“Fifteen more minutes to the top. Come on. Keep moving. We’re almost there.”
The white fire lookout tower atop St. Mary Peak is shimmering against a bright blue sky just a ways up the mountain.
“Come on. You can make it. We’re going to do it. Just 15 more minutes.”
Daricek just shakes his head.
“I’ve been hearing that same thing for the last half hour,” he says. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to get up there.”
Over the last 20 years, plenty of Florence sixth-graders have probably harbored that same doubt.
The 4.5-mile hike to the top of St. Mary Peak in the Bitterroot Mountains has become a rite of passage for students entering Florence Middle School.
It’s no easy stroll.
The trailhead starts at 6,900 feet. With the very first step, the trail heads up. By the time the young hikers march to the top, they’ve gained 2,400 feet of elevation.
For many the trek is akin to scaling something close to Mount Everest.
“Some kids are hikers and some kids are not,” said Scott Steigler, one of two Florence Middle School teachers on the hike. “When we asked how many had made this hike before, only three raised their hands. That’s from a class of 70 kids. Every year, a high percentage has not been here before.”
Jed Syrenne is one of those who have never ventured up above the tree line on St. Mary n or any tree line for that matter.
At this moment, the Metallica T-shirt-clad climber is slowly plodding his way ever upward while talking about the virtues of heavy metal and classic rock ’n’ roll with a fellow classmate.
He slows to a crawl when someone asks, “How you doing up there?”
“You want to know how I’m feeling?” Syrenne says. “Other than the fact that I’m starving, my fingers feel like sausages and I feel like I’m floating, I guess I’m doing just fine.”
Fifteen minutes (or maybe 20), Syrenne and the rest of the group reach the last little trail spur that leads up to the lookout tower.
Looking around at a horizon that seems to go on forever, the young hikers celebrate with high fives.
“We made it,” says Hayley Koch. “Oh, thank goodness. We made it.”
Today’s sore-footed sixth-graders can blame the whole affair on the eagles.
Twenty years ago, Florence teachers Gary Janego and Byron Weber used to pack up their sixth-grade classes into a bus and head up to Glacier National Park to watch the annual gathering of eagles at St. Mary Lake.
When the salmon run disappeared and the eagles followed suit, the two teachers were left to come up with a new plan.
“We wanted it to continue to be an educational-based outdoor activity,” Janego said. “We also looked for something a little closer. Somewhere around 1987 or 1988, we started hiking up St. Mary every fall.
“That tradition has continued ever since. ... It’s a good challenge for 12-year-olds to get up there. Every year we had a few who couldn’t do it, but not many. Most find a way to make it to the top. It does give them quite a sense of accomplishment.”
Janego’s a fourth-grade teacher now. He’s continued that outdoor theme with his younger charges by taking them on an annual trek to Glen Lake n that is until a wildfire swept through the area last year.
“It pretty much destroyed the trail,” Janego said. “We go up Bass Creek now. We try to get them out to learn about and enjoy their natural environment. A lot of these kids never get out in the woods. They take all of this right here in their backyard for granted.”
Steigler has made the annual trek up to St. Mary for the last eight years.
He knows to expect the unexpected.
The sixth-grade class is usually split in two to keep numbers on the trail in check. One group goes one day. The rest follow the next.
Not too many years ago, Steigler led a group of about 30 to the summit in a whiteout.
“We were walking in knee-deep snow and it was cold,” he remembers. “All the kids huddled around a candle inside the lookout to get a break from the wind. The next day I came up here in shorts. You just never know what to expect.”
The hike - with all its sore toes and aching muscles - offers a chance for teachers and students to bond a bit.
“That’s what I really love about this hike,” Steigler said. “It gives you a chance to really get to know these kids outside of the classroom. It sets the tone for the rest of the year.”
Perhaps even more important, it opens up a whole new world to some.
“It’s the first time that some of these kids realize that they can actually do something like this,” Steigler said. “It really gives them a lot of confidence. There’s sometimes a bit of anxiety when they start, but that all disappears when they reach the summit and see that view.
“It’s something they’ll remember for a long, long time.”
Florence Middle School teacher Scott Steigler looks through his first aid kit to find a Band-Aid for Mackenzie Holtkamp. Holtkamp’s wound was the only mishap of the day.
Molly Nordquist takes in the view from the very top of St. Mary. For the last 20 years, Florence sixth-graders have made the journey to the top of the mountain.
Molly Nordquist, left, Peyton Painter, Kylie Kinnaman and Zach Shorten try to spot a mountain goat on their way up the St. Mary trail.
Mason Stroh takes a much needed break on the annual trek up St. Mary by Florence sixth-graders.
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