4th of July in Montana

This blog is a little late after the holiday, but better late than never!

My friend Danielle moved to Montana last year to work at the university in Missoula, and as soon as I knew she was moving out there, I told her I would definitely come for a visit. I had never been to Montana before, and I had heard it was beautiful, so I wanted to check it out (And visit her, of course!)

Montana really does have a big sky!

I arrived last Friday mid-day, and after picking me up in Bozeman, we made the long drive back towards Missoula. But before going back to her place, we stopped by the Garnet Ghost Town. The town was bustling back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s as a mining town. It boasted a three-story hotel, a general store, and 13 saloons! (But no church. Hmm…) While many of the buildings have been lost to fire, decay, and other things over the years, several of the buildings have been restored to preserve them. They haven’t been restored to their hay-day status (everything still looks old and run-down), but measures have been made to keep the structures from falling down so that they are safe for visitors. It was amazing to see what things were still around after all this time: wallpaper, pieces of furniture, sewing machines… Because items as well as the structures themselves were preserved, I almost felt like I could envision what the buildings were like when people worked or lived inside of them. There were many trails around the ghost town, but we just wandered around the town itself, spotting cute ground squirrels popping their heads out of their holes in the grassy areas between homes. Definitely a cool stop for my first day in the Treasure State!

Some of the buildings in the Garnet Ghost Town have been there a long time! 

The next day was our big hike day. Danielle knows I love to hike, and she and her husband, Doug, actually haven’t explored too many hikes in the area, so I was their inspiration to do a hike they had been considering. We decided to hike up to peak Cha-paa-qn using the Reservation Divide Trail. We stopped by the Ninemile Ranger Station first to confirm where to go (the volunteer there wasn’t great with directions, but he did tell us about the working mules in the area!). Once we made it up the long, bumpy, gravel road (Danielle lamented that they need a truck over their CRV), we could begin our hike. The hike started out quite steep; they needed to take many stops, and I wondered how long it might take us to get through the hike. But the trail eventually leveled off and was flat for a lot of the way. Then we began our final ascent towards the peak. First we hit a cairn with an orange flag, which marked the end of the official trail but was NOT the peak. We figured we had hiked several miles to get up there; we weren’t going to turn around without going to the top! So Danielle and I climbed up a complete rock scramble to get to the peak; a little scary climbing all over the rocks, but so worth it! The 360˚ view from the top was amazing, and we felt so accomplished.

Danielle and I made it to the top!

Getting down was even trickier, but I scooted a lot of the way (you can’t fall if you’re already on your butt!). I definitely must have zig-zagged a weird way down, because when I was done with the scramble, I didn’t see Doug, their dogs, or the orange flag. I started to go back up to find Danielle, who was a ways behind me, and luckily I stumbled upon Doug and the puppers. Once Danielle was back with us, we let Doug go up on his own so he could see the view. He was so much faster than us! He made it up and back in less time than it took she or I just to get up to the top. He’s a mountain man, all right!

Going down the trail was certainly easier than coming up, and I was able to hike very quickly, taking only one stop on the way back. While the guidebook said the trail was 3.5 miles long, I think we actually hiked at least eight miles in total. Later I learned that many stats of trail lengths are wrong for Montana, and that you should always assume the hike is longer than stated. I’m not sure how this happens, especially given the GPS technology we have today, but good to know if you are planning a hike! We were all so tired after the hike that we just got pizza to go from Mackenzie River Pizza. They had a Thai peanut chicken pizza, just like EBA’s used to have in Hanover! It was quite good and brough back some college memories.

The next day we planned on going paddleboarding with some of Danielle’s friends, especially since they could bring enough boards for all of us! We met them in Bonner and were going to follow them to the lake, which they said was just a “joop and a joop” away (meaning just two turns). This WAS the case: there were only two turns along the entire drive. But what they didn’t tell us was that the trip was going to take 90 minutes. We’re driving behind them, wondering the whole time where they are taking us. And we’re passing plenty of lakes along the way! I was a bit annoyed by this, and was even more riled up when, upon arrival, I learned we had to blow up the paddleboards. I was so frustrated with the late start, but once we were on the water, I was a happy camper.

Lake Holland is worth the drive!

Lake Holland is absolutely stunning. It’s surrounded by mountains, and the blue-green water is like that of the Caribbean. It was pretty windy, so we mostly sat while paddling; I had the narrowest board, so I was very careful when switching my leg positions. We paddled out to a little beach where we stopped for lunch and took in the beautiful scenery. Because the wind kept it quite cool, we stood in the sun to keep ourselves warm. Then we paddled back against the wind, but luckily it wasn’t too bad. Just a good arm workout!

This purple drink was so yummy at Montgomery Distillery!

After the drive back to Missoula, we visited Montgomery Distillery (I love visiting distilleries! Make sure to check out my blog posts about my adventure of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.). While we didn’t take a tour (and couldn’t do a tasting due to local liquor laws), we did enjoy some yummy cocktails. Afterward we went to dinner at The Camino, a fancy tapas-style Mexican restaurant. The guacamole was good, and I was pretty happy with the tacos I had. I love Mexican food, so I was excited to try this place.

Our outdoor activity for the next day was walking a trail from campus along the Clarks Fork River. It was a flat, gravel trail, so not nearly as strenuous as the hike we did previously. But… it’s not really that nice of a trail. First of all, Missoula has quite the homeless problem, and many homeless people were camped out along the trail (even though camping is not allowed on those grounds). So Danielle and I felt unsafe at times. Also, the trail is very dusty (my black sneakers stood no chance), and without a lot of shade, the sun was baking down on us. You also can’t see much of the river along most of the walk, and there are very few access points to actually reach the water. We walked about 3.5 miles until reaching a river crossing, so we were still out there for a pretty long time! Luckily some clouds had rolled in, so the walk back was easier.

Danielle's flight included some generous pours!

After that, Doug dropped us off downtown to do a little shopping before meeting the same paddleboard friends for drinks later on. I bought lots of cookies from Mary’s Mountain Cookies (They had a “buy six, get two free” deal. I had to do it!), as well as some birthday gifts for my mom. After shopping for about an hour, poking into souvenir places, bookstores, and tea shops, Doug picked us up and took us to Western Cider. They had many ciders to choose from, but I chose the Whiskey Peach, which was delicious (and reminded me of bourbon!). After hanging out with her friends for a while, we all went to the Thomas Meagher Bar, a local Irish pub, for dinner. The restaurant has a million TVs, so that was quite distracting; I think I watched more Chive TV than I actually listened to our table’s conversation. I also got the trashcan nachos (again, Mexican food), but they were so drenched in queso that I had to eat them with a fork. Not exactly what I had in mind, but still fun to go out to dinner on my last night in Missoula.

People surf in the river in town!

My flight out wasn’t until the afternoon, so I took an OrangeTheory class in the morning (actually, I had taken classes in the morning the two days previously as well… I’m addicted, what can I say!). Then I cleaned myself up, packed my things, and Danielle and I headed back to Bozeman. I did have a bit of a scare when it looked like my flight had been delayed by more than 3 hours (and we were already 2/3 of the way to the airport), but after several phone calls and some rebooking online, my flight ended up being on time and I made my connection in Denver.

Since I flew back the night of the 4^th, I got to see lots of fireworks from the air! Of course they look much smaller several miles down, but I got to see the firework shows of many cities and towns, all without the loud sounds! And there was a supermoon that night, and it was huge! I almost thought it was the sun because it was so big and bright (but that didn’t make sense, since I was flying east). It was even cooler to see than the fireworks! I arrived at BWI after midnight; what a long day! But I made it home safe and sound.

My next vacation is in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Stay tuned for that blog post!