A painful way to start 2026

Katie with late Josy McLean in 2022 off trail hike to Glacier's Margaret Lake

The late Mike Smith on our Highwood Center Ridge hike in 2025

  

Me on Bomback Hill in Helena

A selfie on Mount Helena, where I tested my post-operative foot

I thought things were bad in December after my surgeries and hospitalizations.

Those were nothing compared to what happened to Katie shortly after.

On Jan. 4 she was on her way to lead a Montana Wild snowshoe hike at Flesher Pass, when near the turnoff to the Lincoln Highway on Montana 200, a big truck crossed the center line, slamming into the car that was carrying Katie, killing Mike Smith, the driver, and backseat passenger Josy McLean and severely injuring Katie, who was in the front seat and Kayla Paisley behind Katie in the back.

Katie and Kayla were airlifted to St. Patrick's Hospital in Missoula.  Katie broke 13 ribs and her sternum and had multiple bruises and contusions and spent eight days there before I was able to get her home.

Then, for the next two months, Katie slept in a rented hospital bed I put in the front room and started the painful healing process that continues to this day.  Her body will heal, but there's been emotional damage from the accident and the death of our friends.

She's finally up and around with hopes that she'll be able to return to hiking sometime this summer.

In the meantime, my foot and gut have been healing and I've started to hike.  Having a healthy foot within five months seems like a miracle.  I'm still adjusting to some digestive issues now that I don't have a gallbladder. 

I've been taking it easy, starting with neighborhood walks, graduating to River's Edge Trail, and now hikes on Priest Butte near Choteau, Mount Helena and Bompart Hill in the Mount Ascension area in Helena.  We've also enjoyed the annual snow geese and tundra swan migrations at Benton Lake and Freezout Lake wildlife management areas. 

Needless to say, for the first time, I didn't back country ski.  This might have been fortuitous, as it was an unusually dry and mild winter. My friends complained about the lack of snow. 

I was sadly fortunate not to have signed up for Katie's snowshoe hike because I was recovering from my surgeries.

I need to honor Josy and Mike who died in the accident.  

Josy, 61,  was a frequent back country companion, because of Katie's hiking group, of which Josy was a member.  She was a cheerful and strong hiker, the strongest woman I have ever met.  

Mike Smith, 67,  was relatively new to Great Falls, a Montana native who spent most of his working career out of state, he returned to Montana upon retirement.   He was a delightful companion on the few hikes when he accompanied me.  The last such hike was the off-trail Pioneer Ridge hike in the Little Belts last September.  He was always good energy to be around.

Such a painful way to begin this new year.