R and J in the USA

Montana is known as Big Sky country. Before entering, Julie was wondering what exactly that meant. The sky is the sky. Isn’t it always big? 

Julie gets it now. Not enough to explain it, but the sky in Montana does seem to fill up more of your vision than a lot of other places. It creeps deep into and past your periphery and creates a feeling of being entirely wrapped up into it. There is no question that the sky in Montana is pretty marvelous.

After a morning 5k that was our last stop in Washington, we made our way across the northern panhandle of Idaho, passing by what had been our final stops in the Gem State with nostalgia. We drove by our Idaho 5K course amidst the Idaho mountains and waved as we passed the old mining town of Wallace, both of which we’d loved visiting. Before long, we crossed the border into our 23rd state, and the nation’s 41st, The Treasure State of Montana. We would come to understand that particular nickname on multiple levels. Of course, the most literal being the tremendous amount and quality of gold to be found there that was a huge part of how this state became a state to begin with, not to mention the abundance of silver and copper. Then, of course there were the other treasures – the rough, hearty and fiercely independent and outdoor-loving people and culture – and, most of all, the treasures of nature’s beauty that are, well, relentless. Driving through Montana is a continuous assault of gorgeousness of all different kinds, from snow-capped Rocky Mountains, to stunning mountain lakes, sage-brush steppe and unassuming flatlands split by twisting rivers  and rolling hills.

No matter what part you are in, you are looking at something beautiful, and lots of it. And with just north of 1.1 million people in the entire state (that is LESS than what fits into the 22.7 square miles of Manhattan) and a population density of 7.7 people per square mile, you are mostly looking at nature and immersed in it, even when you are in the peopled places of the state. 

And it became clear from the conversations we had with folks that that is exactly the way the people of Montana like it, nature-heavy and people-lite. 

Our first stop in Montana was Glacier National Park. It didn’t take long to understand how this made it onto every list of “must-see national parks” we had stumbled upon.

It was a place of marvels. 

We enjoyed two lovely evenings at the Apgar Campground, whose plumbing had been shut down for the season. Julie wolfed down pancakes with a huckleberry topping, delighting in the sensory heaven of the tastes in her mouth and the trees and sunshine around her.

We took a lovely and much needed day to rest and do a whole lot of nothing, other than work to catch up on the blog, Julie working away on state write-ups, Ryan plugging away at putting the final posts together.

We ended the day on the beautiful shores of Lake McDonald. Julie “swam” in the frigid waters of Lake McDonald – breaking out her wetsuit for the first time in the trip. Julie’s goal is to swim, bike and run in every state, at least for a little bit. That means getting her full body, head and all, in the water and doing actual strokes. Julie swam a good 20 strokes before calling it in order to maintain feeling in her face.

For our second day in Glacier, we drove the climb up the epic and deservedly famous “Going-to-the-Sun” Road, replete with stunning fall colors, epic mountain-side views into the valley below and white knuckles by both of us as Ryan gripped the steering wheel with focus and Julie found herself leaning in towards the center of the van as if that would somehow keep us from falling off the road and into the valley just a few feet to our side.

We made our way up to the top of the ridge at Logan’s Pass, where the visitor’s center was already shut down for the season and hiked into Hidden Lake. Julie power-hiked, one of her favorite things to do, and pumped her legs through the terrain as Ryan leisurely strolled behind her. We heard rumors of mountain goats around corners, but never saw any ourselves. When the lake revealed itself amidst the mountains, we were both awestruck and Julie was a cross between pure giddy, running down the trails towards a better view and deeply stoic, sitting and staring in reverent ponderance while also imagining herself being at home in a little cabin on its idyllic shores. 

When we left Glacier National Park back into the more normal stunning beauty of Montana’s landscapes, all of a sudden, the rest of Montana seemed so blazé, in comparison. This is saying something, since there is zero of Montana that is unimpressive in some way. 

“Glacier is the first place we’ve been too that changes the way other places seem.” Julie said.

Once out of Glacier long enough, it didn’t take long to reacclimate to being in awe of the beauty of Montana at every turn, but for an ephemeral moment, in comparison, it had come to seem plain.

We spent a night by the massive Flathead Lake and then stumbled upon one after another gorgeous Montana State Parks. We spent a “pinch-me” night at Salmon Lake State Park before grabbing a quick stop in Missoula (for boba tea, of course) and then made our way to Bannack State Park where we stayed at the “Vigilante Campground” on the banks of such a sweet and humble twisting turning little creek set in beautiful brush covered hills only to learn, the next morning, upon our visit to the once booming ghost town of Bannack, that that little stream was once filled with so much gold that settlers would come up with gold flakes on their plates and bowls after washing them for a meal. 

We were greeted at our campsite by one of only two other occupants at the mostly empty campgrounds, Larry. Larry and his wife, Dorothy, had occasionally served as camp host at this spot for 5 months stints and we loved hearing Larry recount the history of the spot as well as his own on the banks of the small river as a muskrat casually floated by. You can read more about Larry in our People Along the Way section.

We learned that a lot of millionaires were made on that stream and a lot of blood ran in it, as we learned the sordid history of this town that was once the territory capital, and was now just a bunch of old buildings, some solidly standing, some peeling apart or well on their way to falling down completely. We learned how democracy, human decency and the rule of law were barely holding on in this little enclave formed by the forces of brute strength, greed and ingenuity – so much so that President Lincoln had sent someone out to Bannack to attempt to restore the values that American life was attempting to take hold in to reign in the corruption and chicanery. Julie shuddered when hearing it was a town of 3,000 men and 100 women, especially as the state park ranger went on to say what kind of men were among that 3,000. She made a point of saying, it took 15 years before there was a church formed in the town. Even the sheriff and 22 other “men of the law” were eventually hanged by local vigilantes that were attempting to bring civility back to the area in the only way that seemed to remain. Eventually, more gold was found in Virginia City and then Helena, each of them creating multiple millionaires practically overnight and leaving the once booming town of Bannack, completely empty. Eventually, Helena, rich with the most gold and producing more millionaires than any other place in the country, became the capital of the territory in 1875 and then state capital when Montana became a state in 1889.

We left the ghost town of Bannack with a sobered sense of the history that had unfolded in these stunning hills.

We headed to the more populous town of Bozeman, that we would learn from some of the locals, was sometimes called Bozangeles (you can read more about that story in another Montana post) and enjoyed a couple of dips in the Bozeman Hot Springs where Julie had two of the best smoothies she’s ever had and the best gluten free, dairy free Bundt cake she could have dreamed of. 

We stopped by the Museum of the Rockies for a quick visit to learn about the ancient and geologic history of the earth and Montana’s fossilbeds as well as getting to see one after another massive dinosaur fossil.

On our way to our evenings Harvest Host, we made a quick stop at the Missouri Headwaters State Park. Unlike the Mississippi Headwaters that began in a lake, the Missouri Headwaters was the confluence of a handful of rivers. Boy did we pick the right time of year and day to see this spot. Like we had come to expect from Montana, the beauty was all-encompassing.

We finished the day rolling into our Harvest Host, just 16 minutes south of Helena. We were greeted warmly by Scott and shown where to park before he and Louise headed off to grab a show in Helena, a Sherlock Holmes play. The next morning, we would get a tour around their farm shop, a taste of four new berries we’d never heard of, let alone tasted, (Honeyberry, Choke Cherry, Sand Cherry, Saskatoon Berry) a chance to buy them out of some of their stock of jams and a lovely chat. We found ourselves feeling like fast friends with Scott and Louise and even meeting up with them to catch a bit of the local college football game later that afternoon after our state capitol visit (well, Ryan met up with them while Julie passed out for an afternoon nap in the van). You can read more about our time with them in the People Along the Way section.

We walked the pedestrian mall in Helena, drove by the locally famous water tower and chatted with a proprietor at The Hopper, a restaurant on the mall, who had lived on Long Island for a bit before returning to Montana to raise his family and was super enthused to hear about our trip. We also walked past and DIDN’T enter an ice cream shop that many would tell us the next day, unprompted, was not to be missed. Oops.

Next stop, the Montana State Capitol. We had already learned a little bit about how Helena came to be the state capital at our time at Bannack State Park. When we arrived, local Montanan’s were fully engaged in the democratic process holding a rally outside the capitol building, engaging their rights to freedom of assembly. We appreciated the democratic process at work as we entered into yet another stunning and educational building.

We headed out to yet ANOTHER stunning Montana State Park just outside of Helena, Black Sandy State Park, where Julie took more pictures in one spot than any other stop on the trip. 

“It just keeps being a different kind of beautiful, like every 2 minutes.” Julie said, as she snapped one after another picture of the changing colors in the sky. We hiked up a little rocky hill by our campsite, covered with sage brush, orange lichen of some sort (fact check that) and teeny cacti. Another camper was blaring John Denver singing his heart out and proclaiming that he’d “rather be a cowboy” while the sun turned the sky purple and pink as it made it’s way towards the horizon and we thought, gosh, we’re not sure it gets better than this and took a moment to appreciate how lucky we are to be on this adventure, and to get to see that sun touch the horizon from so many places and angles on this massive earth, at least in this one corner of it called the USA.

The next morning, we awoke to just as stunning a sunrise and headed off to our 5k in Helena called “Just for the Helena of it”. We’d seen the full gamut of 5K types, from the strung together small hodge-podge of folks making something out of nothing to the full blown community event style. Helena’s race was the former. There were volunteers helping with the parking, signage everywhere, the second time there was a local fitness instructor offering a group warm up, the race area was filled with booths of local community organizations and…wait for it…FOOD TRUCKS! And, one of those food trucks did açaí bowls. This, next to boba, was the most sought out treasure on the trip, at least by Julie, so this was pretty fantastic. We both grabbed a bowl before the race and threw it in the fridge for a little pre and post race enjoyment. You can read about the race in our 5K section.

It was a beautiful fall day with perfect weather for a run. Once again, we found out from the locals, we were getting uncharacteristically beautiful weather. 

After the race and our açaí bowls, we headed out for our last Montana stop. We found a small fishing access spot on iOverlander called Mallard’s Landing, a camping spot made available by the Montana Fish and Wildlife that was beautiful and peaceful and we went to sleep fairly wiped from the race and a longer drive through the stunning but very different setting of the wide open spaces of eastern Montana. 

We enjoyed a peaceful evening in a beautiful spot and hit the gravel road for a short, rocky, but wonderful little bikeride to officially check “bike in Montana” off the list.

In the morning, something somewhat remarkable happened and, actually, is happening right now (at the time of this writing that is). This post is being written IN that very spot. We are writing about Montana while we are actually IN Montana. 

This has been our goal for our entire trip. It had been our intention from the start, and something we never anticipated would be difficult. During Julie’s six week musical-writing trip in fall 2023, she had had no problem setting aside 2 hours every Saturday morning to write about her previous week. But, on that trip, we had gotten the blog set up before Julie left and there was not so much to write about. Not so for our 50 states adventure. We had been busy right up to the moment of departure with all kinds of preparations and there was one box that didn’t get checked. Set up the blog. It wasn’t until 2 months into the trip that we even had the blog set up and prepared to receive posts. By that point, we were then 2 months worth of states behind in populating the blog. So, set in motion the second epic journey of our trip – not just being on it – not even just being on it and writing about it – but actually getting our blog caught up to where we are in real time. That is our big hope. We are thinking, by the time we reach state #25 in the middle of our trip, we might be able to do it. The fact that this is state #23 and we’ve actually caught up with doing the writing while still in the state – well, that’s a good sign that we just might make it. It has been an epic effort and unexpected element of the trip, not just writing about the trip (which we anticipated would surely take time), but chasing ourselves on the trip as we do, somewhere amidst living the trip. It’s something we really wanted to do so that we could share the experience with our friends and family, and also for our own enjoyment, both now, and for the future. So, here in Montana, we celebrate a milestone towards that goal and cross our fingers that we can make it to the present moment by state #25!

So, the fact that this post about Montana is getting written WHILE in Montana, its a big deal, for us. For you, the reader, well, we are not there yet. For you reading this post, it is at least a few days, if not a few weeks since we actually were in Montana (depending on when you choose to tune in and read, of course).

And from that momentous happening of being within sight of catching up on the blog, we made our last stop in Montana.

As happens everywhere we go in this country, the history of how our country was made and the present day legacy of that history is evident as we travel through lands that have been home for millennia to countless native tribes and peoples. We are constantly learning about native history and some little bits of current native life from different monuments, plaques, museums, reservations, visitor’s centers, shops, different cultural places and one-on-one interactions. In the morning, as we drove through the land of the Crow Nation and made our last Montana stop in Little Bighorn, we took in education about the history and little bits of the present realities of native life in one of the more potent ways of the trip so far.

Our visit to Little Bighorn was moving and profound, between the history of it, the quiet stillness of the prairie setting we walked through and the potent monuments to the tragic losses on all sides in this massive piece of the American story. We were both moved by the words of native leaders on the plaques at the Indian memorial that was only included in the Little Bighorn site, after many efforts to make it so, in the early 90s.

”We have waited too long for a memorial symbolizing our bravery, our personal loss, our victory in battle, and our commitment to protecting the way of life which our people knew.” – A. Gay Kingman, Minniconjou Lakota in Testimony before Congress, 1991

The native efforts to have their side of this cultural history included in our monuments and rememberances was successful and resulted in a beautiful memorial.

We were touched to read other quotes looking forward together like these:

”Forty years ago I fought Custer…until all were dead…I was then the enemy of the whiteman. Now I am the friend and brother, living under the flag of our country.” – Chief Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne, June 25, 1916

and

”We now have to try to forget what happened here 100 years ago, we have to unite together…Peace through unity.” – Austin Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne Elder, November 11, 1993

It was a powerful way to close up our time in a state with potent history, some of it inspiring, some of it heart wrenching, some of it blood-curdling and all of it taking place in a landscape of nature’s absolute marvels and wonders.

After seven days in Montana, lots of wonderfully deep and satisfying sleep and one eyeful of scenery after another, we left Montana with a sense of why more and more people want to come to Montana and why Montanans might prefer to keep it all to themselves. If you get a chance to take in the Big Sky state, we would recommend that you take it.