몬타나 주는 미국 북서부에 위치하고 있는데 경관이 아름답고 유명한 국립공원 2개가 전세계인의 평생 한 번 꼭 가고 싶은 곳 중 하나이다. 자연 상태 그대로 유지하는 것을 가장 큰 원칙으로 삼고 있어 각종 동식물은 물론이거니와 생태계의 완벽한 보존으로 엘로스톤의 3,472평방 마일의 거대한 곳이 전부 신비할 정도의 태고의 모습을 보존하며 살아 움직이고 있다. 두 국립공원의 볼거리를 조사하였다.
Montana State
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US Route 89 is a slow road, just two lanes for most its 1800 miles from Canada to Mexico. The views are unobstructed and right out the window. It is easy to stop to take a picture or just to smell the air. Small town museums and shops invite you to come in and browse. Be surprised. Learn something new. Or just catch your breath and relax.
The Road Trip Guides on this website are like the road itself. They are an opportunity to slow down and explore. There are maps, pop-up photo galleries and interesting stories to read. It’s like an Easter egg hunt—you never know what beautiful little surprise you’ll find.
This website is the product of two artists' journeys on US Route 89. It is constantly being added to as we continue with our quest to record the whole of the road. To keep up with our adventures, subscribe to our free email newsletter, Along 89.
We recognize that there is more to do and see on US 89 than we can ever hope to record. That is where you come in. I invite all travelers and residents on US Route 89 to contribute stories, photos, advertisements, events and whatever else will add to the richness of this place. Go to Share your 89 stories, register and become part of this adventure.
Montana Scenic Route
Follow the scenic highway and byways, through charming communities, and discover what the Blackfeet call the "Backbone of the World," the magnificent Rocky Mountains and the best scenic drive in the West!
Life here is guided by nature. Breathtaking sunsets stretch over prairies that seem to go on forever. Snow-capped peaks form a backdrop for rolling hills. Swift streams tumble over rocky beds, while placid rivers cut through ancient inland seas. The sky is bigger, the vistas dramatic, and complete strangers wave hello.At the heart of the 400-mile Loop is the Bob Marshall Wilderness flanked by the Great Bear Wilderness on the north and the Scapegoat Wilderness to the south. Surrounding this wild gem are four National Forests and a host of Wildlife Management Areas and National Wildlife Refuges. Beyond the forests are striking vistas—the Rocky Mountain Front, Glacier National Park, the Flathead and Blackfoot River Basins. Adding another layer to the beautifully wrapped package are the communities, each with their own distinct personality.
Glacier National Park, together with the Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, form the world's first International Peace Park. But in this rugged section of the northern Rockies, exhilaration is the universal language. Mountain goats cling to craggy, glacier carved peaks. Pie is served fresh daily in a small town. And drivers watch the scenery unfold beyond their knuckles as they drive along a road that defies words.
If there's one defining feature of this place it's the engineering wonder known as the Going-to-the-Sun Road. This spectacular 50-mile highway clings to the edge of the world as cars—and bikes—cross over the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. Along the way, don't be surprised if resident wildlife shares the road with you. After all, the same remote solitude you’re seeking is what attracted them here in the first place. Then unwind in a comfortable wooden chair at the Lake McDonald Lodge. As you pass through the gates and leave the park, you may also be a changed person.
Oversize vehicles can be parked at various points. Rental cars are available at nearby towns. A shuttle service may be available; call the park for details. Inquire ahead of time as to the current status of the Going-to-the-Sun-Road because snow can often last well into June.
1. West Glacier to Logan Pass
Traveling the Going-to-the-Sun Road from West Glacier to Logan Pass is unforgettable. Your visual experiences will range from Lake McDonald Falls to Triple Arches and the Weeping Wall. The sight of mountain goats clinging to craggy peaks and grizzlies roaming their vast homeland leave you mesmerized. Every bend of this Road leads to another of seemingly limitless glory.
Extra Insight:
Despite its short season, the wildflower display in Glacier National Park is dazzling. The western side is similar to the Pacific Northwest, where thick forests of cedar and hemlock give way to heather, gentian, bear grass and glacier lily. On the more arid eastern slopes, you’re likely to spot pasque flower, lupine, Indian paintbrush, gaillardia, asters and shooting stars. The best time to see wildflowers is from late June through early August.
2.Logan Pass to Saint Mary
Traveling from Logan Pass to Saint Mary, you’ll be constantly awestruck by the Going-to-the-Sun Road, a modern day engineering marvel. If your legs need a stretch, take the opportunity to experience Hidden Lake Nature Trail, Glacier National Park’s most popular hike. If you’re in the mood to cruise in style, be sure to tour the park on one of Glacier’s signature Red Buses. Don’t miss a peek at Jackson Glacier, the seventh largest in the Park.
Extra Insight:
Glaciers are a living natural record of history. As these rivers of ice have flowed for thousands of years, they’ve recorded phenomenal insight into the fluctuations of climate and weather trends that have occurred in our ecosystem.
Highline Trail
Experience the spectacular beauty of Glacier's high country on this classic hike that parallels the famous Garden Wall. The trail gradually climbs 200 feet over 7.6 miles to Granite Park Chalet followed by a steep 2,200 foot descent over the last 4 miles to the Loop.
Length: 11.6 miles
Trail Begins: Logan Pass
Trail Ends: Loop on Going-to-the-Sun Highway
St. Mary Lake
St. Mary Lake is on the east side of Glacier National Park along The Going-to-the-Sun Road. This lake is 10 miles long but not as wide as McDonald Lake. You'll want to stop at the turnouts at the end of the lake for a view of 100-foot Virginia Falls across the valley. From the Virginia Falls Turnout or Sun Point you can take some short hikes. One is a fork that leads to Sunrift Gorge where a steep, paved path leads to an overlook with windswept pines and views of Baring Creek cascading over slickrock. Another trail continues around to the end of St. Mary Lake and leads to St. Mary and Virginia Falls. There is an excellent view of St. Mary Lake as the trail rounds the lower end of the lake over a bluff. It then takes you to St. Mary Falls and then over a bridge at the base of Virginia Falls. For excellent photo views of the lake, take the short spur road to Sun Point and the next turnout. Goose Island View this is one of the most photographed views in the park.The next turnout, The Narrows, is where the width of the lake is just a quarter mile across. Take the short path to the lake for some outstanding views. The area north of the lake along the road is rich in wildlife. Here you may see mule deer, skunks, ground squirrels and badgers. It is also an excellent place to find elk. In autumn near dusk you may find bull elk engaged in battles. This is an important winter range for elk and you can easily cross country ski here in winter. In spring, it is the calving area for the St. Mary elk herd. This is also a good destination in spring and early...
3.Many Glacier Area
The Many Glacier area is one of the best vantage points to experience the vast towering mountains. Take some time to enjoy the Many Glacier Lodge, where you can absorb the wonders of Swiftcurrent Lake and take a tour boat to a nearby trail. Don’t miss the sacred Blackfeet site called Chief Mountain.
Extra Insight:
Reaching the interior sections of the Park was a pretty big undertaking in the early days, accessible only by foot or horseback. The Great Northern Railway built a series of hotels and small backcountry lodges—called chalets—throughout the area. These lodges were originally built to provide comfortable lodging for backcountry travelers. Of the many that were built, only two are still standing.
4.Two Medicine Lake
The Two Medicine Lake area makes a unique launching point for your explorations of Glacier National Park, especially if you arrive by Amtrak train. Filled with hidden trails, scenic wonders and the waters of the Two Medicine Lake area, you’ll no doubt feel the spiritual Blackfeet tribe history that has helped shape this area. Don’t miss Running Eagle Falls and a stop by the Glacier Park Lodge for a firsthand account of the Blackfeet culture.
Extra Insight:
Prior to the building of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, the Two Medicine Entrance was the most popular way to enter and visit the park. You’d arrive by train, mount a horse and head off to one of many chalets in the park, often taking a multi-day horseback expedition.
5. Symbolic Red Buses
Much of what has become our national park experience is the confluence of man and nature. Going-to-the-Sun Road is a dramatic example of this. And Glacier’s signature Red "Jammer" Buses are another case in point, wrapped in the nostalgia of vintage vehicles.
Extra Insight :
The White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio made half-tracks, postal trucks and the open touring buses that were delivered to both Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. The red 17-passenger, 25-foot-long coach is a symbol of the Glacier National Park experience.
6. Going-to-the-Sun Road
Anyone who has traveled a significant stretch of the Going-to-the-Sun Road is struck by the sheer marvel of engineering that made it possible. The annual spring plowing of this alpine tightrope is as remarkable a confrontation with natural elements as you’ll find anywhere.
Extra Insight:
The opening credits of the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film, The Shining, begin with Jack Torrance driving his Volkswagen up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Other Going-to-the-Sun Road film appearances include a portion of the running across America scenes from Forrest Gump.
The Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed in 1932 and is a spectacular 50 mile, paved two-lane highway that bisects the park east and west. It spans the width of Glacier, crossing the Continental Divide at 6,646-foot-high Logan Pass. It passes through almost every type of terrain in the park, from large glacial lakes and cedar forests in the lower valleys to windswept alpine tundra atop the pass. Scenic viewpoints and pullouts line the road, so motorists can stop for extended views and photo opportunities. The road is well worth traveling in either direction, as the view from one side of the road is much different than from the other. In 1983 Going-To-The-Sun Road was included in the National Register of Historic Places and in 1985 was made a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
7.Native Blackfeet Culture
The Blackfeet tribe, like most indigenous cultures, is rich with stories connected to the land. Their spiritual connection to Glacier National Park is evident in how they refer to the mountains in this area as the “Backbone of the World.”
Extra Insight:
One legend holds that the origin of the Blackfeet name is a reference to the blackened soles of their moccasins from walking across the burned prairies.
Lake McDonald
Lake McDonald is Glacier National Park's biggest lake; ten miles long and 472 feet deep. Filling a basin gouged out by Ice Age glaciers, Lake McDonald is a classic glacial feature. This long fjord-like lake is surrounded by mountains on the north, south, and east with the Continental Divide, 14 miles away. The mountains provide a spectacular backdrop for the lake and also act as a rain block. Much of the blocked precipitation ends up falling on the McDonald valley. The result is a mild, damp climate. Stands of western red cedar and hemlock flourish in the valley of Lake McDonald. The wildlife-viewing here can be spectacular, with species including bighorn sheep, mountain goat, elk, black bear, and whitetail and mule deer.
Iceberg Lake Trail
The hike up Iceberg Trail begins at a short connecting trail that climbs for several hundred yards to join the main trail. The trail then turns northwest and passes below Altyn Peak and Mount Wilbur and then rises across the valley to the south. The trail then comes to a popular resting spot, Ptarmigan Falls. After passing the falls, the trail reaches the junction with the Ptarimigan Tunnel Trail, and then turns southwest along the Ptarmigan Wall. The trail then curls around to the south of the this glacial lake, known as Iceberg Lake.
Explore Montana with Montana Alpinist Conrad Anker
Brimming with summer snowmelt, Glacier National Park's Lake Sherburne overflows into a tangle of aspens on its shore. Glacier is home to more than 20 different tree species.
Wide panoramas lead to the turquoise waters of Iceberg Lake, a tarn that sits in a cirque that was carved out by glacial activity eons ago. Even in the middle of summer, chunks of ice can bob in the Glacier National Park lake.
Hidden from most visitors' eyes, Bowman Lake—reachable only by gravel road—is tucked into the remote North Fork region of Glacier National Park. A small campground, usually uncrowded, is a local favorite.
The tremendous range of topography in Glacier National Park supports more than a million acres (400,000 hectares) of forests, alpine meadows, lakes, rugged peaks and glacial-carved valleys in the Northern Rocky Mountains.
Shaggy mountain goats have spectacular views high in Glacier National Park. The goats and other animals come to Goat Lick Overlook and four other spots in the park to lick the mineral-laden cliffs.
Lower Grinnell Lake in Glacier National Park gets its name from George Bird Grinnell, an early explorer who pushed to get the park created. His efforts were rewarded in 1910, when President Taft signed the bill that established Glacier as a U.S. national park.
Wild Goose Island
Swiftcurrent Lake
Mt.Gould
Yellowstone National Park
It's the world's First National Park as well as one of the largest. But Yellowstone National Park offers a variety of other firsts. With over 10,000 thermal features, you can watch for the very first time as steaming geysers erupt in all their glory. Or at first light you can view bear, bison, elk and wolf—from a distance—as they cross over 3,472 square miles of untouched landscape. The experiences are timeless. Just what you'd expect from a place where little has changed since it opened over 135 years ago.
We invite you to come enjoy 2.2 million acres of steaming geysers, thundering waterfalls, crystalline lakes, and panoramic vistas. Hop aboard a bus or get in your car and take a ride through America's Serengeti—the Lamar Valley. Hike along the rocky crevasses of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and view pristine waterfalls in the distance. Then finish up with the wonder of Old Faithful by snowshoe or by foot. But keep your eyes open. Because you just never know what may happen in between.
Explore each of the varied areas that make up America’s first National Park through our eight-part video series. Each downloadable segment will guide visitors through the best areas to explore and reveal a little local knowledge
GEOGRAPHICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
290 waterfalls300+ geysers
Old Faithful erupts almost every hour
Over 1,100 historic structures
200+ species of birds
950 miles of hiking trails
Wildlife sanctuaries
60+ species of mammals
West Yellowstone to Old Faithful
Driving from West Yellowstone to the foot of Old Faithful is more than your average scenic western tour. All along the way are concentrations of thermal features, concentrations of wildlife and concentrations of fishing opportunities. Obviously, this section of Yellowstone is worth your concentration.
Historic Extra
In 1965 a team of scientists discovered a heat loving bacteria in the thermal waters of this area. It eventually led to advances in DNA-mapping and thus the CSI television series
Old Faithful to Fishing Bridge
From Old Faithful to Fishing Bridge there is no shortage of scenery, but still, Yellowstone Lake stands out as spectacular. Cruising along the western shore of this impressive body, you take in the West Thumb Geyser Basin and eventually arrive at the rustic architectural feature of Fishing Bridge.
Historic Extra
At one time as many as 50,000 anglers made their way onto Fishing Bridge to fish for the native cutthroats below. By 1937 the bridge was so worn, it had to be rebuilt. Today, fishing is not allowed to protect spawning cutthroats.
Old Faithful is undoubtedly the world's best-known geyser and most publicized natural phenomenon of any sort. It is one of the most predictable geysers in all of Yellowstone Park. Its heights, intervals and lengths of eruption are constantly changing and evolving due to ongoing processes within its 'plumbing' and from earthquakes.
Old Faithful has two types of eruption patterns - short ones that last 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, and long ones that last 3 to 5 minutes. The eruption heights vary from 106 feet to 184 feet, with an average of 130 feet, and discharges of up to 8,400 gallons of water per eruption. The geyser's average interval between eruptions is currently about 92 minutes.
Fishing Bridge to Canyon Village
Following alongside the Yellowstone River, this section of your tour leads to some of the most iconic views of Yellowstone National Park. From Artist Point to Uncle Tom’s Trail, the views of Upper and Lower Falls have inspired visitors since the Park’s inception.
Historic Extra
Weighing in the neighborhood of 500 tons, the Glacial Boulder began a forty-mile journey about 80,000 years ago. Originally located in the Beartooth Mountains, it now rests on the north rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Canyon Village to Madison
From Canyon Village to Madison, you travel along the edge of the Yellowstone Caldera passing a seemingly endless array of thermal attractions. Steamboat Geyser, Artist Paintpots, Monument Geyser Basin. The list goes on. Enjoy the drive.
Historic Extra
The Norris Soldier Station and Museum occupies a structure originally built to house cavalry soldiers on ski and horseback patrols. Naturally, it’s gone through a variety of changes since 1886. After repairing structural damage caused by the Hebgen Lake earthquake of 1959, the building was officially designated the Museum of the National Park Ranger featuring a range of exhibits pertaining to this valuable component of the Park experience.
Canyon Village to Tower-Roosevelt
Driving from Canyon to Tower is as visually spellbinding as any motoring excursion you’ll find in the Park. But it’s off the road that this area offers its prime attractions. Hiking trails abound in all directions. If you want to cover a little more ground, see the Park by horseback or stagecoach.
Historic Extra
Believed to be near the site of an early camping spot of President Chester Arthur and Teddy Roosevelt, construction on the Roosevelt Lodge began in 1919. It was an early favorite of those exploring the Park by automobile. Things haven’t changed much.
Tower-Roosevelt to Cooke City
This section, through the Lamar Valley, is a hotbed of wildlife activity. From bears and elk to bison and wolves, this is your best chance to make visual contact with the residents of Yellowstone. With Slough Creek and the Lamar River, there are some great chances to make contact with a few fish as well.
Historic Extra
The historic remnants of the Lamar Buffalo Ranch remind us of the efforts involved to protect this special place and its wildlife inhabitants. Created in the early 1900s to protect and preserve Yellowstone’s shrinking bison herd, the ranch spent fifty years tirelessly working to achieve the success we all enjoy
Tower-Roosevelt to Mammoth Hot Springs
A classic drive that runs along the Blacktail Plateau, the section from Tower-Roosevelt to Mammoth Hot Springs offers its fair share of memorable landscapes. Whether you conclude or originate in Mammoth, it is a place you should allow a little extra time to experience.
Historic Extra
In 1886, the United States Army was called in to help protect the new Park from poachers and abuse. After five harsh winters in rudimentary barracks, they began construction of more permanent buildings. A host of clapboard-sided buildings sprang up, as well as structures fabricated of native stone built by Scottish masons. The area then known as Fort Yellowstone is the settlement of Mammoth you pass through today.
Mammoth Area
Several key ingredients combine to make the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces: heat, water, limestone, and a rock fracture system through which hot water can reach the earth's surface.
Today's geothermal activity is a link to past volcanism. A partially molten magma chamber, remnant of a cataclysmic volcanic explosion 600,000 years ago in central Yellowstone, supplies one of the ingredients, heat.
Hot water is the creative force of the terraces. Without it, terrace growth ceases and color vanishes. The source of the water flowing out of Yellowstone's geothermal features is rain and snow. Falling high on the slopes in and around Yellowstone, water seeps deep into the earth. This cold ground water is warmed by heat radiating from the magma chamber before rising back to the surface.
Hot water must be able to reach the earth's surface in relatively large volumes to erupt as a geyser or flow as a hot spring. In Yellowstone, many conduits remain from the collapse of the giant caldera; frequent earthquakes keep this underground "plumbing" system open. Even though Mammoth lies north of the caldera ring-fracture system, a fault trending north from Norris Geyser Basin, 21 miles (34 km) away, may connect Mammoth to the hot water of that system. A system of small fissures carries water upward to create approximately 50 hot springs in the Mammoth Hot Springs area.
Another necessary ingredient for terrace growth is the mineral calcium carbonate. Thick layers of sedimentary limestone, deposited millions of years ago by vast seas, lie beneath the Mammoth area. As ground water seeps slowly downward and laterally, it comes in contact with hot gases charged with carbon dioxide rising from the magma chamber. Some carbon dioxide is readily dissolved in the hot water to form a weak carbonic acid solution. This hot, acidic solution dissolves great quantities of limestone...
Gardiner to Norris
Entering the Park from the North entrance offers a fittingly impressive prelude to the sights you are about to experience. Passing through the Roosevelt Arch and making your way down to Mammoth, there can be little doubt that you have entered a place that is indeed a national treasure.
Historic Extra
At one time, most Park visitors arrived by train and the railroad company they traveled with depended on what park entrance they were coming in. To begin their park adventure from West Yellowstone, a traveler would have taken the Union Pacific. If visitors were coming through Bozeman, they would utilize the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad arriving at the Gallatin Gateway Inn in Salesville (now Gallatin Gateway), Montana. The railroad most closely associated with Yellowstone in those days was the Northern Pacific. Its riders departed to begin their adventure here in Gardiner, Montana.
Lamar Valley
Lamar Valley is located in the northeast section of the park, just east of Tower Junction. Lamar Valley is home to herds of elk, bison, and several packs of wolves, making it Yellowstone National Park's prime location to view wildlife. The best time to see wildlife is in the early morning or late evening. Lamar Valley has the largest concentration of grizzlies in the park, and with a little patience and a lot of luck, you may see one. Be sure to bring along a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope. Lamar Valley is the top destination inside Yellowstone Park for viewing wolves. There are also abundant fishing opportunities in the Lamar Valley.
The Lamar Valley is a broad mountain valley carved out by glaciers during the last ice age. Evidence can be seen in the form of a wide, U-shaped valley that is strewn with boulders that were carried and deposited by moving ice from the Beartooth Range. The marshy ponds are also remnants of the glacial period. As the land becomes drier, these ponds will fill in with silt and rocks and eventually become meadows and a source of food for migrating elk and bison.
The Lamar Buffalo Ranch was built in the early part of the century in an effort to increase the herd size of the few remaining bison in Yellowstone, preventing the feared extinction of the species. The ranch was established in 1907 when 28 bison were moved from Fort Yellowstone to the Lamar Valley. Buffalo ranching operations continued at Lamar until the 1950s. The valley was irrigated for hay pastures, and corrals and fencing were scattered throughout the area. Remnants of irrigation ditches, fencing, and water troughs can still be found. Four remaining buildings from the original ranch compound are contained within the Lamar Buffalo Ranch Historic District (two residences, the bunkhouse, and the barn) and are on the National Register of Historic Places. In the early 1980s, old tourist cabins from Fishing Bridge were brought to Lamar to be used for Yellowstone Association Institute classes.
Natural Wonders
Nomadic grazers, bison roam Yellowstone National Park's grassy plateaus in summer and spend winter near warm thermal pools or in the northern section of the park. The huge animals use their heads like a plow to push snow aside in search of food.
America’s first national park, Yellowstone is home to wildlife from bears to bison and geological stunners such as hot springs and geysers. The Great Fountain Geyser, pictured here, erupts every 9 to 15 hours, shooting water up to 220 feet (67 meters) high.
The center of Yellowstone National Park's Grand Prismatic Spring steams at 199° Fahrenheit (93° Celsius), too hot for the multicolored bacteria clustering on the cooler perimeter. But dead center is no dead zone: Billions of organisms called thermophiles flourish in the scalding water.
Yellowstone National Park's mile-long (1.6-kilometer-long) Upper Geyser Basin contains the world's greatest concentration of hot springs and geysers. In the entire park, which spreads out over parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, there are more than 10,000 hydrothermal features—half of all such features in the world.
One of Yellowstone's most popular attractions is Old Faithful, a geyser named and celebrated for its steadiness rather than a predictable schedule of eruptions. Not the largest or the most regular of the park's geysers, Old Faithful erupts more frequently, with each blast expelling between 3,700 to 8,400 gallons (14,000 to 32,000 liters) of boiling water.
Elk are the most abundant large mammals in Yellowstone National Park, numbering some 30,000 in the summer. Paleontological evidence shows that the animals have been living on Yellowstone land for at least a thousand years.
Elk are the most abundant large mammals in Yellowstone National Park, numbering some 30,000 in the summer. Paleontological evidence shows that the animals have been living on Yellowstone land for at least a thousand years.
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Canyon Country, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, is 24 miles of twisting, sheer rock cliffs carved 1,200 feet deep. At the canyon's beginning two thundering waterfalls inspire awe. The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, twice as high as Niagara, cascade down 308 feet into clouds of mist. Well-marked trails take the canyon visitor to spectacular vistas along the north and south rims and into the gently tolling timbered slopes and deep grassy meadows that surround the canyon. To the south lovely Hayden Valley gives serene contrast and to the north lofty Mount Washburn provides an alpine view of this canyon country.
Canyon Country, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, is 24 miles of twisting, sheer rock cliffs carved 1,200 feet deep. At the canyon's beginning two thundering waterfalls inspire awe. The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, twice as high as Niagara, cascade down 308 feet into clouds of mist. Well-marked trails take the canyon visitor to spectacular vistas along the north and south rims and into the gently tolling timbered slopes and deep grassy meadows that surround the canyon. To the south lovely Hayden Valley gives serene contrast and to the north lofty Mount Washburn provides an alpine view of this canyon country.
Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
History flows at about 9000 cfs in the Upper Missouri River. That's the perfect rate to experience it on your own in much the same fashion as Lewis and Clark. Set aside in 1971 as a National Monument, this 149-mile section and surrounding areas of the Missouri River is a showcase of natural splendor and tranquil recreation. Starting in Fort Benton and stretching down to Fort Peck Lake, this part of the Missouri River remains surprisingly unscathed for all the history it's seen. Many of the features so enthusiastically described by Lewis & Clark remain just as they were in 1805. The largest viable elk herd, the bighorn sheep, and the sage grouse are all still here. The white cliffs that mesmerized Meriwether Lewis are still here. Stop by the Visitor's Center in Fort Benton and they'll be happy to help you plan out a paddle adventure to meet your highest expectations. The float from Fort Benton to Loma is an easy one-day floating introduction to the river. More ambitious paddlers can continue on to Robinson's Bridge, a full seven-day float into an undeniably remote part of the country.
Floating the Missouri Breaks: Fantastic Sceneries
Follow the Missouri River
A spectacular canyon was carved by the Bighorn River thousands of years ago. But when Yellowtail Dam was completed in the 1960s, the recreational opportunities became just as impressive. Above the dam, Bighorn Lake stretches for seventy-one miles along the borders of Montana and Wyoming. Below the dam, the Bighorn River is one of the most productive trout streams in the world. The nearby Pryor Mountains are home to some of the last wild horses in the West.
Within the scope of this scenic area lies one of the most fascinating stories in the history of the West just waiting for you to dig a little deeper. You are free to walk the grounds where Custer and Crazy Horse fought the historic battle of Little Bighorn. Some say the grounds are still haunted by the ghosts of that terribly violent June afternoon. The folks at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and Rosebud Battlefield State Park can point you in the right direction to start your search.
The Bighorn Canyon and the Wild Horses
Montana Powwows
MONTANA POWWOWS
DRUMS UNDER HAND AND PRAIRIE UNDER FOOT
For anyone who’s never been to a real Indian powwow it can be an unprecedented sensory experience. Here is where Indian culture is passed to the next generation and a rich heritage is honored. Everyone is welcome at a powwow, but please be respectful when video taping and taking pictures. For some ceremonies you may be asked to refrain from recording. Likewise, some dancers may prefer to not be photographed. Be patient as powwows tend to not be rigid in following a schedule.
Montana’s oldest powwow. Always the first weekend in August, dancers compete for cash and prizes, family members are honored and a full docket of games, runs and outdoor activities are in store. Thursday is camping and the annual community feed. A truly amazing experience.
The largest Blackfeet Tribal event of the year, this is a dramatic and impressive event. Hosting Native Americans from all over the United States and Canada, it features traditional drumming and dancing contests, as well as a parade, fun run and the crowning of Miss Blackfeet. If you are visiting the Blackfeet Nation, Glacier National Park is only 40 miles away.
If you are visiting the Blackfeet Nation, Glacier National Park is only 40 miles away.
Revered as the tepee capital of the world, this annual celebration along the banks of the Little Bighorn River is a favorite of Indians from every western state and Canada. There is a parade every morning, an all-Indian rodeo, wild horse races and of course, Indian dancing.
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