Visiting

WHITEFISH - “Zip One clear; ready for flier.” The radio crackled and buzzed the forest with a brief burst of static. Bill Brown checked the clips, tugged the webbing, radioed his response: “Flier flying.” And that’s when the bottom fell away, the forest raced up, the thrum of wheel on wire hissed and grew in pitch until it drowned out songbirds and even the shining stream that tumbled beneath.

WOODS BAY - As fish stories go, it was a good one, and it quickly made its way late last week around the camp at Hidden Harbor and Woods Bay RV Park, home base for the 16th annual Fishing Without Barriers Day. There, 22 volunteer boats and their captains - several of them from fishing charter companies at the north end of Flathead Lake - hauled at least 95 anglers with disabilities out on the water for a morning of mackinaw fishing. The captains seemed determined that every person who wanted to fish would reel in and land at least one lake trout, and the 100 mackinaws turned in helped supply food for an afternoon barbecue.

While many tourists visit Montana for the scenic mountains, great fly-fishing and lush green plains, among paleontologists and dinosaur lovers, Big Sky Country is home to some of the most unique fossil digs in the country. And enthusiasts now have a unique way to see these prehistoric hotspots. The Montana Dinosaur Trail Passport encourages people to travel to the remote corners of the state to see firsthand this unique history. Tourists can buy the Dinosaur Trail Passport for $5 and get a unique stamp at each of 15 stops along the trail, said Sharon Emond, curator for the Phillips County Museum in Malta. Passports are available at each stop. When visitors fill up their passport, they receive a free T-shirt.

THREE FORKS - Only seconds into my first packrafting trip, the boat flipped. The 50-degree water of the Madison River triggered an instant injection of adrenaline into my bloodstream. Gasping for air after popping above water, I side-stroked toward shore, my loaded upside-down raft and kayak paddle in tow. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to tighten the neck gaiter on my spray jacket, and water had poured in. As I stood up, my arms resembled a bodybuilder’s as the rubber gaskets at the jacket’s wrists kept the water from exiting. Combined with my red helmet and bright-yellow lifejacket, I resembled an odd comic strip superhero - Aqua Man?

ENNIS - An evolutionary accident - an unexpected biological treasure at the end of the rainbows - has saved a famed Madison River fishery from spiraling into memory. “It’s truly remarkable,” said Dick Vincent. “A decade ago, whirling disease had wiped out 90 percent of the Madison’s rainbow trout. Today, we have a population that’s highly resistant and bouncing back quite nicely.”

STEVENSVILLE - The grasshopper cupped in my hand seems poised to spring into flight at any moment. I’d swear it was a real, live insect ... if I didn’t know it was made of closed-cell foam and impaled on a size 8 fly hook. The ultra-realistic hopper impostor is the creation of Tony Tomsu. And with the help of tools available from his Stevensville company, River Road Creations Inc., you can reproduce this fly pattern - called Tomsu’s Supreme Hopper - and a host of other innovative foam flies ranging from tiny size 20 trico mayflies to mega-sized creatures designed to dupe bass and saltwater denizens.

CYR - The first raft looked like it should as it teetered on the lip of Fang Rapid: Paddlers evenly spaced and paddling, all eyes forward for the last big thrill of the Alberton Gorge. The second raft came on like a yellow caution flag. Its passengers were bunched in the back, so the prow rode high out of the water. It turned cockeyed to the current and flipped into the air, throwing boaters into the swollen Clark Fork River - exactly according to plan.

By ALLISON MAIER for the Missoulian

As many as 4,000 swimmers are expected to pack into Splash Montana when it opens this weekend, but midmorning on Tuesday the water park was deserted except for Jacob Byrne.

On his knees in a couple of feet of water in the “Log Walk,” Byrne attempted to replace a broken screw on one of the drains as a fake log bobbed alongside his forehead.

The grass is green, and so are the greens, all around western Montana these days. And that, of course, means just one thing: Golfers dotting golf courses morning, noon and night. Thus comes our yearly guide to area links. What’s new? What’s improved? And whom do I call for a tee time?

Two golf tournaments to raise money for groups that benefit people with cancer are scheduled at the Ranch Club in the next several weeks.

The first tournament, on May 20, benefits Camp Mak-A-Dream, the cost-free medically supervised camp for people affected by cancer. The second, on June 6, benefits the Jadyn Fred Fund, a nonprofit that provides financial support directly to children battling cancer and their families.