THOMPSON FALLS – A group of active residents spent last Saturday, Jan. 24, enjoying the mild weather of Sanders County through a snowshoeing workshop near Thompson Falls.

The workshop sponsored by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ Becoming an Outdoors Woman program was split into two classes, with participants learning the winter recreational sport around the Prospect Creek area west of Thompson Falls.

According to Sandy True, Nancy Fields and Ginger Ward, members of the county’s BOW committee, who were on hand to help with last weekend’s event, this year’s workshop involved around 20 participants.

The BOW snowshoe event is now in its third year and the number of participants in this year’s workshop was slightly up from previous totals.

True noted this year’s workshop featured a high number of local participants; something the committee was excited to see.

“This is the first year we have more local participants, than those coming from out of town,” True said.

Nonetheless, Sanders County BOW events are quite popular with those from outside of Sanders County and both the winter snowshoeing workshop and summer kayaking trip have attracted participants from all over the state of Montana.    

According to True one of the main goals of BOW in Sanders County is to give area women an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.

“It’s all about getting women out into the outdoors,” True said.

Liz Lodman, FWP’s Becoming an Outdoors Woman Coordinator, traveled from Helena to take part in the days workshops, bringing some snowshoes for those participating in the workshop to use.

The day was split between a morning session and an afternoon class.

The morning class, which went from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. was designed to cater to those with little or no snowshoeing experience.

Those with previous snowshoeing experience took part in the afternoon class from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Jolene Dryden, a member of the county BOW committee was out with the morning and afternoon snowshoeing groups and was pleased with how the day turned out.

“It looked like everyone had a great time,” Dryden said.

Dryden noted that the group experienced both rain and shine over the course of the workshop but it was still a fun day in the outdoors.

According to Dryden, the morning course took participants on an hour-long walk, while the afternoon class lasted around an hour and a half, emphasizing how to cover brushy areas and broken terrain in snowshoes.

In total 19 participants were involved in the morning course and nine in the afternoon session.

Additionally, two participants in the morning workshop stayed on and took part in the more advanced afternoon trek.

Dryden said she is looking forward to next winter’s snowshoeing workshop.

“We plan to continue with it in the future. It has always been a pretty popular event,” Dryden said.

As the weather warms up during the summer months the Becoming an Outdoors Woman program in Sanders County has more events scheduled for area women who are looking to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

The program will be hosting an overnight primitive skills workshop, currently scheduled for the middle of June.

Additionally, the group’s annual kayaking event is planned for some time in August.