A gap year is about pushing one’s limits, discovering new passions and growing as an individual. As Executive Director of the Gap Year Association (GYA), I’m so proud of the work we do to advance the gap year movement through standards of best practice, professional development, research, resources, and advocacy.

In its first fundraising initiative of its kind, GYA is launching the Experiential Fundraising Campaign in the summer of 2024 to raise $25,000 in support of our efforts to empower more people to access transformative gap year experiences. The campaign is designed not only to raise vital funds, but also engage our community in a meaningful way, driving awareness and support for our cause.

The Experiential Challenge Fundraising Campaign invites members of our community to participate in sponsored challenges that push them out of their comfort zones. My personal challenge is to hike a peak a week: “10 Peaks in 10 Weeks.”

I plan to summit a new peak each week and will bring you all along on my journey by making regular updates and sharing photos of my adventures.

Please consider joining fellow gap year advocates, enthusiasts, and supporters in a shared mission to create positive change by making a donation of any size today. With your help, we can realize GYA’s vision of making gap years more accessible for more students.

With gratitude,

-Keri

University Mountain (elevation 5,806’)

With a healed foot, the fifth peak of the challenge was another one close to home, University Mountain. University Mountain is recognizable by its large radio towers at the top which originally served as an airway beacon—and of which I have a view of from my living room window! 

The beacons are remnants of a transcontinental air route system that guided commercial and private pilots across the US since 1935. At the system’s height in the early 1940s, eighty-four beacons marked several airway routes across the state. As navigational technology improved, the beacons became increasingly unnecessary and obsolete. By the 1960s, the beacons, once the pride of the nation’s commercial aviation system, were no longer relevant. In 1972, the Federal Aviation Administration abandoned the beacon system in Montana and turned the lanterns over to the old Montana Aeronautics Commission to operate and maintain. The beacons essentially became a nostalgic souvenir of the early history of aviation in Montana. Today, they function as radio towers for emergency service equipment.  

Gap Year Tip: Take time to research and learn more about the history of the area in which you visit. Incorporating history into your gap year can be an enriching way to learn outside the classroom and experience historical contexts firsthand. There are several ways to weave history into your gap year: explore museums and archives; participate in historical tours; work on a historic preservation project; or enroll in a history-focused study abroad program.

Challenge Update:

While my original intent was to hike my ten peaks consecutively, sometimes one must pivot due to unforeseen circumstances! In my case, the unforeseen circumstances included trailhead closures at four of my planned summits due to wildfires and unrelenting 100 + degree temperatures during the month of July.

The biggest setback, however, was a nagging foot injury that kept me off the trail (and the pickleball court) for a good portion of the summer. Thankfully, time spent on the river proved to be a manageable way to let my injury heal. 

The North Fork of the Flathead has been a bucket list river to paddle for me for quite some time. It is a designated National and Scenic River and forms the western boundary with Glacier National Park. We put in at the Canadian border and paddled 43 miles to Big Creek Campground. It certainly exceeded my expectations and was made all the better by my crew of fellow explorers!

Gap Year Tip: Sometimes things just don’t go as planned! Be prepared to pivot. Have a back-up plan in place. Embrace the uncertainty. Achieving your original gap year goals is still possible, but the path you take to get there might not follow the original timeline or anticipated activities.

Mount Wright (elevation 8,855’)

The fourth peak of the challenge, Mt. Wright is nestled within the Sawtooth Mountains of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. At 8,855 feet, Mount Wright is one of the highest peaks in the area and sits along the boundary of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex – a sprawling, one-million-acre wilderness area that stretches for 60 miles along the Continental Divide, just south of Glacier National Park. 

I completed this hike with my college roommate, Jessica. We’ve been adventuring, or as I like to sometimes say, “mis-adventuring” together since 1996. The start of this hike was no exception to our “mis-adventures!” 

After having a challenging time finding the trailhead, we discovered the guidebook we had brought along was published in 1999 (oh, how time flies!). A lot changes in 24 years…like trail numbers, access to water, and impact of wildfire in a region. Once we got our bearings straight (with the AllTrails app and our physical map) we could see the correct trail off in the distance. Rather than backtrack, we opted to forge the river and bushwhack through the downfall from a fire that swept through the area in 2007. 

Once on the correct path, it was all uphill, but worth every step of the 3,500 elevation gain for the 360-degree sweeping vistas that greeted us for miles on a perfect summer day.  

Gap Year Tip: If incorporating backcountry travel into your gap year, plan your route…and triple check your route! Always bring along a map and compass…and know how to use them! While online apps such as AllTrails, Gaia and OnX are excellent resources, don’t get caught in the backcountry with a dead battery and without access to other route finding resources.

Mount Sentinel (elevation 5,158’)

The 'M' on the west face of Mount Sentinel has been a Missoula landmark since 1908, when Forestry Club members forged a zigzag trail up the mountain and students carried up stones to shape the symbol of the University of Montana. 

I chose to climb to the top of Mount Sentinel for the third peak of my “A Peak a Week” fundraising challenge for the Gap Year Association with my cousins who were visiting from Spokane, WA. 

While I make regular jaunts up the M trail throughout the year, it had been several years since I had summited the mountain from the backside via the Hellgate Canyon Trail. 

It’s always a treat to have a bird’s eye view of the Missoula Valley and to look across the valley at the top of Mount Jumbo (the first peak of the challenge) and even more so to do it in the company of family! 

Gap Year Tip: Involve your family! For many gap year students, their gap time will be an opportunity for increased independence and an opportunity to live away from family for the first time. This doesn’t mean your family can’t be part of your experience, however. Even if you're traveling or living away from home during your gap year, make an effort to stay connected with your family through regular communication. Share photos, stories, and updates about your experiences to keep them involved in your journey.

Blue Mountain (elevation 6,460’)

Blue Mountain is a popular recreation area in Missoula. Despite hiking the trails in the area hundreds of times, I had never actually summited the mountain before.

The 50-foot lookout tower at the top of Blue Mountain is a working Forest Service fire lookout. From the summit are incredible panoramic views of the Garnet, Swan, Rattlesnake, Mission Mountain, and Cabinet Ranges; the Scapegoat, Bob Marshall, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness areas; the Missoula Valley; and Lolo Peak (stay tuned—summiting Lolo Peak is on the list for later this summer!). 

After an evening saunter up the mountain, we took in the sunset views and enjoyed a picnic dinner and post hike beverage at the saddle.

Gap Year Tip: Explore somewhere new! Even in our home regions there are places, activities and challenges we have not yet experienced. Gap time is the perfect time to check something off the list that you’ve always been meaning to do.

Mount Jumbo (elevation 4,768’)

I decided to kick off my GYA Experiential Challenge Fundraiser with a hike close to home. And when I say close to home, I mean that quite literally…this is a photo of my backyard and that is the south facing side of one of Missoula’s favorite landmarks, Mount Jumbo. 

For those who attended the GYA conference in Missoula, you’ll remember Mount Jumbo as the mountain with the “L” on it. Mount Jumbo is one of my favorite places to recreate. My pup Kona and I hike the surrounding trails several times a week, but I only actually summit the mountain a few times each year.

Kona and I took our time on the 6-mile roundtrip hike via Marshall Canyon, frequently stopping to admire nearly 20 different species of wildflowers. I didn’t have my wildflower guidebook with me, but I didn’t need it. These flowers are like old friends that I can’t wait to greet each spring. The steep hillsides of Mount Jumbo are a wintering range for herds of elk and mule deer and consequently, the trails are closed to hikers throughout the winter until May and sometimes longer depending upon the snowpack and access to vegetation.

I intentionally chose to climb Mount Jumbo as my first peak of this challenge because it is a place that brings me joy and fills me with gratitude. Each time I reach the summit of Mount Jumbo it’s a chance to view the place I call home from a new perspective. I never tire of the views of my neighborhood in East Missoula below, or those of the Rattlesnake Wilderness to the north and Marshall Canyon to the east. Looking across the Missoula Valley, I can see the Bitterroot Range and plan adventures for the other peaks I will climb this summer.

As I completed the summit of my first peak within this 10-week challenge, I thought about a corresponding suggestion or piece of gap year planning advice…

Gap Year Tip: While many gap years involve international travel destinations, gappers can have exceptionally fulfilling experiences without leaving the country or even their local area. Volunteering, interning, or learning the local flora and fauna of your favorite hiking area can help you to see and appreciate your home region from a new perspective.