Havre Trails, Wilderness Association kick off summer hike season

Two wilderness groups will welcome the end of winter by inviting residents to come and enjoy a beer while getting information about summer hiking in Montana.

Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Triple Dog Brewing Co., Havre Trails and Montana Wilderness Association will be holding an event to start their summer hiking programs.

Havre Trails is a local nonprofit organization that aims to improve walking and biking trails in the city and county and Montana Wilderness Association, founded in 1958, is a group of people who love the outdoors and strive to work with communities to protect Montana’s wilderness heritage.

This event will provide information about central Montana summer hikes and will feature Montana resident and best-selling hiking and backpacking guidebook author Douglas Lorain.

Lorain not only has more than a dozen best-sellers but has also won the National Outdoor Book Award. He will be telling stories and showing pictures from his new book, “100 Classic Hikes: Montana.”

“This event is a great way to learn about all the upcoming hike events offered through our organizations as well as hikes to lesser known places in Montana. It’s also an opportunity to meet other outdoor enthusiasts and find out how you can support our wild-places all while enjoying a Montana-brewed beer,” Havre Trails President Lindsey Brandt-Bennett said in the MWA press release.

The summer wilderness walks will begin in May and the MWA is offering 85 hikes in Montana with more than 20 of those walks being in central Montana. Some of the highlights of the summer lineup include hikes to Rocky Mountain Front, Big Snowy Wilderness Study Area and Little Belt Mountains.

The entire Wilderness Walks schedule can be seen and people can sign up for a hike at http://www.wildmontana.org/walks/.

MWA’s publication “Discover Wild Montana” also includes a walk schedule along with information about other aspects of the Montana wilderness such as citizen science field trips and trail building and maintenance. These books are only provided to MWA members but are available online to everyone at http://www.wildmontana.org.

All the summer hikes are free and open to the public. Any questions about this event can be directed to Brandt-Bennet at 406-301-3991.