Imagine spending your entire summer backpacking the Continental Divide Trail — painting the landscape every single day as you hiked. For Jaden and Genevieve Attard, that was not a dream. It was their summer.
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The husband-and-wife artist duo from the Flathead Valley met at an art market and built their lives and business around art. This summer, they combined that passion with a thru-hike of Montana's Continental Divide Trail — starting at Raynolds Pass south of West Yellowstone and working their way north through some of the most dramatic landscapes in the state.
The idea grew from a simple question: what if they could see their home state in a whole new way? Genevieve had thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2023. Jaden had been drawn to the idea of a long trail. When they started doing plein air painting events — painting outside in the field — the two ideas collided.
"This is a crazy idea. Like, what if we could see our state so much better this way?" Jaden recalled thinking.
The logistics are demanding. The Attards hike an average of 17 miles a day — less than the typical thru-hiker — because painting sessions add two to three hours to each day on the trail.
"Usually we're going around 17 average miles a day, which is less than the average thru-hiker because of painting sessions — it takes about 2 to 3 hours," Jaden said.
They paint nearly every single day — stopping only when a trip into town for resupply takes up too much time.
"We've been painting like, every day, basically outside. The only times we don't paint are whenever we're trying to go into town, because that takes up time. We'll just have to hitchhike into town, all that stuff. But we've been out here for two months, so," Genevieve said.
Two months in, the answer to their original question is a resounding yes. The Attards have documented the journey with cameras and a GoPro — sharing what they eat, how they paint in the field, and the full personality of life on the trail.
By the end of the trek, they will have created more than 100 original paintings — everything from what feel like failures to what feel like their best work. On September 19th, they will display all of it together at a gallery show on Main Street in Columbia Falls.
"That's the one time that you can go there and see every single painting we made, the ones that feel like failures, the ones that feel like successes — and just all together," Jaden said.
Seeing the full collection in one place, he says, transforms the individual paintings into something larger — a single, sweeping work of art made of miles, experiences, and stories.
For Jaden and Genevieve, the summer has been about more than miles and paintings. It has been about practice, craft, and seeing Montana the way most people never will.
Follow their journey:
INSTAGRAM: @the_bluest_bird
INSTAGRAM: @gendelorme_art
Website link:
https://blanketflowercreative.square.site/ [blanketflowercreative.square.site]
Gallery Show Details:
- Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
- Location: Main Street, Columbia Falls, Montana
- Admission: Free and open to the public
- What: Every painting created during the summer Continental Divide Trail trek — more than 100 original works
