The State of Montana is located in the Western region of the United States of America and shares a northern border with Canada. It was the 41st state admitted to the union in 1889. It is the 4th largest state with an area of 145,552 square miles.

Montana Trip

June 2005

BOZEMAN

We flew into Bozeman, Montana to begin our tour of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park areas in both Wyoming and Montana. The downtown area in Bozeman is a mix of Old West bars, saddle shops, upscale stores, restaurants and cafes. There are many parks, trails and recreation areas to explore in the surrounding areas. One of this western town’s claim to fame is a favorite son and good ole boy, Gary Cooper.

BUTTE

Butte is an interesting old Western hill town. It is like going back into the 50s; not much has changed there. In its former years, it was one of the major mining cities in the West (copper, gold and silver). Butte was a wetitlehy city with a population of 100,000. Today around 35,000 people call it home, and mining is still practiced. There are numerous ornate buildings uptown reminding one of the Old West days. Take a trolley ride through the hilly town. Visit Joe’s Pasties or the Town Talk Bakery and try a famous pasty, a traditional miner’s dinner of meat, potatoes, and onion baked inside a pastry shell. Keeping watch over Butte on a high ridge is Our Lady of the Rockies, a 90 foot tall, 80 ton statue of the Virgin Mary on the Continental Divide; it lights up at night.

And, don’t miss the Berkeley Open Pit Mine (1800 feet deep and stretching out a mile). This is considered the largest toxic waste site in the country; it is filled with old mining waste. There is a viewing platform for visitors to inspect the abandoned, mammoth pit where silver, gold and copper had been extracted.

ANACONDA

Anaconda sits at the base of the rugged Pintlar Mountains, offering many outdoor activities. It has been nick-named the Smelter City and still bears remnants of the copper-smelting operations in the form of a very visible 585 foot smokestack. Go to the Anaconda Visitor Center in the old railroad depot for memorabilia of the town’s railroad and copper history. And close by is the classic art deco Washoe Theatre (ranked as the 5th most beautiful theater in the nation by the Smithsonian).

While in this Montana area, we stayed a few nights at the Fairmont Hot Springs Lodge to relax and enjoy the thermal waters; we would recommend it.

FLATHEAD LAKE/POLSON/BIG FORK

This lake is the largest natural fresh water lake in Western US and a great place for water activities. Also in the lake is Wildhorse Island State Park, home to bighorn sheep and other wild life. This area is only reached by private boat. Polson is a small community on its Southern edge. It is on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Nearby is the resort community of Bigfork, filled with shops, galleries, restaurants and a cultural center with summer playhouse.

KALISPELL

This is the Flathead County seat and regional business/shopping center for Northwest Montana. It is a century-old city. Visit Norms’s News and Soda Fountain for a trip back to the 50s and Western Outdoor for great western clothing selections on Main St.

WHITEFISH (15 miles North of Kalispell)

A small resort town of 5,000 people, Whitefish is a sportsman’s delight. Hiking, biking, skiing, dog sledding, lake activity, golfing; the outdoors offers an assortment of activity.

MISSOULA

Known as the Garden City, Missoula is nestled in the heart of the Northern Rockies in Montana. A community of under 100,000 residents, Missoula lies in a mountain forest setting where five valleys converge. It is 140 miles from Glacier National Park and 270 miles from Yellowstone National Park. It is the cultural center of Northwest, Montana and home to many artists and writers, including the University of Montana and the Grizzlies Football Team. The Clark River runs through the town center, and there is a five mile walking/cycling riverside trail leading to Hell Gate Canyon.

Don’t miss Caras Park with its marvelous carousel (restored 1918 frame) and large band organ. More fun for kids is the Dragon Hall and play area with dragon, castle and other play structures. If time, visit the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Wildlife Visitor Center.

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Glacier National Park is on the Montana/Canadian border. It is an incredibly beautiful work of nature with some of the most dramatic mountain scenery on Earth. Glacier covers more than one million acres of wild area. Turn-of-century, wetitlehy Easterners started going to the park where Louis Hill (railroad baron) built lodges, chalets, roads and trails, under the aegis of President William Taft.

On the Canadian side, Waterton Lake National Park covers 130,000 acres. Both parks were unified in 1932 to form the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Each park is maintained by their own park services.

Going-To-The-Sun Road (52 miles)

The Going-To-The-Sun Road is filled with scenic wonders…plunging waterfalls, gorges, glacier-carved valleys, ravines, snow-covered mountain tops with jagged peaks, up to an elevation of 10,000 or more feet at its apex…Logan Pass. The narrow, two-lane road is incredibly winding and often under repair. When we were there a rock slide had fallen days before our trip. They say in July and August, the road is bumper to bumper with tourists. It’s hard to imagine with such a narrow road and such high elevations. We missed the crowds in June. If you don’t want to drive on these high, winding roads, take the Red Jammer, an antique red bus with roll back top, operated by Glacier Park.

Logan Pass

Logan Pass is the end of Going-To-The-Sun Road. You can turn around and retrace, or you can continue down the other side and go to St. Mary on the East side. We did this and lunched there at Many Glacier. However when we left Many Glacier, the weather was bad with dense fog. Since the road was so winding and narrow, we went 160 miles out of our way to go all around and back to our cabin at Apgar Village in West Glacier to assure a safe trip.

Apgar Village (in Glacier National Park)

We stayed in a rustic cabin at Apgar Village, and we loved it! It was near beautiful Lake McDonald where we could lunch at the lodge. The mountain lodges are beautiful and so worth seeing. titlehough they have dining rooms and serve decent food, they can get crowded, and sometimes we found the wait was not worth the food. At one, they were short of help, and the wait was very long.

Glacier National Park is a beauty! The scenery, the falls, the views, the ravines, the valleys and yes, even the heights and narrow, winding roads are all what you will remember from this magnificent park.

Montana Photo Gallery

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