after breakfast, the carpool headed toward Strawberry Lake Road.

The first big snow of the season dumped dry, cold powder, but the temperature is rising. The snow is getting sticky. Hemlocks dump snow from their tops and water drips from their boughs.

It’s quiet except for spurts of laughter from Jan Lord and Inger Lemke. They’re snowshoeing together, behind the pack of cross-country skiers who have eased ahead.

Lord joined the hikers in 2007, Lemke in 2006. They met hiking with the Swan Rangers and are now good friends.

“We laugh a lot,” Lemke said.

It’s not about speed or distance, it’s about enjoyment and companionship.

“We keep track of each other,” Lemke said. “Nobody’s left alone on the trail.”

They head up Krause Basin in sets of two’s and three’s. Some are fast, some are slow. The faster cross-country skiers stop in the clearings and wait for the group to catch-up.

Hammer looks for wolverine tracks. He has a tendency to hang at the back of the pack, take his time.

The whole reason the group started was to make the wilderness feel safe and accessible for everyone, Hammer said.

At first Hammer was unsure about how he would like the atmosphere of a group hike, but now he looks forward to the social aspects of Saturday hikes.

“It’s worked out really well, and so six years later we’re still doing it.”