Welcome to Big Sky Country. Montana is the fourth-largest state in the country but one of the least densely populated, with enormous stretches of mountains, grasslands, forests, and open country separating its small cities and towns. Western Montana is dominated by the Rocky Mountains, while much of the eastern half opens into the Great Plains.
Montana was also one of the more difficult states for me to reach. I spent several months in Boise trying to find a reasonable way to visit, but despite Idaho and Montana sharing a border, there weren’t any convenient direct flights from Idaho’s capital. Flying through another state cost almost as much as flying from Washington, D.C., so eventually I gave up and accepted the long drive.
Even driving wasn’t as straightforward as it looked on a map. The mountains forced the highways to take long routes around parts of the state, adding hundreds of miles to what initially seemed like a simple trip north. Apparently the difficulty didn’t discourage me too much, because I eventually made three separate trips to Montana. My first focused on the state’s cities and towns, the second was dedicated to Glacier National Park, and the third took me into the Beartooth Mountains to climb Granite Peak, the highest mountain in Montana.
Explore Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park protects more than a million acres of some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the United States. Glaciers carved the park’s deep valleys, high peaks, and long lakes, while smaller alpine glaciers still survive in the mountains today. The National Park Service currently recognizes roughly two dozen named glaciers, all considerably smaller than they were in the past. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
The park has more than 700 miles of trails winding through forests, alpine meadows, mountain passes, and some of the best wildlife habitat in the continental United States. Grizzly bears, black bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, moose, elk, and many other animals live throughout the region. For me, Glacier easily ranks among the highlights of Montana.
Explore the Beartooth Wilderness
The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is another enormous mountain wilderness shared by Montana and Wyoming. Hundreds of miles of trails cross a landscape of alpine lakes, granite peaks, forests, snowfields, and remote backcountry where wildlife is still abundant.
This was also the destination of my third trip to Montana. Deep within the Beartooths is Granite Peak, Montana’s highest mountain. Reaching its summit turned what might otherwise have been another visit to the state into a dedicated mountain expedition.
Explore Billings
Billings is Montana’s largest city and the closest thing the state has to a major urban center. Even here, however, the open landscape is never very far away. The city sits beneath sandstone cliffs known as the Rimrocks and serves as a useful base for exploring southeastern Montana.
Downtown has restaurants, bars, historic buildings, museums, and cultural attractions, while some of Montana’s most famous historic landscapes are within driving distance. Little Bighorn Battlefield lies southeast of the city, and the mountains toward Yellowstone and the Beartooths rise farther to the southwest.
Explore Bannack
Bannack began during Montana’s gold rush after gold was discovered nearby in 1862. The settlement rapidly grew into a frontier mining town and briefly served as the first territorial capital of Montana.
The gold eventually disappeared and so did most of Bannack’s population, leaving behind what is now one of the best-preserved ghost towns I’ve visited in the United States. Old hotels, houses, stores, and public buildings still line the streets, and many can be entered and explored rather than simply viewed from outside.
Explore Helena
Like many early Montana settlements, Helena owes its existence to gold. Prospectors discovered gold at Last Chance Gulch in 1864, and a mining camp quickly developed into one of the region’s most important settlements. Helena later became the territorial capital and eventually the capital of the state.
Despite its importance, Helena has retained the atmosphere of a relatively small western city. The Montana State Capitol, Cathedral of Saint Helena, historic Last Chance Gulch, and buildings left from the mining era give the city considerably more history than its size might suggest.
Explore Butte
Butte is another Montana city built by mining, although copper rather than gold eventually made it famous. During its industrial peak, Butte became one of the most important mining centers in the United States and attracted workers from around the world.
The mining industry left an enormous physical mark on the landscape. The Berkeley Pit, a gigantic former open-pit copper mine, sits beside the city as one of the most visible reminders of Butte’s industrial past. High above town is another very different landmark, Our Lady of the Rockies, a huge statue overlooking Butte from the mountains.
Montana ended up requiring more effort to explore than almost any neighboring state, but that difficulty is also part of what makes it appealing. Its cities are small, the distances are enormous, and some of its best destinations require long drives or serious hikes to reach. Between Glacier National Park, the Beartooth Mountains, mining towns, ghost towns, and huge stretches of open wilderness, my three trips still only covered a fraction of the state.
