For many miles, as one drives along Highway 93 between Kalispell and Missoula, they are accompanied by the Mission Mountains to their east. A tall range of mountains, many are tall enough to be above the tree line. We travelled the highway in early April, when The Missions were still snow capped. They are positively gorgeous at that time of the year.
The Mission Mountain Wilderness
The mountains rising to the east lie in the Mission Mountain Wilderness Area and the Mission Mountain Tribal Wilderness. The range is more than a natural wonder, it is the first place in America where an Indian nation has designated triba1 lands as a wilderness preserve. The crest forms the eastern boundary of the Flathead Reservation. On the east side 73,877 acres are managed by the Flathead National Forest; on this side 39,500 acres are under the purview of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai (Flathead) Tribes. Both wildernesses are managed cooperatively and are open to everyone, though differences in management styles reflect tribal needs and traditions on the west side.
A few tribal elders can still trace the routes of old hunting trails through the Missions. Hunters used them to cross to the eastern Montana plains to hunt buffalo. The mountains hold sacred sites where tribal members go alone to fast and seek spiritual guidance for their lives. Other spots are traditional summer camps where families pick berries, gather medicinal herbs, plants, roots and cut tipi poles.
Clarence Woodcock of the Flathead Cultural Committee expressed the tribes' deep-rooted spiritual and cultural ties to the mountains: "They are lands where our people walked and lived. Lands and landmarks carved into the minds of our ancestors through Coyote stories and actual experiences. Lands, landmarks, trees, mountain tops, crevices that we should look up to with respect."