One of Ari and Eric’s favorite places to hike is at Holland Lake, which is northeast of Missoula in beautiful Swan Valley, a land of forests and lakes, sometimes referred to as the heart of Montana’s lake country. Swan valley is nestled between the Mission Mountains to the west and the Swan Mountains to the east. Much of the valley and the mountains are within Flathead National Forest. At Holland Lake, the trailhead map showed several trails including many multi-day trails accessing the back country as well as some shorter local day hikes. In fact, while we were there, three men arrived from a multi-night trek and one guy’s wife and small son were there to greet them.

We decided to hike the lakeside trail back to Holland Falls. It is a three mile round trip easy/moderate trail with a 700-foot elevation gain (mostly at the end) and a scenic reward that draws you onward and upward! At the end of the trail we were on a narrow rocky ridge with incredible views of the roaring falls to our left and on our right was an overlook of picturesque Holland Lake with forest and the snow-capped Mission Mountains in the distance. Here’s a nice description of the hike to the falls: MontanaVacationBlog. Below the falls, we could see Holland Creek feeding into Holland Lake far below. Holland Peak is about 10 miles north and at 9356′ it is the Swan Range’s high point. If we had the time we would have loved to do the multi-day trek to see the view from there! By the way, if you saw my earlier post on Glacier National Park and you remember the picture of Neil’s ‘bedroom’ out on Adele’s deck, the mountains you see from her deck are also in Flathead National Forest. Those mountains are part of the Rockies and are designated the Columbia Range. Going south, the Columbia Range becomes the Swan Range; on a topo map it looks like one continuous range of mountains with different names at the northern and southern ends. The historic Alpine Trail#7 traverses these ranges (here is a fun Swan Crest Virtual Trek.) Thus, Holland Falls is in the same range of mountains as the ones in Adele’s back yard – but it’s about 90 miles further south.

Historically, for centuries the Swan Valley has been traditional hunting grounds for the Salish, Pend d’Oreille and to a lesser degree the Kootenai tribal people. Then on July 16, 1855 at a council held close to present-day Missoula, eighteen leaders of the Flathead, Kootenai and Upper Pend d’Oreilles Indians signed an agreement with the United States government, ceding their title to almost all of the land in Western Montana and establishing the Flathead Indian Reservation. That agreement is known as The 1855 Hell Gate Treaty. The treaty opened the Montana Territory to exploitation by lumber companies, and settlers soon followed. The native people found their presence was unwelcome and they had to get licenses and permits to hunt and fish in these traditional lands.

By the turn of the century many more settlers came to Swan Valley, pushing further and further north. According to A Collection of Stories about the Seeley Lake Area, the Holland name comes from Ben Holland who, around 1893, settled in north Swan County and began ranching near what is now known as Holland Lake and the Gordon Ranch. He sold his ranch to the Gordons in 1905 according to a Forest Service Flathead National Forest history. The Forest Service started selling logging rights in the vicinity and around 1905 lumberjacks began setting up camps in the area. Nowadays, Holland Lake and Holland Falls are a popular destination for hiking, camping, fishing, and boating.

After our hike, we had a little picnic and Lyra got to chase sticks in the lake and squirrels along the lake shore. At the far end of the lake you can see Holland Creek pouring out of the Swan Range and over the falls. With gorgeous forested mountains all around, I can see why Ari and Eric enjoy Holland Lake as a day trip with Lyra!

Photo credits: Eric Schlitz and Neil Rhoads