To Swan Mountain Outfitters Base Camp

[Swan Mountain Wilderness Guide School – Guide Candidates and Hunters and Adventurers Programs]

From Kalispell, Montana

  1. Take Montana Highway 83 where it connects with Montana Highway 35, and head south towards Swan Lake.
  2. Continue past Swan Mountain Guest Ranch for another 12 miles.
  3. Left on Lion Creek Road (almost exactly at mile marker 52) heading south
  4. Take the first right, Dry Lake Road approximately ½ mile from the highway.
  5. Go one mile on Dry Lake Road, stay on it always staying to the right and you will head directly into the camp.

From Missoula, Montana:

  1. Head East on Interstate 90, and approximately 7 miles east of town take the Montana Highway 200 exit towards Bonner/Helena.
  2. Stay on 200 until you see the sign for Montana Highway 83, Seeley Lake. – – This junction is referred to as Clearwater Junction, and you can’t miss it because the largest fake cow you have every seen is on the corner by the gas station as you take a left.
  3. Lion Creek Road is almost exactly at mile marker 52 on Highway 83, and there is a sign announcing the road visible from either direction. It is a right turn (east) heading north.
  4. Take the first right, Dry Lake Road approximately ½ mile from the highway.
  5. While on Dry Lake Road, stay on it always staying to the right and you will head directly in to the camp after driving approximately 1 mile.

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Guide Training Facilities

Swan Mountain Wilderness Guide School has available through USFS and the State of Montana permits, perhaps the best guide training facilities imaginable for a guide, outfitting and high adventure wilderness school experience.

We are located in the Swan Valley to the west of the Continental Divide in the Northwest section of Montana often referred to as “Glacier Country”. This is truly alpine country- very mountainous, with timbered forests (no sagebrush) and pristine lakes, rivers and streams. Local attractions include Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park, and Big Mountain Ski Area in Whitefish, Montana. We have the pleasure of being adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and students will access this as part of their guide school experience.

Our Guide Candidate Program and Hunter and Adventurer Program are conducted from the “base camp” of Swan Mountain Outfitters, located in the pristine Swan-Seeley Valley. Students stay in wall tents that have semi-permanent frames, platform beds constructed of plywood with 4 &1/2 inch foam mattresses, and each tent has wood burning stoves. There is a separate mess tent, tack and equipment tents, corral with all livestock on the premises, and a large wall tent that is used as the classroom equipped with electricity, video monitors and state-of-the-art teaching aids. We even have WiFi available in camp for those that bring laptops, so you can search for jobs while in school!  Our philosophy is “the best-of-the-best”, and new teaching aids, equipment, and stock are purchased regularly.

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