Celebrating 50 Years of Wilderness

Tom Jenko isn’t your typical wilderness lover. Or maybe he is. He’s a medical doctor with a 32-year practice in Bigfork, but he’s taken every opportunity over those years to get himself and his family into Montana’s wilderness.

Western Montanans work hard all week and seek wilderness adventures on their weekends, in Glacier Park, “The Bob,” the Swan Range, the Mission Mountains and the North Fork of the Flathead. Jenko has explored them all. Isn’t this the “typical” Flathead Valley life-style so many locals have chosen?

Jenko was born in Butte and raised in Helena by parents — and especially his mother — who loved to climb mountains. He started climbing mountains in earnest at 12. By the time he graduated from college, he’d climbed every significant peak in southwest Montana. Not a bad start at an outdoor life.

“You’re a teenager, the land is wild — I liked challenges and problem solving,” he said. “I was goal oriented. I was naturally drawn to biology. And we didn’t have the Internet and social media. So you got out and did stuff.”

The experience of wild Montana has changed over the decades, Jenko said.

“We’d throw our packs into the car on Friday after work and head out,” he said. “We’d actually hike at night, throw our sleeping bags on the side of the trail and sleep there. We didn’t know exactly where we were, but in the morning we were closer to the peak we were going to climb.”

Outdoor gear in particular has changed.

“We didn’t have light gear or light food,” he recalled. “We were carrying big, heavy packs. We didn’t have GPS or phones.”

Today as a medical doctor, Jenko relies on wilderness as part of his whole-life approach to his profession.

“We have a spiritual, aesthetic and physical side that we need to nurture,” he said. “Wilderness has to do with all the textures, colors, unpredictability and beauty in the wild. Our brain senses beauty in a different way than it senses the newspaper. It’s a balance.”

He regards his time in wilderness as part of a well-rounded life.

“My time in wilderness is absolutely essential because it helps me be a better doctor,” he explained. “I can go into the mountains, and I come back refreshed, peaceful, sustained and rejuvenated. So when I go to see my patients on Monday morning, I’m in much better shape emotionally. Plus, it’s good exercise and wilderness is fun.”

He tells his patients “less Fox TV and more walks” to help them overcome the anxiety that complicates our modern life.

Jenko’s parents instilled in him a love of the mountains and wilderness, and he in turn took his three sons into wilderness starting at an early age. He’d like to see more people introduce their children to the wilds.

“Your kids will do better in school, they’ll get in less trouble,” he said. “They’ll learn a respect and understanding of nature. Wilderness broadens one’s perspective, opens up one’s horizon and helps one be more tolerant of others. It also brings out a sense of stewardship. This has to start in the family home.”

Jenko has spent his professional life in Bigfork and raised three boys there. He thinks the Flathead offers a wealth of wilderness that we’re lucky to have all around us.

“Wilderness is a whole other side of us that you have to get in touch with,” he said. “It will bring you happiness and balance. And you have to show your kids that. You have to start in the home. Particularly here in the Flathead. Why not?”