On August 5 of this year, Veterans Community Response members teamed up with the Big Sky Brewing crew and friends for our 8th annual highway cleanup and river float. This year we set a new record. Thirty of us cleaned 7 miles of Highway 2, collecting more than 70 bags of trash. We are greatly honored to be the stewards of a special stretch of highway.

In 2010, we were returning home from our first Montana Combat Veterans retreat when we noticed large amounts of trash around the monument on Highway 2 at the Marias Pass summit. We cleaned over eight bags of trash that evening, and the next day VCR (then named Community Focused Disaster Response) and Big Sky Brewing Company adopted a three-mile stretch of Highway 2 including the summit at the Continental Divide.

This thin ribbon of road is the only barrier separating the 1.4 million acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex to the south and Glacier Park’s one million acres. As such, it is a very special place, known as “The Crown of The Continent”, and deserves the best care and respect. Each year we choose an unadopted stretch of road and clean it as well.

After a rigorous morning of cleaning highway, we boated down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. This is a relaxed fun float where wildlife encounters are common. It’s a great reward for the hard work.