The Treasure State. Big Sky Country. The 406. Growing up and living in Montana, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we live in a place surrounded by a unique beauty that many never get the privilege of experiencing. With pressures from all areas of our lives, sometimes it seems to be easier to sit at home on the couch instead of taking advantage of the Montana landscape and the beauty for which it receives its nicknames. But for senior Dalton Sand, remembering to appreciate his home state has never been difficult.
“We are the last best place,” Sand said admiringly. “Montana is just sick. We are all just little derb worms, livin’ the dream.”
Sand became involved in outdoor hobbies a few years ago, after his friend Trent Cavanaugh showed him some of the fun opportunities available to him.
“I like to fly fish, mountain bike, hike, hammock,” Sand said. “I don’t know — just chill with my bros in nature.”
Sand says that anymore, he loves to just be outside “boolin’” in nature.
“There is no other place that is like Montana,” Sand said. “You can just step outside and see the front and the Rocky Mountains. It’s sick.”
Freshman Tess Halverson is another avid outdoors adventurer. For Halverson, her passion for the outdoors took root from a young age while doing activities with her family.
“Well my family is really outdoorsy,” Halverson said. “Especially my brother and dad, and I’m probably closest to them and they always do it, so I kind of just go with.”
Halverson enjoys fishing, hiking, and photography along with the amazing experience the pursuance of those hobbies has opened up to her. Halverson says that exploring has captured her heart for a long time.
“I really like Yellowstone, and then there’s just some random little places that we will just kind of [find unexpectedly, especially around Lincoln.] One time we found random waterfalls; so sometimes it’s just like driving around and finding cool little places,” Halverson said.
“We just stopped on the side of the road and got out. There was this giant waterfall and mossy rocks, so we started hiking up through all these trees and waterfalls, and it was like nobody had ever been there, there was no trail or anything,”
Halverson said that through experiences like this, she’s learned a lot about appreciating Montana and the outdoors.
“Not a lot of people live here, and there’s a lot of open space and mountains and stuff that haven’t been built on, so I think there’s just a lot of really cool unknown places too,” Halverson said.