contributed by Mark Morgan

The following is the excerpt from my "Northern Exposure Tour 5/92" trip report concerning Kalispell AFS (Oct 92, drive from Oak Harbor, WA, to Scranton, PA in early winter...hoo-YAH!) (I still plan to get to the top of the hill one of these days). MK

Fri 06 Nov 92
Once I got into Kalispell I turned south on US 93, towards Lakeside. The FAA operates the former Kalispell AFS as their Lakeside radar. Makes sense.

Kalispell AFS - The former ADC site is about 2SW of the town of Lakeside; the barracks and admin site is down toward the highway, while the radars are way up there on the ridge...I know; I tried to get up there, but the road went from paving to dirt to mud to snow to ice. Oh well...I asked one guy coming down the hill in a Ranger 4X4 and he said, "Oh, yeah, it`s about 15 miles up there."

The portion at the bottom of the hill is in excellent shape and now Youth With A Mission, an interdenominational mission training site. Kalispell was designated TM-179/Z-179 and operated by the 716th RADS (5/59-4/78) and OLs of the 24th ADSq (4/78-3/83) and 25th ADSq (3/83- /87). Dets were at Columbia Falls (never activated) and Yaak, MT (the latter was was previously an AFS). As a Joint Surveillance Site (right!), the FAA designation is now J-78.