Meet our team

Growing up in Montana, Yve has spent a significant part of her life in the great outdoors with the vast landscapes of Big Sky Country providing her with a personal foundation. She attended the University of Montana in Missoula, where she earned a degree in Environmental Studies. Following her graduation from UM, she worked for the U.S. Forest Service, as well as private businesses. She makes her home in Choteau with her husband, two boys and a quirky, much-loved border collie. Yve enjoys spending as much time as possible playing in the great outdoors and looks forward to sharing her love of Montana and the wilderness with her guests.

Maggie, a native of Choteau, Montana, grew up along the Rocky Mountain Front where her family has lived for more than 100 years. In her early years, she spent as much time as possible hiking, riding and exploring The Bob before graduating from Montana State University in Bozeman with a degree in Rangeland Management. Since earning her degree, Maggie has worked for the U.S. Forest Service, Nature Conservancy’s Pine Butte Guest Ranch, Teton Pass Ski Area and Mills Wilderness Adventures of Montana, with each furthering her love and passion for wild places and the great outdoors. It brings her great joy to share these places with others.  Maggie lives west of Choteau with her husband Will, son Max, two dogs, one cat, and a passel of horses and mules.

Bill and Polly Cunningham are longtime Choteau, Montana residents and they previously operated Dropstone Outfitting as High Country Adventures. Today, they serve as our mentors and provide guidance as we operate our stock-supported hiking and backpacking adventures in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. One of the most well-known wilderness advocates in the country, Bill has spent time working at The Wilderness Society, Montana Wilderness Association and American Wildlands; has taught courses at the University of Montana; and is an accomplished hiker and writer. Polly, Bill’s wife and partner in all things, has co-authored several hiking guidebooks with Bill and enjoys making her life in the wild country in and around Choteau.

The man, the myth, the legend . . . Bryn is an avid adventurer, coffee maker, and blister fixer. He’s explored wild areas nationwide, run guided backpacking/rafting trips in Alaska, and can fix ski bindings like nobody’s business.  He has worked with Dropstone since 2014, and we cannot even begin to express how grateful we are for him.  If you’ve been on a trip with him, you’ve enjoyed his ready smile, can-do attitude, and love for the great outdoors — not to mention his expertise as a guide.

Raised in central Montana, Eric remembers being about nine years old for his first overnight backpacking trip in the Scapegoat Wilderness. A sleeping pad, tent, and backpacking stove that his father purchased in the early 1980s are among the treasures in his attic. The stove is still in service. Although he considers himself functionally domesticated, wild settings are where Eric feels most at home. He agrees with Ed Abbey on the point that, “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.”

University studies were in biology/ecology and subsequently science education. Eric worked full time as a naturalist in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front for eight years. Although he hasn’t kept track, Eric has walked many thousands of miles in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and traveled many other uncounted days on rivers and landscapes elsewhere.

Currently Eric enjoys the challenges of navigating the interface of nature and civilization in the operation of a small, diversified farm focused on biological, regenerative practices.  A beautiful and brilliant son holds force for life’s compass.  The opportunity to spend time outside teaching and learning with familiar faces and with the newly-met is something Eric is always grateful for.

Lisa was born in Richmond, Virginia, move to Golden, Colorado at the age of five where her father attended the Colorado School of Mines. She and her family moved to the Flathead Valley, where she attended Flathead High School and Flathead Valley Community College. Her education includes earning a bachelor’s degree in botany, masters in science teaching, and she is a certified State of Montana science – biology, earth science, general science – educator.

In 2007, Lisa earned her Ph.D. in Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana – Missoula while working as the Director of Conservation Education for the Boone and Crockett Club on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch west of Dupuyer. For over 20 years her work has focused on teaching K-12 science, conservation and wildlife education primarily in the outdoors. She also served as coordinator for several regional and collaborative outreach entities: the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem Education Consortium, the Roundtable of Crown of the Continent, and the Front Range Conservation Education Consortium. Lisa has served and continues to serve as a dedicated volunteer on many boards, working groups and councils such as the Old Trail Museum, Choteau Performing Arts League, MFWP Region 4 Citizen Advisory Council, Montana Envirothon, Montana Environmental Education Association, Private Lands Public Wildlife Council and the Cinnabar Foundation.

Lisa is now living in Great Falls and works as the Vice President of Advancement at the University of Providence. Her philanthropic work is focused on developing partnerships with local supporters, growing the universities’ endowment, and increasing the number of student scholarships awarded each year. Her passions are in the education and conservation arenas. Her preference is to be outdoors enjoying what she loves – hiking, biking, birding, boating, skiing, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, and gardening. The sparkle in her eyes and her warm smile portrays her sense of place and fortune to be able to share a meaningful life with family, friends, and others in Montana and beyond!!

What does a well-seasoned camp cook do after 30+ years of traveling in the wilderness with horses and mules carrying the tools of her trade?  Answer…opt for a kitchen that doesn’t roam.  With hot, running water and a regulated stovetop and oven, Corlene still enjoys cooking for adventurous guests and she invites you to come to her home for your first dinner with Dropstone Outfitting.

Along with Yve, she is the mastermind behind many of the Dropstone meals on the trail, and she spends much of the spring cooking meals for the upcoming season.  We simply love her and don’t know what we’d do without her.

Audra Labert is passionate about wellness, community and connection to wild places. Since studying Resource Conservation and Wilderness at the University of Montana, she has worked in Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall, Rattlesnake and Welcome Creek Wilderness areas. Audra enjoys spending much of her free time exploring the mountains and rivers of Montana with her husband, kids and intrepid dogs.

Working with Dropstone has afforded Audra the opportunity to incorporate other passions, including yoga. She has been practicing yoga for nearly 20 years, and it has been a powerful therapeutic tool for restoration and revival of mind, body, and spirit.Her teaching and experience incorporate a broad range of tools, and she teaches workshops, classes and individuals.

More information about her work can be found at www.sunriveryoga.com. 

Jean grew up outside of Seattle Washington in the constant rain, dense forests, and mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Lured by the wild Rocky Mountains, she moved to Montana after high school to attend the University of Montana and gain a degree in Environmental Science and a minor in Wilderness Studies.

She spent the next decade working for various science education organizations in the US and throughout Latin America. She worked as a naturalist for the Nature Conservancy at Pine Butte Guest Ranch along the Rocky Mountain Front, a science educator for NatureBridge on the Olympic Peninsula, and an instructor and program director for Ecology Project International involving high school students in professional research projects, including observing whales in the Sea of Cortez, monitoring sea turtles and gigantic tortoises in the Galapagos Islands, and searching for grizzly bear hairs in Yellowstone National Park. 

In 2013, she earned a Masters in Teaching from Lewis and Clark Graduate school in Portland Oregon and returned to Montana to teach science.  She currently lives in Helena, Montana and teaches biology at Capital High School.  During her summers, she loves spending time all waking hours outdoors – hiking, botanizing, biking, rafting, foraging, paddle boarding – while galivanting in wild landscapes and sleeping under the stars.  If she is not guiding a Dropstone trip, she is likely on an adventure with her husband, step-daughter, and dogs. 

The Bob Marshall Country is home for Russell.  He grew up at Spotted Bear Ranger Station on the Flathead National Forest and has recreated and worked in the Bob Marshall for close to fifty years.  He recently retired from the US Forest Service as a fire manager, working out of Choteau.  He mainly works for Dropstone as a packer, but when the horses and mules are taken care of and resting, he likes to join guests in bagging a peak, checking out a swimming hole, exploring a little-used trail, or swapping stories around a campfire.

Violet started working for us in 2021 during her freshman year of high school. Since then, she has taken on more and more responsibility and has helped with everything from packing animals into the mountains to cooking on trips to helping clean saddle pads. She has an indomitable spirit and we love working with her!

Jared is a hunting/fishing guide and packer for Dropstone Outfitting. He has worked for us for many years, starting out doing summer packing and is now our main hunting guide.  He’s originally from Shelby, Montana and currently works as a fishing guide on the Missouri in the summer, a hunting guide in the fall, and a calving boss in the winter/spring. He’s an absolute joy to be around, has a great sense of humor, and is an excellent guide. We don’t know what we’d do without him!

Tom has spent many years wandering the backcountry on horseback and on foot. He’s a wealth of backcountry knowledge and always has a smile on his face. He is a packer, hiking guide, and future trip scouter for Dropstone.

Johnny hails from nearby Dupuyer and has grown up exploring and hunting in the Birch Creek/Dupuyer Creek area. He currently works on the family ranch and guides archery hunts for us in the fall.

Bonnie is a Dropstone Guide

She’s also a mom on the side

Her outdoor interests are varied and neat

From birds, tracking and hunting her own meat

With ample experience true and tried.

Bonnie is one with the wilderness

She loves outdoors, untamed and immense

Birds, rocks, and animal tracks

Fishing, riding, and artifacts

A box of field guides she does condense.

Roy Barkley retired from the US Forest Service in January 2022 after 34 years managing outdoor recreation, in and outside of designated Wilderness areas, maintaining public access and working with volunteers and user groups on public lands, all within the great state of Montana. He is now a small business owner specializing in custom cabinet work and sign making. When not in the woodshop he is out feeding and caring for his horses and mules, hunting and wetting a line in many of the rivers and lakes in the area.

Roy and his wife raised 2 boys in the Helena valley. Their family activities revolved around kids sporting events and outdoor recreation, with their fondest memories of hunting, fishing and camping in this beloved State. They have spent many nights sitting around the campfire along the shores of the Missouri River and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and they continue enjoying these special times with their now-grown kids on weeklong floats through the Upper Missouri Monument, a tradition they plan to continue.

Laurie’s favorite place to be is outside in a wild and beautiful landscape, preferably with a dog, though mules have become a close second. Guiding off and on for 30 years primarily in Alaska, Laurie delights in connecting with others and connecting them to wilderness. Sweating up a ridgeline, gawking at wildflowers, playing games around a campfire, or her personal favorite, swimming in an alpine lake—these are The Bob’s riches she revels in with guests.

Laurie earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana. She lives in Missoula where she studies nutrition and plays a lot of basketball with her husband and two sons.

Alyssa has been practicing and instructing yoga now for over 20 years in her adopted home of Montana. With over 700 hours of training completed, she has crafted her individual training style to focus on strength, mobility, flexibility and an overarching focus on movement. For Alyssa, yoga has always been an enhancement for her love of skiing, running and hiking.  Alyssa’s classes have always focused on being fun yet challenging while being accessible to everyone.