Riding ridges

North Face’s motto is “never stop exploring.” One club in Trout Creek, Montana has lived out that motto for the last twenty years.

North Face's motto is never stop exploring. One club in Trout Creek, Montana has lived out that motto for the last twenty years.

The Cabinet Ridge Riders is a group of outdoor enthusiasts that has been riding up and down the Cabinet Mountains, located in Western Sanders County, via horses, ATVs and snowmobiles and helping hundreds of others do the same.

The club originally started in 1991 as a group of friends that would get together once a week to go horseback riding up in the mountains. Only a dozen people were members of the club at that time including David Schopp, who once owned 17 horses, but sold the last of his horses this past year.

He says it was the same year that the club was formed that the group started looking for a winter complement to their horseback riding.

“Some of the guys went to the $10,000 Bar in Haugan and saw the (snowmobile) poker run and got the idea for a poker run here,” says Schopp. Only twenty people came to the first annual snowmobile poker run, but it proved to be a start of something big in Trout Creek.

Schopp, who also owned the Wayside Bar in town, saw a huge benefit in the next few years as news of the poker run began to travel by word of mouth around Montana, Idaho and Washington. Working at the bar, he would also run into travelers that would find their way back to Trout Creek during the summertime after initially being introduced to the area by the poker run.

“Pretty soon it became an annual event where people would take a little vacation to Trout Creek,” says Schopp. “It does a lot for the community and the businesses for the weekend and year round.”

 Although he’s ran the run many times, these past few years Schopp has enjoyed running one of the card stations so he can greet and meet many of the friends that he has made over the past 19 years.

“It’s become a family event. I see people from ages seven years old to 75 years old,” says Schopp.

It’s the best strategy for him to see everyone since the poker run has grown considerably since it started. After only having 20 riders the first year, the event now regularly sports upwards of 250 people from all over the U.S.

It might be hard to believe that a club of outdoor enthusiasts based out of a tiny town in Northwest Montana could attract national attention, but in a roundabout way that’s exactly what the Cabinet Ridge Riders has accomplished.

With 205 members on the club’s membership list, their addresses range all over the map including towns in Idaho, Washington, Northwestern Montana and even Arizona and North Carolina.

Brad Gager of Marion, North Carolina has the honor of being the member living the furthest away from Trout Creek. Gager was born in Florida, raised in North Carolina and his parents are now semi-retired in Trout Creek.

After becoming a member in 2006, Gager now travels here once or twice a year and enjoys hitting the great outdoor scene the Cabinet Mountains can provide.

“For one thing it’s an absolutely beautiful place. Just the atmosphere is a lot better. People are friendlier and more in touch,” says Gager.

Not only does he enjoy the beauty of the place and the people, but enjoys the snowmobiling opportunities. When asked if there was snowmobiling in North Carolina Gager just laughs and says that he saw one of two snowmobiles when he first moved there as a child, but hasn’t seen one since.

Even though both Gager and Schopp are both outdoor enthusiasts and love riding trails in the Cabinets they say they are members of the club because of what they do for the community and the forest.

After starting the first snowmobile poker run in 1991, the club had a unique problem on their hands. They had a plethora of money on their hands and weren’t sure what to do with it. So since the club was filled with people that love Trout Creek and are committed to seeing the community grow and flourish they decided to give it away.

Jim Morkert has been a member of the club ever since he moved to Trout Creek several years ago. He quickly got heavily involved with the club and has been the President of the Cabinet Ridge Riders for the last five years, and he’s proud of the club’s track record for community service.

“That’s basically what we’re all about. We just try to raise money for the community,” says Morkert.

Besides giving away the bulk of the money they raise in both the ATV and the snowmobile poker runs the club gives away three $500 scholarships per year to a student from Noxon, Trout Creek and Plains.

Along with the money donated to students and charities, the club also brings plenty of businesses to the town. During the snowmobile and ATV poker runs hotels, bars and other businesses are full of customers, and as Schopp realized when he owned the Wayside Bar outsiders kept coming back to the town after their pleasant introduction.

Not only do they help the community, but ever since the club started they have been strong supporters of multiple uses in the forests.

After starting with an interest in horseback riding and snowmobiling, ATV riding soon became a major interest of club members and the club has worked hard over the years to ensure that they are still allowed to play out in the woods.

“We all live here and like the mountains,” says Morkert. “We’re a club for multiple uses in mountains.”

One of the earliest accomplishments of the club was lobbying for access on 20-Odd Mountain. The mountain was essentially locked, but with the help of the Backcounty Horsemen, a horse riding club in Sanders County, the Ridge Riders were able to reroute a trail and gain access to the mountain.

Also in 1996 the Forest Service allowed the club to build a warming hut and vaulted toilet on Gem Peak. Along with being key during the snowmobile run it could turn into a great spot for cross county skiers.

The club’s fierce advocating for multiple-use in the forests stems from a love for the outdoors itself and every member has their own memories and favorite spot in the Cabinets.

For Gager, the sum of the Cabinets is greater than anyone part.

“I guess I just like the entirity of it. I just like roaming around,” says Gager.

For Schopp if you want beauty he would recommend going no further than Wanless Lake.

“It’s just a beautiful area. It’s basically wilderness,” says Schopp.

Morkert on the other hand loves the scenic vistas. Of these vistas he says you can get the best view from Bloom Peak. It features a great vista of the whole Trout Creek Valley. A close second to this would be Gem Peak that sports a great view of the Clark Fork Valley.

With so many beautiful places in the Cabinets to roam, the Cabinet Ridge Riders provide plenty of opportunities for exploration, that is if you’re up for riding ridges.

For more information on the Cabinet Ridge Riders and the application for membership please contact President Jim Morkert at 827-9305.