I am planning a trip to Montana from MO next summer. Can someone who lives there tell me the things that I "have" to see/do. Of course we want to hear about the Parks and other sights, but I also want to see real Montana. Can any of you help me??? Thanks Sharon
Montana is a BIG state, not sure where you are going. I lived in Great Falls for 11 years and there is the Charles M. Russell musume. He was famous for western art. Also is Giant Springs, largest springs around, empties into the MO river there. There are also many dams along river there. Custers last stand is in eastern Montana. Google Montana and see what comes up. It sounds like you have plenty of time to have info sent to you. Great state, I miss it sometimes.
But then my X is there so guess I don't after all. LOL
Alicia and Roger
Stanwood,IA
94' Safari Motor Home
Thanks HappytrailsRVing. I'll add the things you mentioned to my list to check out. I get lots of info when I google & I've studied the Montana Vacation Planner all summer. Just thought maybe someone who's lived there could tell me things that aren't mentioned in the book. Don't really know how to explain what I want to see there. Just more of Montana than what every tourist comes to see. We will be driving clear across the state from east to west and I'm sure will drive to the Glacier NP. I've always thought of Montana being my refuge when I was part of the sandwich generation (raising kids and taking care of elderly parents at the same time) Our kids are all raised and we have lost all of our parents so now I'm ready to find that spot. I wanted a mountain where phones or Internet couldn't find me and the mail was only delivered once a week! We have about 6 weeks for our trip and more if we find "that" spot.
Warfire80 maybe we'll cross paths. We will have a signpost out with our rvnet names on them. Sharon
There are a LOT of Lewis and Clark historical sites in Montana.
We camp host at Camp Fortunate; about twenty miles south of Dillon off I-15. This is where Sacagewea was reunited with her band of Shoshones. West of us is Lemhi Pass, where Lewis said to Clark "Holy Moly, Billy! Look at all the dang mountains!". They had expected from that point an easy trip to the ocean. You can stand with one foot on each side of the continental divide, just like they did.
There's Pompey's Pillar east of Billings.
Just Google "Lewis and Clark Montana" if you're historically-minded. You'll get tons of hits.
If you want to see the real Montana, I guess that could be any of the states, get off the interstate. Stop and have breakfast in any small town cafe, listen to the locals, explore what those communities have to offer. If you know which highways you will be traveling bring up those towns on the web and check out what they have going on for the times you will be there. Could be a rodeo or some other celebration. Here in Idaho we have things like Cherry Blossom festivals, Harmonica festival, oldtime fiddlers contest, you get the idea. Enjoy grandma lynn
If you like old west history you have to see Virginia City and Bannack State Park. Bannack is also near Dillon. No hook ups but a great preserved ghost town. The vigilantes went on a hanging spree and hung about 24 suspected road agents including their leader Sheriff Henry Plummer!!
05 Dodge Ram 3500 SLT SC DRW 4X4 CTD G56 373's CAI,Edge Juice/Attitude,Jake,Rancho9000x,Torklift tie downs,Superhitch,Stable Loads
04 S&S Avalanche 9' with slide 26th Marines RVN 69-70 Semper Fi M-14 was the only Woodstock I saw in 1969.
I highly second Virginia City and Bannack state park.
No trip is complete without seeing Glacier NP, of course.
While you're headed for Glacier, outside of Columbia Falls is The House Of Mystery, which is worthy of taking a break and having some fun. Don't take it too serious.
And part of Yellowstone is in Montana, so include that.
Custer's last stand is near the Montana/Wyoming border, and probably a worthy stop. The place is called Garryowen.
Seeley Lake makes a great stop along the way. Make sure you fill up before you venture out there. Last time I was out that way, gas was absurdly high there.
Flathead Lake - especialy on the east side, is great. The west side has too many people and traffic and houses and... and...
The bitteroot Valley, south of Missoula is just georgeous scenery, but really not too much of a tourist trap.
No insult to eastern Montanans, but there's NOTHING out there
If you want to just camp out in western wilderness, the Bob Marshall Wilderness offers that.
Anaconda Montana has a HUGE stack (chimney) that you can see for miles. There's at least one good sized museum there.
If you take the interstate from Bozeman through Butte and northwest, there's several very long grades crossing the mountains there, and you can skip a bunch by heading north.
If you're going to go to Bannack and Virginia City... Go to Bannack first, spend the night... then east to Virginia City. From there, east to Ennis and north, cross the interstate at Three Forks, go north through Townsend to Helena. From Helena, due west to Frontier Town... (gotta stop there) and then eventually northwest through Seely Lake, Swan Lake, and eventually the east side of Flathead Lake, and north through Kalispell to Glacier.
You can skip Kalispell if you want, of c ourse and just go north to Columbia Falls / Hungry Horse, West Glacier.
Hungry Horse Dam and lake are nearby.
There's many routes back south, the more leisurely one is to go back to flathead lake (park) and then southwest to St Regis and back down the interstate to Missoula, and then south down 93 again through the Bitteroot Valley.
And that's just an itsy bitsy bit of Big Sky Country... Not even the wonderful part where I used to live
Enjoy. And if you bump into any movie stars or celebrities or any of those snobs buying up everything not nailed down... spit on 'em for me
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Mopars forever... Not German, Japanese, Chinese...American Mopars!
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All of the previous posts offer very good suggestions. To me, there is actually two Montana's, one eastern half and one western half. I lived in the eastern half, Glasgow, for about two years, thanks the the USAF, and IMHO, if you want to experience the "real" Montana, take a leisurely drive along Hwy 2, also known as the Hi-Line. If you take the time to stop at a few of the small towns along the way and talk to some of the locals, you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. As far as the western half, that's an entirely new chapter in itself. Whatever you do, ENJOY.................Marv
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