Anyone know Montana?

[nerudite]

Okay... I'm going down to Montana this weekend... I have to go to Great Falls. Does anyone know of some nice spots maybe up by Glacier Nat'l Park / Waterton Park to check out? I will have about a day (and overnight) to tool around northern Montana before having to head back up to Edmonton on Sunday.

I know zilch about Montana, so suggestions are greatly appreciated.

And, no I don't hunt or (unfortunately!) fly fish... but I like to hike, enjoy hot springs, and generally outdoorsy stuff that doesn't involve killing animals.

 

[donk]

If you look really carefully you might be able to see fields of dental floss.

 

[SGB]

I lived in Missoula for a short while about 10 years ago. It's a fun city with a great recreation trail along a "river [that] runs through it. If you like carousels, they have a great one in a downtown park that may be up and running for the season by now.

 

[Mastiff]

Little Bighorn...

 

[Cardinal]

Beautiful state. I've been there several times. Little Big Horn is nice, but may be a bit far. Glacier is spectacular, but it is likely to be somewhat snowed in. The area around Two Medicine Lake will probably be open, and also around Saint Mary's, but Going-to-the-Sun Road is not opened until early June. Many Glacier is my favorite hiking spot, but not likely to be open. Most of the lower elevation hikes should be possible, such as Two Medicine Lake and Virginia - Bering - St. Mary's Falls. The west side of the park will probably be open to Avalanche Lake, which is also a great hike. The hotel at East Glacier is one of the historic old lodges and is a great place to stay. St. Mary's has a good lodge too, with great beer and food. (Try the elk medallions with lingonberry sauce.)

 

[nerudite]

Thanks to all that replied...

I actually didn't get too far into Montana, as the weather got pretty nasty very fast. Saturday was beautiful in the morning, so we went from Great Falls to East Glacier. It was sunny and beautiful... then all of a sudden it starts dumping snow. Instead of going over the pass (which was our original plan), we decided to turn towards home. After driving back into Canada we found out that our main road back home (Hwy 2) was closed and so were all secondary roads due to 60cm of snow that fell in less than 24 hours. We stayed the night south of Calgary because you couldn't get through the city. I took a bunch of pictures with the digital camera: jacknifed trucks in ditches, tour busses, and hundreds of cars. It was amazing...

I saw just enough of Montana that I really want to go back. Maybe we can go camping there in August or something.

 

[Cardinal]

August is a great time to go to Glacier. Go around Labor Day or later, after the kids are back in school. There are half as many people in the park. The bears are also more active, especially as the huckleberries and thimbleberries are ripe.