Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wifey has always wanted to visit Montana...taking her for retirement present. Suggestions?

agreed, and Lewis and Clark is good also.

I was there last week and tourist season has already started according to Delta Airlines because if you are are going anywhere near Glacier they are going to stab you for the cost of an airline ride. Sis and mom live in Whitefish twenty miles west of the "park" as they call it out there. Sis showed me a video of a big bulldozer plowing the snow off the Going To The Sun highway just a couple weeks back because they got pasted with snow this last winter. Really bad flooding down around Missoulla this year. That Going To The Sun road might not be open as early as normal. I've driven out from WI. and taken Amtrak and unless you want to see where your whole grains come from, I'd stay out of eastern MT. I was feeling sorry for the antelope without a shade tree out to the horizon. It might be more cost effective to maybe fly into Bozeman or Helena and rent a car down there to head back up north. Enterprise was half the cost of the others when we rented an SUV out of Kalispell. There is a big ski area called Big Mountain just north of Whitefish with a zip line or bike or hiking trails. Dick Idol's boutique (Dick started North American Whitetail magazine) is in Whitefish for art, mounts and sculpture (bring lots of money if you are buying). There is a great place to get a steak to grill in Columbia Falls called Prime Cuts and some good ski and sport places in Kalispell and the Army Navy store in Whitefish is the best one I've ever been to. Take the red bus ride if you are doing the Going To The Sun (and you should) or you will white knuckle it driving yourself. As a flat-lander I was even breaking a sweat when the bus driver was doing the driving. Scenic is an understatement if you like heights.

The museum in Cody, WY is a MUST SEE!!! The firearms section alone is worth the trip. The rest of the place is phenomenal

https://centerofthewest.org/.

Agree 100% about the Cody museum. Need at least 2 days there if you can. I made the mistake of only have 1/2 day and left so much unseen. Of course that means I have a good reason to go back.

Not that far from Red Lodge, and is definitely a must see along with the Custer Battlefield. So many things to see, so little time.

No schit. Zinke is a good man.

If you like western art the Charles Russel in Great Falls includes his original studio.

If history is of interest then the Lewis & Clark Center also in Great Falls is from what I hear is the best of all the centers that deal with the that westward trip.

Great Falls is about half way between Yellowstone & Glacier parks.

Cody museum is great. We were there last year and gonna take grand kids this year. Ed k

I have not been out west in a long time . I can say that Utah was my favorite. Eastern Montana was not as cool but was still kind of cool. I like think maybe South Dakota , around Rapid City is a tie for Utah but it has been 15 yrs since I was there.

Any place that isn't like "home" is a neat opportunity. Nothing wrong with dude outfits, it takes out the logistics of food, lodging etc. and they are usually located in cool areas with fun stuff to do. Or else they'd go out of business.......

Literally any road in NW MT will give you awesome views, some more than others. If you don't like people then avoid the parks, and the scenic byways. Plenty of drivable FS roads that'll give you great views.

Beartooth highway is a lot closer to Yellowstone! I second the recommendation, though; it's one of the top scenic routes in the U.S.

I actually wasted a couple minutes and clicked on your link. LMAO

Where in MT do you live?

Average date for opening of Going-to-the -Sun road in Glacier is June 17. Might be late this year due to heavy snowpack. Another good place, seldom mentioned, is the Mission Mountains, accessed from the Swan-Clearwater valley. Scenery is as good as Glacier, but not nearly as many tourists. The hiking would mostly require overnighting, though.

If you like history, most of it is in SW Montana; Bannack (first gold rush town and territorial capital, now a state park ghost town), Virginia City, (biggest placer find in U.S.), Helena.

Word is that a new airbnb is opening in Harve, cheap. Be advised: bring your own sheets.

I see the Montana side of the Beartooth Highway just opened.

Some years ago I stayed at the Double Arrow Resort in Seeley Lake, before the top tourist season. It was very nice. It's been about 18 years, though, so I can't speak to current conditions.

I did not waste the time. When wilderness.org is his source, that's all I need to know.

One of those sorry leftist, decent chance he's a teacher, who thinks every f'ing sq foot needs to be wilderness with no appreciation of how the F do we fund all this [bleep]???

I am one who thinks we have absolutely enough wilderness areas and need to trim a lot of the WSA that were created years ago.

So much of our public land is now becoming the sole domain of BLM or USFWS dinks. Handicapping locals in trying to control weeds and predators. Screw em.

Tarkio asks what Zinke has done to mess with wilderness, gets a substantial reply, then refuses to read it. Typical head-inserted-deep-in-dark-smelly-place.