Packer and longtime guide, Bill Hooker, teaches the students about the basics of riding a horse on day two of the horsepacking trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness on Saturday, August 29, 2026. Family-owned Rich Ranch Outfitters donates the trip and provides pack animals to Ovando every two years.
It was late August and nine students from Ovando’s two room schoolhouse were riding on horseback into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the third largest wilderness area in the lower 48 which abuts Glacier National Park in northwest Montana.
After 10 miles of riding by horseback, students gathered for dinner in a canvas wall tent. A wood burning cookstove quietly crackled nearby while the teacher, Andrea Tougas – who the kids call Ms. T – asked the students what they learned that day.
The students, who spanned from fourth through eighth grade, rattled off facts about the famous forester Bob Marshall, observations from the trail after four hours of mountain riding, and the Wilderness Act of 1964, but their minds were already wandering elsewhere: tent sleeping arrangements, whittling sticks for s’mores, and plans for a game of camouflage.
The students try to keep up with packer, Tate McNutt, who leads the students down the trail through burnt timber from the Rice Ridge wildfire of 2017 in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. McNutt grew up in nearby and spent the summer working on his guide’s license at Rich Ranch Outfitters.
The students and Rich Ranch packer Tate McNutt during a game of camouflage in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The students hide in the brush, move closer when someone counts, all while someone tries to spot them.
A collage of Ovando School’s nine students from fourth through eighth grade that make up the “Big Room,” including Mable Stevenson, 10, William Applegate, 10, Mable Hessler, 10, Alex Lapka, 10, Hudson Skelton, 10, Abbie Applegate, 12, Silas Hessler, 12, Nora Stevenson, 12, Loryn Neudecker, 13. Andrea Tougas, one of two teachers at Ovando Public School, poses for a portrait in the Bob Marshall Wilderness on Saturday, August 29, 2026.
At Ovando School, all 19 students fit into two classrooms. Preschool through third grade is referred to as the “Little Room,” while fourth through eighth grade is called the “Big Room.” The school was built in 1924 and recently celebrated its 100th year anniversary.
In a tradition that dates back six years, the Big Room starts the fall with a three day horsepacking trip into the nearby Bob Marshall Wilderness. I was invited on the horsepacking trip with Ovando through the Montana Photo Workshop as a graduate student.
Students from Ovando Public School play hot potato in the back of the bus on the way to their three day horsepacking trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness outside of Seeley, Montana. Rich Ranch Outfitters donates their time and provides pack animals to Ovando for the horsepacking trip every two years.
Nora Stevenson, 12, and Loryn Neudecker, 13, learn how to play “Queen of the Bucket” in front of Deena and Bill Hooker at basecamp in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The students visited nearby tipi rings, watched horse handling demonstrations, and learned how to use a crosscut saw earlier in the day.
The students work on cowboy poetry for an assignment on day two of the horsepacking trip. The students will share the poetry around the campfire later in the day.
During the overnight trip, I saw firsthand how older students helped younger ones, lessons were given on horseback or around the fire, and the kids formed special relationships with their classmates and their teacher.
I was struck over the course of those three days by the mixture of kid’s laughter, fresh elderberry syrup and hot cocoa in the morning, and the tinkering sounds of bells as thirty horses grazed in the moon glow on the mountainside. The experience felt like a moment lifted from a different time and a remarkable feat of American education.
William Applegate, one of the youngest students at 10, builds a handmade boat to float down the creek. “Risky play is a child’s business. It’s easier to form trusting relationships with students without academic pressure,” explained Ms. Tougas.
Ovando students Mable Stevenson, 9, and Loryn Neudecker, 13, learn how to use a crosscut saw during a demonstration taught by Bill Hooker.
Longtime guide and outfitter, Bill Hooker, points out grizzly bear prints fresh from the night before to the students while out on a day hike in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Bill also talked to the students about the Big Burn of 1912 and fire adapted species like lodgepole pine and fireweed.
Abbie Applegate, 12, catches a Rocky Mountain Tailed frog by hand while exploring the creek near camp in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
Ovando School is located in a town of about 50 people. The Montana Small School Alliance (MSSA), a non-profit founded in 1996, supports the smallest school districts in Montana through resources and training for educators. MSSA took on a research project in 2008 to better understand the smallest schools, known as “frontier schools”.
“We have roughly 150 rural schools in the state, all have enrollment of 124 or less,” said Dr. Jayne Downey, Executive Director of the Montana Small School Alliance, and Director of the Center for Research on Rural Education at Montana State University.
According to a 2011 report in The Rural Educator written by former MSSA executive director Claudette Morton, tiny schools are vulnerable to changes in enrollment, teacher vacancies, long commutes, inadequate financial resources, and unreasonable federal standards. In some cases, the arrival or departure of a single family can impact the school’s future.
“Montana is number one in the country for small rural districts,” Dr. Downey said.
However, the same thing that makes Ovando vulnerable – its size – also makes it beautiful. Small public schools, like Ovando, are able to create experiences for students that are nearly impossible for larger schools to replicate. Ovando’s horsepacking trip is a unique example of what’s possible in American education at this scale.
William Applegate, one of the youngest students at 10, carefully wittles a stick under the watch longtime guide, Bill Hooker, at basecamp. Bill and his wife Deena started leading these trips for Ovando Public School six years ago.
Classmates Abbie Applegate, 12, and Nora Stevenson, 12, compare notes on the Rice Ridge wildfire and the U.S. Forest Service’s 10 a.m. wildfire suppression policy during day two of the horsepacking trip. “We’re reading the forest,” Bill hooker explained while on a morning hike.
After s’mores, the students sit around the campfire with Ms. Tougas and Bill Hooker and share their highs and lows as they wrap up their second day in the Bob Marshall Wilderness on Saturday, August 29, 2026. Afterwards, Bill Hooker recites “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service from memory.
As stars began to dangle from the dusky sky, Ms. T asked, “Ovando?” “Yes,” nine kids replied. “Are you happy to be sitting around the fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness?”
Mable Stevenson, 9, runs to greet her dad at the trail head after a three day horsepacking trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness on Sunday, August 30, 2026. This was Mable’s first time on the overnight trip.
The post A Photo Essay: Montana Schoolhouse Takes a Trip into the Wilderness appeared first on The Daily Yonder.
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