The new outdoor equipment and meal rental facility in Columbia Falls seeks to create flawless travel for adventurers who set out to explore the Flathead Valley, Glacier National Park and beyond.
Known as The Wilderness Edge, the facility is essentially a giant vending machine for renting outdoor equipment and buying meals. Right On Trek, the company behind it, aims to provide countless services for those who want to go on a one-day hike or head to the hinterland.
Viktorija Livšic, the founder of Right On Trek, grew up in Lithuania and learned to love nature through fishing and looking for mushrooms and berries. Her passion for the wild flourished further when she decided to set out on the John Moore Trail in California. Her friends got permission for the trail and tried to find a fourth person to join them.
“When I heard about it, something just clicked. It will be epic and I wanted to enter, “Livsic said.
Trekking helped Livšica give up a large part of the stress of everyday life.
“I fell in love with loneliness and the process,” she said. “It was a perfect combination of challenges and self-confidence. I loved the feeling of achievement after climbing the pass and the minimalism of progress in the environment. Many people do not learn these lessons in a protected, civilized world. ”
Livsic said that experience changed her life and taught her how to be self-confident and maintain balance in life. “He enriched my personal life beyond my wildest dreams.”
In this adventure, Livsic realized that she wanted to share this experience with everyone. According to the Statistics Research Department, over 57.8 million people in the United States are mountaineers.
“But when you ask people if they get enough recreation, they say no. “They want to do more, but there are very serious obstacles to achieving that,” Livsic said.
The first hurdle to solve is to make the equipment more accessible. Right On Trek offers hiking, mountaineering and camping packages starting at $ 25, $ 40 and $ 50 per person per day. The backpack package includes a 60-liter backpack, a tent and lining for three seasons, an ultra-light mattress, carbon fiber hiking poles, a light stove, a pot, accessories, a water filter, a bear bag, a trough and a satellite device.
“Everything has to be ultra-light and ultra-quality,” Livschitz said.
Equipment can be rented separately depending on the customer’s needs. They also offer a camping set for $ 35 per person per day that is designed uniquely for that experience.
Another component of a pleasant trip is good food.
“We make our own meals and that is a big and complicated part of the job,” Livsic said.
Right On Trek backpack meals are mostly air-dried, which provides fresher food than other meal alternatives. The packaging is 60% compostable and by next year they hope to be 100% biologically based. Right On Trek meals suit people’s lifestyle and diet, whether they are vegan, vegetarian, keto or gluten-free.
Livsic said she wants people to eat well in the hinterland. Meals can also be found in over 50 stores across Montana.
The third component of the Right On Trek mission is technology. Rightontrek.com is a platform where hikers can collaborate, plan their trip, and even create customized meal plans. The website has a tool called Trail Finder that helps you plan your route.
“It’s one of the most impressive databases full of multi-day and one-day adventures,” Livschitz said.
The other part of Right On Trek’s mission is to educate people about creating good habits to protect the environment while staying safe.
“When people are not ready, they can destroy the wilderness,” Livschitz said.
She hopes to combat this concern with education and appropriate resources, and the Right On Trek educational center is currently under construction. The company is environmentally conscious because part of its revenue goes to creating carbon offsets for everything related to product delivery.
In the near future, Right On Trek hopes to have a wilderness edge at the gate of Yellowstone National Park. Their long-term goal is to have an edge of wilderness in every national park and to eventually become global. The team’s shared vision has greatly contributed to the company’s success.
“Without our team, we would not be able to do what we are doing at the speed and scale of what we have been doing so far,” Livsic said. Everyone in the team is highly qualified, loves nature and has empathy for their customers, she notes.
Equipment can be rented and meals can be purchased at rightontrek.com.
After ordering, the locker code will be sent to pick up equipment at one of several locations including Whitefish Outfitters, Glacier Outdoor Center and the latest location, The Wilderness Edge, located at 1010 Conn Road in Columbia Falls.
Detailed information about the equipment will also be provided, and all questions can be answered via email or the chat feature on their website. The equipment is then returned to the same location.
Livschitz and her team are excited to make wildlife exploration a tangible dream for those who may not have had the resources before.
Wilderness Edge is now open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day with the goal of being open 24 hours a day during the summer.
To learn more about Right On Trek, visit rightontrek.com or find them on Instagram @ rightontrek
