Trails and Trout

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Missoula, MT
Trails and Trout

I’m Halie! I love fly fishing, backpacking, packrafting and hiking with my two rescue mutts.

03/04/2025

It’s warming up out there. ☀️
📸: Cole Leishman

02/14/2025

Happy V Day from the mutts. 💕

12/23/2024

❄️Seven Tips for Safe Winter Recreation❄️

Personally, we think winter is an incredible time to get outside. We often have the trails to ourselves and we find the quiet, snow-blanketed landscapes to be mesmerizing. However, adventuring in the cold and snow requires some extra preparedness. Here are seven tips to stay safe during your next winter outing:

❄️ Avalanche Awareness: When adventuring in the snow, it’s important to be able to recognize and avoid avalanche terrain/conditions. It’s also smart to check local avalanche condition reports before heading out. If you will be near potential avalanche terrain, it’s recommended to travel with companions and everyone in your group should carry a beacon, shovel, and probe, and know how to use them.

❄️ Gear Up & Pack Smart: Make sure you have the appropriate gear. This might include items like microspikes, snowshoes, gaiters, snow pants or bibs, doggy boots, beacons, shovels, probes, etc. Don’t forget to pack extra layers for you and your pup. As always, we carry our 10 essentials, including a small, emergency bivy that would keep us warm if we got stuck outside.

❄️ Check the Forecast: Know what weather conditions to expect before you go and avoid storms, extreme temperatures, etc.

❄️ Stay Hydrated: It’s easy to forget to drink enough water when it’s cold, but staying hydrated is just as important in winter.

❄️ Watch for Other Terrain Hazards: Be able to recognize and avoid other dangers like thin ice and snow bridges.

❄️ Accountability: Always tell a reliable someone where you’re going and when you’ll be back.

❄️ Navigation: Snow can cover trails/trail markers and make navigation more challenging. Understand where you’re going and have a navigation plan commensurate with the difficulty of the trail/terrain.

Photos are from our post winter solstice hike in the Bitterroots yesterday! It was balmy 45 in Missoula this weekend. We haven’t gotten much of winter yet (Again 😫). At least this has made late season hiking very pleasant and the dogs have had a blast on empty trails. Swipe to the last photo to see Teddy begging for a bite of my protein bar. 😂

📸: .leishman

10/10/2024

Selway River July 2024 - I still can’t believe Cole Leishman drew this permit and I still can’t believe I won a game of 2-Ball on this trip. I wonder which is statistically less likely. 🤔

I’d considered bailing on this trip because packrafting this river last year scared me and I’ve been in my own head ever since. Ultimately, my FOMO outweighed my other fear. I’m so glad I didn’t bail because this ended up being the trip of a lifetime. We had a crew of AMAZING people and we had SO much fun. Our crew was truly filled with talented and safety oriented boaters which is SO important and helped put me at ease. We all looked out for each other ( ).

Flows were fairly low - at the lower end of what full-sized boats could do - which made a few of the rapids more techy (mega rock dodging through Washer Woman and Ladle) but the rest of the float was at maximum chill. Cole did an incredible job captaining us through the big rapids, and I rowed a bunch of the chiller ones which is really what I needed at this point.

📸: The good pics that aren’t of Cole were most likely taken by him - thanks for letting me share!

06/17/2024

Back at our old stompin’ grounds for the weekend.

06/10/2024

More Smith River spam - I’m not sorry! 🎣🏕️

03/06/2024

Guys. I can't wait for summer. It's going to be a good one. We already have a handful of fun river adventures planned and anticipating them is pulling me out of post-winter blues. In my mind, I'm lounging on a warm, sandy river bar after a long day on the water. 😌 I still can't believe Cole pulled a Selway permit (that's like crazy low odds, right?). It has me reflecting on our trip last summer and I realized I never shared much from it. My goal this time is to not scared-cry all the way through Moose Juice. 😅

The photos that aren't of Cole Leishman were probably taken by him!

03/01/2024

A weekend on the river with our mutts. 🐕🎣 I love seeing them out living their best lives and doing what they love! Thank you to Hurtta for fitting them with gear that keeps them comfortable so we can adventure longer.

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Missoula, MT

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http://www.trailsandtrout.com/

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