On a Wednesday morning in July on the Hidden Lake Trail, a ranger in green and gray hikes up the boardwalk, stopping to talk with nearly everyone headed up from Logan Pass. What are your plans for the day? How much water do you have? Are you carrying bear spray? The ranger points a family back onto the boardwalk, answers a question about mountain goats, and when a bear wanders close to the trail, steps in to keep the crowd together and moving.
That ranger is Steve Blados, one of Glacier National Park’s Preventative Search and Rescue (PSAR) rangers, a team whose job is to be on the trail before anything goes wrong. This summer, Glacier National Park Conservancy donors funded 12 PSAR rangers stationed throughout the park.
Photo: Geneva Thompson
Why prevention
The most common search and rescue incidents in Glacier are dehydration and heat illness, falls, and water-related emergencies, including drowning. Each of these incidents is serious, and some are fatal; but many are also preventable. A hiker who is well prepared for a hot, exposed trail with enough water, stays on the route, and knows how cold and fast the creeks run is far less likely to need a rescue team later in the day.
PSAR rangers are positioned to intercept visitors while it can still make a difference. They patrol the highest-use trails every day during the busy summer months, strike up conversations, and educate about Leave No Trace principles and wilderness safety in the areas where search and rescue missions tend to occur the most.
They are also ready for the day these conversations are not enough. Each ranger carries medical and climbing gear at all times, and because they are already out on the trail, they are often the first to reach a visitor in need. That is the double value of the program: fewer incidents, and faster help when an incident occurs anyway. The park reports that since its implementation the program has proven effective at reducing search and rescue incidents, and in turn reducing the burden on rangers and first responders.
A morning at Hidden Lake
That July morning, Conservancy staff hiked with Blados to watch a PSAR ranger in action. The day had started at the search and rescue cache in West Glacier, one of several in the park. Each district has its own cache of gear and team of PSAR rangers.
From there it was up to Logan Pass and onto the Hidden Lake Trail. Over the course of the hike to the overlook, most of Blados’s work looked like ordinary conversation: checking in, fielding questions, and reminding people that staying on the boardwalk protects the fragile alpine meadows. When a bear appeared near the trail, dozens of hikers stopped to watch. For the next several minutes, Blados’s job was crowd control: reminding people to maintain a safe distance, keeping them on the trail, and encouraging the group to continue moving so the bear had room to leave. On a trail this busy, managing people is as much a part of the job as anything else.
Photo: Geneva Thompson
An afternoon in Many Glacier
The afternoon moved to the east side of the park, where PSAR ranger John Swartz gave a tour of the Many Glacier search and rescue cache before heading out to patrol the valley. The first stop was the campground, where a site had left food and garbage unsecured. Swartz issued a notice to the campers. In Many Glacier, PSAR rangers play an active role in bear management, and unsecured food risks habituating bears, or teaching them to hang around where people are.
At Fishercap Lake, Swartz checked in with hikers and took a report of an agitated moose that had been charging people on the trail. Nobody was hurt, and Swartz deployed an additional PSAR ranger to patrol the trail and warn hikers. The report went into the system so the next ranger, and the next hiker, would know.
Photo: Geneva Thompson
More than safety
PSAR rangers work closely with the park’s wilderness division, science and resource management staff, district rangers, and other field staff. Because they are out on the trails every day, they become a steady source of information the rest of the park depends on: wildlife observations, visitor use numbers, and current trail conditions.
In a single day, PSAR rangers protect an alpine meadow, manage a bear jam, enforce food storage rules, and log dangerous wildlife interactions. None of it made the news, which is the point.
Glacier’s peak season continues through mid-October, and on any busy trail in the park this summer, there is a good chance the ranger who checks in with you and asks how much water you are carrying is there because Glacier National Park Conservancy donors funded the position.
How can you support PSAR rangers in Glacier?
This project and many other critical projects and programs would not be possible without your donations to the Glacier Conservancy.
Donate now to support important work like this in Glacier National Park!
