The Jewel Basin: A Diamond in the Rough
Shelby Hendrix is a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota majoring in Hospitality and Tourism. She fuels her love of the outdoors by skiing, hiking, and backpacking in the wooded corners of the Midwest to the mountains of the West. While spreading the word of her adventures through words and pictures, she hopes to ignite the fellow traveler in others. She can be reached at 15hendrshe@gmail.com . The Flathead Valley in Montana is known for many things like Glacier National Park, Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort, or the United States’ largest freshwater lake on the west side of the Mississippi, Flathead Lake. Here, engulfed in the Rocky Mountains and rugged pine trees lies the best jewel of them all: The Jewel Basin. Riddled with huckleberries and sapphire-blue lakes, it is a wonder why a gem of this sorts is kept secret by locals, but the lack of foot-traffic it receives will make any hiker thankful. The Jewel Basin is a 15,000-acre area residing in the Flathead Nati...