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Top Camping Tips - Montana PDF Print E-mail

Camping Gems - Montana Tips


Weather
Due to the fierceness of the winters, many businesses and sights have either shortened winter hours or shut down all together. If you are planning on visiting during any time other than the summer season, it would be wise to call those places you most want to visit to insure they will be open. And even if you are traveling during the summer months, temperatures can drop, so pack a sweater or two. The day time temperatures reach the 70s, and at night it can drop to a snugly 30 degrees.

Helena
If you are used to an elevation lower than Helena's 4,157 feet above sea level, you may experience some side effects from the high altitude. You may feel lightheaded, dizzy, thirsty, have headaches, breathing problems, sleeplessness, or heart palpitations. To make you high-altitude experience more pleasurable, make sure to drink plenty of water, plan your first couple of days to include lots of rest periods so your body has time to adjust, and avoid alcohol.

 
Top 10 Camping Hidden Gems in Montana PDF Print E-mail

Camping Gems - Montana


Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail
Between May 1804 and September 1806, 32 men, one woman, and a baby traveled from the plains of the Midwest to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. They called themselves the Corps of Discovery.  You can follow their trail across Montana -- start at the Three Forks visitor's center.

Red Lodge Mountain
With over 30 ski runs and plenty of cross country ski trials, Red Lodge is a great place to enjoy winter sports -- or summertime golfing, hiking, and mountain biking. If you enjoy quaint towns, antiques and western shops, you'll want to drive through Red Lodge. Townsfolk have transformed this small mining community into a full resort and shopping experience.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
This area memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their way of life.  Here in 1876, 263 soldiers and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer, met death at the hands of several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. (near Crow Agency, 406-638-2621)

Beartooth Nature Center
The Beartooth Nature Center is a nonprofit, educational center with over 100 native wild animals that cannot be returned to the wild. This is the only facility of its kind in the state. Set in Red Lodge, the center has nature trails, a gift shop, educational presentations, and animals that you can sponsor.

Hardin
Here they will entertain you with the Jailhouse Gallery and Big Horn County Historical Museum and Visitors Center, which covers 24 acres and includes 14 permanent buildings highlighting this area's past. On the grounds you'll also find neat stores, a picnic area, and a 1880 stagecoach. Local folks also pride themselves on throwing two out standing annual events, Little Big Horn Days and Custer's Last Stand Re-Enactment, both held the weekend closest to June 25th.

Helena National Forest
For an afternoon of hiking, fishing, or just plain resting under the trees, head to the gorgeous Helena National Forest. You'll find superb fishing and boating on Lake Helena, Canyon Ferry Lake, at the Spring Meadow State Recreation Area, on the Little Blackfoot River, and on the Smith River, which is known for its 60 mile 3-4 day float trips.

Aerial Fire Depot and Smokejumper Center, Missoula
Smokejumpers are highly trained specialists who parachute into remote areas of national forests to fight the spread of wildfires.  At this first smokejumper training center in America, you'll get a great tour, get to visit a reconstructed lookout tower, and watch videos about smokejumping. (Box 6 Airport Terminal, 406-329-4900

Last Chance Community Pow-Wow, Helena
September's Native American Week wraps up with this dramatic, exciting pow-wow event in Helena. The pow wow is a spiritual celebration in which people join together for dancing, singing, visiting old friends, and making new friends. (406-439-5631)

Big Sky Back Country Byway
Head for some wide-open spaces on this scenic byway that loops through northeastern Montana.  You'll find true big sky country here with buttes, badlands, and waving prairie grasslands. The Byway has information kiosks in Terry, Circle, and Wolf Point, where you can get maps and more information.

Annual Brewfest, Gardiner   
Sample incredible Montana-brewed beer at Gardiner's annual event.  Brewfest features locally-made beer, burgers, brats, bartenders Olympics, and plenty of other fun events.  Montana is home to over a dozen microbreweries.  (406-848-7971)
 
Top 10 Camping Places to Eat in Montana PDF Print E-mail

Camping Gems - Places to Eat in Montana


Hamilton
The Spice of Life Cafe
   
Bozeman
La Parrilla
The Garage
Sweet Pea Café and Bakery
   
Missoula
Scotty's Table
The Red Bird
Double Front Cafe

Kalispell
Wild Mile Restaurant & Deli

Billings

Enzo Mediterranean Bistro
Sweet Ginger
 
Top 10 Camping Places to Go in Montana PDF Print E-mail

Camping Gems - Places to Go in Montana


Glacier National Park
Come and experience Glacier's pristine forests, alpine meadows, rugged mountains, and spectacular lakes. With over 700 miles of trails, Glacier is a hiker's paradise for adventurous visitors seeking wilderness and solitude. Relive the days of old through historic chalets, lodges, transportation, and stories of Native Americans.

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Fort Smith
The canyon offers a diversified landscape of forest, mountains, upland prairie, deep canyons, broad valleys, high desert, lake and wetlands. The Recreation Area is composed of 120,000+ acres, which straddles the northern Wyoming and southern Montana borders. Enjoy activities like: Biking, Bird Watching, Boating, Cross Country Skiing, Fishing, Hiking, Hunting, Snowshoeing, Stargazing, Swimming, and Wildlife Viewing.

Yellowstone National Park
Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, this magnificent park is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. You'll want to see the Norris Geyser Basin, Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Firehole Falls, the Fountain Paint Pots, Midway Geyser Basin, Morning Glory Pool, the Mud Volcano, and the Visitors Center at Earthquake Lake.

Gallatin River
Among people who fly fish for trout, the Gallatin River is considered one of the best anywhere.  Select your flies for Brown Trout, Mountain Whitefish, and Rainbow Trout.  The river is about twelve miles long from its origin at the confluence of the West and East Gallatin rivers to Three Forks, Montana, where it joins the Jefferson and Madison rivers to form the Missouri River.

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
This is a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization that is dedicated to helping elk and other wildlife maintain required habitats for survival. During your time here you'll get to see wildlife art, visit the video theatre, and see a life-size bronze elk. Plus there is a nice gift shop to take some memories home. (5705 Grant Creek Rd, 406-523-4545)

Blackfoot River
The Blackfoot River, one of twelve renowned “Blue Ribbon” rivers in Montana and a major tributary of the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, begins at the junction of Beartrap and Anaconda creeks near the Continental Divide. Set your line for Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, and Westslope Cutthroat Trout. The Blackfoot is the setting of the acclaimed novel (and film) A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean.

Sun River Wildlife Management Area, Augusta
Gorgeous mountain and plain landscapes greet you at Sun River, a terrific place to watch for wildlife.  Take your hiking boots, your horse and saddle, or your birding guide when you visit Sun River -- you won't want to miss the elk, deer, beavers, ermine, bear, squirrels, and hundreds of species of birds that call this area home.

Montana Scenic Loop
Take a scenic drive that you'll never forget through the mountains and forests of northwestern Montana.  This 400-mile loop will carry you through the Bob Marshall Wilderness and in between the Great Bear Wilderness on the north and the Scapegoat Wilderness to the south. Surrounding this wild gem are four National Forests and a host of Wildlife Management Areas and National Wildlife Refuges.

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
Grizzly bears, wolves, raptors, and more!  Head to West Yellowstone for the chance to see wildlife as you've never seen it before.  You'll get an up-close view and the chance to ask the staff about the lives of wild bears and wolves.

Virginia City
Ready to step back in time?  The ghost town of Virginia City offers fun old-fashioned activities like gold panning, stagecoach rides, ghost tours, train rides, and living history re-enactments.  This town is frozen in time, showing you just what an 1800s gold-mining town was like. Long live the Old West!

 
Top 10 Camping Activities in Montana PDF Print E-mail

Camping Gems - Things to Do in Montana


Try your hand at fly fishing on the Blackfoot, Gallatin, or Bitterroot River.

See a bear, bison, or moose at Yellowstone National Park.

Hike across a glacier at Glacier National Park.

Explore the ghost town and old main street in Virginia City.

Ride a horse across a wide-open plain, watching hawks soar in the distance.

Take a walk along the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail.

Go downhill skiing, shopping, or enjoy a fine meal at Red Lodge Mountain.

Spend a day fishing, hunting, hiking, or biking through the Helena National Forest.

Sample one of Montana's dozen microbrews or head to Gardiner's Brewfest.

View wild wolves at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center near Yellowstone.


 


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