12 Days of Epic Between Glacier and Yellowstone
Hiking the mountains of Montana, I often feel like my head is in the clouds. But the first time I trekked to Sawtooth Lake I literally wondered if I was dreaming. There amid the soft grass and sun-bleached boulders at the edge of the lake lay the crumpled, rusting metal fuselage of a small plane. The engine was nowhere to be seen. I looked to the lake. Its emerald depths offered no further clues to the mystery. The cool midsummer breeze, whispering down from the snow-speckled cliffs above, spoke no answers.
Later I would learn the basic facts of the husband and wife who, on a sightseeing outing in 1959, flew too close to Sawtooth Lake and paid the ultimate price. Someone eventually salvaged the plane’s engine.
Anyone who has ever visited Yellowstone or Glacier knows that the famed crags and valleys of those national parks harbor indescribable beauty. But if you’re looking for serious off-grid discovery, the real secret lies in the space between: Southwest Montana.
Here you’ll find epic mountain biking, breathtaking ridgeline trails (which you’ll probably have all to yourself) and the best trout fishing in North America.
So grab your GPS, lace up your boots and plot your path to Montana adventure:
DIVIDE AND PEDAL
1. To political junkies Helena is known as the capital city of Montana. But to pedal junkies, it is the mountain biking capital of the Northern Rockies. With over 70 miles of single-track right outside the back door and a free shuttle service five days a week, you could bite off more Montana than you can chew right within spittin’ distance of town.
2. The new lift-accessed trail system at Discovery Ski Area has already been praised by the likes of Bike Magazine. The best part: It’s all downhill.
3. The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route — the longest off-pavement cycling route in the world — snakes through the mountains above Butte and south to Lima. You can start at the edge of Butte, catch this trail and ride for miles — well more than 200 of ‘em — up and down and all around. If you want a serious challenge, ride the Butte 100 race route that took on riders from Bike Magazine. Courtesy of massive elevation climbs, the views are spectacular but have to be earned. (And you can refresh back in town.)
4. For pavement pedalers, the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway offers soul-expanding vistas and plenty of “shoulder room” on the little-traveled road.
HIKE THE TRAIL LESS TRAVELED
5. Day hikers love the Bear Creek Loop Trail, a 12-miler southeast of Ennis where you’ll thread the saddle between the Helmet and the Sphinx, two of the most famous mountains in the Madison Range.6. Neither Yellowstone nor Glacier holds anything quite as awe-inspiring as the Chinese Wall, a 20-mile long, sheer limestone face that soars as high as 1,500 feet as it bisects the Scapegoat Wilderness. Get there via the South Fork Sun River Trail #202 near Augusta; make sure you plan a few days to fully experience its magic.
7. About 20 miles southwest of the tiny town of Lima, the Nicholia Creek Trail serves as the gateway to a spectacular high alpine loop where you’ll gaze upon an unusual crater the size of a mountain.
8. If the plane wreckage at Sawtooth Lake doesn’t surprise you, the breathtaking landscape will. You’ll hike through meadows carpeted with wildflowers to a dramatic cirque high in the Pioneer Mountains. Then, you’ll try to figure out why you would ever want to leave.
LIVE WILD AMONG WILDLIFE
9. With its willowy banks, tight twists and fluctuating water levels, the Beaverhead River is one of the most technically challenging fishing waters in Montana. With challenge come rewards: The river boasts more trophy brown trout than any other river in the state.
10. Lost Creek State Park, near Anaconda, is one of the most likely places in the state to view bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Don’t miss the short hike to the stunning 50-foot Lost Creek Falls.
11. Just a few miles from there the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area is one of the best places in the region to see elk, white-tailed and mule deer, moose and even an occasional black bear. Furbearers — including beaver, muskrat and mink — are active along the marshy streambed that bisects the area.
12. Imagine hundreds of birds with wingspans as wide as a city bus taking flight all at once. That breathtaking scene is a daily occurrence at Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge, home to one of North America’s largest populations of majestic trumpeter swans.
