Montana Travel Forum

I'm going to be leaving Glacier Nat'l Park and heading to Helena, MT. I'd like to take Hwy. 83 on the west side of the Rockies because I'm thinking the scenery will be beautiful. I will be driving a Chevy Astro and pulling a small travel trailer. Is this road a white knuckle drive that I won't be able to enjoy, or is it just a scenic drive worth taking?

A friend of mine told me about a really cool hike that begins with a ferry across a lake, then a hike past several glacial lakes and ending at a glacier. I can't find anything like that on the maps of Glacier Nat'l Park. Does this sound familiar to anyone? If not, could anyone point me to a hike that would get me to a glacier in the park?

My family and I are excited to visit Whitefish in mid July, and staying at the Grouse Lodge. I have a 3 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old traveling with my wife, and I and we are looking for fun and adventures in your region. We will be in the area for 2 days and are looking for trip ideas that will enhance our experience. We want to use our time in the best possible way, and are an adventurous family looking for the best use of our time. I am looking for your input on anything and am looking for detail suggestions on the following areas: 1- best places to visit 2-best family hikes 3-places to eat 4-best places to water river rafting (company to recommend) 5-best scenic horse rides that are family friendly (company name) 6-best places to fish or guide to recommend (what do we need for gear and equipment) 7. unique shops or places of interest 8. places to rent bikes and places to ride them. 9. any other ideas you can suggest : )

My family and I are excited to visit Missoula in mid July. I have a 3 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old traveling with my wife, and I and we are looking for fun and adventures in your region. We will be in the area for 2 days and are looking for trip ideas that will enhance our experience. We want to use our time in the best possible way, and are an adventurous family looking for the best use of our time. I am looking for your input on anything and am looking for detail suggestions on the following areas: 1- best places to visit 2-best family hikes 3-places to eat 4-best places to water river rafting (company to recommend) 5-best scenic horse rides that are family friendly (company name) 6-best places to fish or guide to recommend (what do we need for gear and equipment) 7. unique shops or places of interest 8. places to rent bikes and places to ride them. 9. any other ideas you can suggest : )

My family and I are excited to visit Bigfork and Swan Lake in mid July. I have a 3 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old traveling with my wife, and I and we are looking for fun and adventures in your region. We will be in the area for 2 days and are looking for trip ideas that will enhance our experience. We want to use our time in the best possible way, and are an adventurous family looking for the best use of our time. I am looking for your input on anything and am looking for detail suggestions on the following areas: 1- best places to visit 2-best family hikes 3-places to eat 4-best places to water river rafting (company to recommend) 5-best scenic horse rides that are family friendly (company name) 6-best places to fish or guide to recommend (what do we need for gear and equipment) 7. unique shops or places of interest 8. places to rent bikes and places to ride them. 9. a place we can rent a boat to take the kids on the water : )

My family and I are excited to visit Glacier National Park in mid July. I have a 3 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old traveling with my wife, and I and we are looking for fun and adventures in your region. We will be in the area for 2 days and are looking for trip ideas that will enhance our experience. We want to use our time in the best possible way, and are an adventurous family looking for the best use of our time. I am looking for your input on anything and am looking for detail suggestions on the following areas: 1- best places to visit 2-best family hikes 3-places to eat 4-best places to water river rafting (company to recommend) 5-best scenic horse rides that are family friendly (company name) 6-best places to fish or guide to recommend (what do we need for gear and equipment) 7. unique shops or places of interest 8. places to rent bikes and places to ride them. 9. any other ideas you can suggest : )

Has anyone been here? Is it worth the ride from Sheridan, WY - I will be on my way across Wyoming.

I was wondering it it's worth a side trip to go to Little Bighorn

Hi All,

A friend and myself are considering a ranch holiday in Montana, and are looking for some recommendations for ranches to visit. We have found one ranch on the web which caught our attention (Dryhead Ranch - formerly Schively Ranch), and I'm wondering whether anyone here has maybe been there and can tell me something about their stay there?

Or maybe you can recommend another ranch?

Hi

I am travelling to Vancouver for 2 weeks in July and was planning on crossing the border into the USA for four days en route to Calgary.

I have already scheduled a stop over in Leavenworth (WA) and was planning a further 3 days in Montana to break up the journey.

looking at the map, Missoula, Billings and Great Falls would seem to be the best points to stop over.

I was wondering if these would be the best places to stop, are they safe? and are they attractive cities? and what is there of interest in these locations?

if not i would welcome any advice of where to visit and other places to stop over between Vancouver and Calgary.

Thanks in advance
Gary.

Hello!
My husband and I are planning on staying at one of the following places:
Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn, or C'mon Inn. Does anyone know anything about these motels or could you recommend a better place?
Thanks!

I'm planning a trip from Sacramento to Banff this May. One possible itinerary was to go through Montana and stay a couple nights in Glacier National Park. Does anyone know if Going to the Sun Road will be fully open during this time and what would the weather and road conditions be like? Thank you in advance for any help and pointers you can give me.

Hi,

I will be traveling to Whitefish this weekend from Spokane, Washington with my boyfriend. We are debating whether or not it is best to drive or take the Amtrak train given the drastic weather conditions. Any suggestions?

Also, I would appreciate any advice for fun/memorable things to do while staying in Whitefish.

Thanks to all who may reply,

Sharlene

We are long retired, fairly well-travelled, and are finally ready to take our long-delayed tour of the parts of the U.S. we've never visited. Part of our 8000 mile, 5-6 week trip will take us from Calgary, Canada to Yellowstone NP driving through Montana. I'm familiar with VT tips as I have read & written many over the years, but I still need help in discovering interesting stops in and between these 2 cities. You can check my homepage for our preferences and/or check our posting in the United States forum for our preliminary itinerary. We will be traveling the southernmost states first.

My family of four (13 yo, 16yo) kids, my brother and 77yo mother are driving (unless we can find cheaper airfare) from Wisconsin to arrive at East Glacier on July 5th. We have a cottage rented in East Glacier. We are only there until July 10th before traveling down to Yellowstone. What are the best towns/ lakes/ views to visit in the Glacier area? We would also like to try a white water rafting trip. Any suggestions? Any advise on planning out trip would be appreciated. We have been to Yellowstone before but want to take my Mom to see the park. This will be our first time seeing GNP. Thanks

My brother and I are planning a camping trip this summer with our kids from July 10th to the 21st. We will make our way to Yellowstone National Park. We want to camp a lot, but think it will be fun for the kids to spend a few days on a ranch / farm.

I am looking for recommendations for things to do along the Billings / Yellowstone route. We are thinking of driving along route 212 to get to Yellowstone, and going back along 89. Trail ride, river tours, etc. Both kids love the outdoors, seeing any wildlife, fishing etc.

My husband and I are going to be doing a 2 week road trip through Montana from Arizona. We are planning on spending most of the time camping and hiking. My husband is a fire figher and has been to Montana for the recent fires and wanted to take me through the area. We are both not very familiar with the Montana area and every web site I find on traveling is for a B&B or a ranch that wants you to go on their tour. We prefer to do our own thing and love the out doors. Does anyone have any suggestions on travel for us or perhaps a web site that might send us in the right direction? Thanks!!

This may seem like a naive question, but I'm just about to buy a new SUV, and one of my ambitions is to travel through the U.S. visiting the National Parks. How important is it for me to buy a 4WD vehicle with this plan in mind? I live in Houston, TX and it is proving difficult to find 4WD vehicles to even test drive. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

In June 2008, my family, and couple of friends and I will be visiting the Glacier area and plan to stay in Whitefish. We were hoping for some inside information on places to stay. We would like to find a hotel or vacation rental, prefreably with two or three bedrooms, located in the downtown area or within walking distance to the downtown area as we'd like to experience the good restaurants and pubs and not have to do much driving.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you for your help!

Bridgett

I am thinking of going to Glacier national park for the thanksgiving. That is not a crazy idea for skiing enthusiasts. But I cant ski. I would like to, but I am not going there only for skiing.

The reason I want to go there in winter is for two reasons - 1. more peaceful as compared to summer, and 2. for a different experience - the winter landscape.

Questions:
1. Does it rain/snow EVERY SINGLE day in the winter ? Will get to see some sunshine at least ?
2. what is a good place to stay ? Again, i do not need to be in a skiing resort. I am looking something with great views of the mountains.
3. Can I rent snowshoes in the park? I dont have any, and i dont want to buy just for one trip.

Any other tips, suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Thanks !

Hi,
We would like to find a central location in Montana where we can stay for about 10 days and take day trips to various points of interest. I would rather not drive more than 100 miles each day to see things.
What cities (towns) might be good central locations and what interesting sights are withina a 100 mile round trip of the town?
Thank you for any help your can provide.

I am interested in taking Amtrak to West Glacier and camping in the park and was wondering what is the best way to get into a park campsite from the train station. If possible I would prefer not to rent a car, don't know if that is even available. How far is the train station from the park and are any type of shuttle services or car services?

Thanks for any help or direction I can get.

Are there any decent shops in Billings to buy camping equipment from? We will be arriving on 27/28 June from the UK and will need to get camping gas and possibly some other equipment (we will be bring most of it with us).

Also, any big supermarkets on the south side of town? Do you have Safeways in Montana? we want to stock up before heading out south to Little Bighorn and on to Badlands.

Thanks

Sam

We're going from Saskatchewan to Montana in June, and would like to take our dog.

Does anyone have any idea if this is an easy process... I expect she will need proof of having her up to date 'shots', but, I'm more worried about quarantine... coming and going???

Thanks,
Sheryl

We're going to a birthday party in Casper WY in July but we'll be leaving Casper WY on Monday 30Jul2007 and will have a week before we have to be back in Indiana on Wednesday 8Aug2007.

My husband wants to visit Bozeman where his Mother was born. Besides that I don't have a lot of knowledge about Montana but a Tourism Brochure is on its way!

We'll be pulling our 34' travel trailer.

What are your recommendations for what we should see while we're in Montana? And what we can realistically expect to have time to see! :)

Thanks in advance!

Kathy
aka smiley

In God We Trust

Hi - planning a bike trip and we will be taking the train back east from either East Glacier (first choice) or Whitefish (second choice). Amtrak does not sell bike boxes at the East Glacier station - does anyone know if there is a bike shop in East Glacier where we could get boxes? thanks!

Hi - planning a bike trip and we will be taking the train back east from either East Glacier (first choice) or Whitefish (second choice). Amtrak does not sell bike boxes at the East Glacier station - does anyone know if there is a bike shop in East Glacier where we could get boxes? thanks!

Hello,
Can anyone tell me approximate driving time from Bozeman to West Glacier? Also, the driving time from West Glacier to West Yellowstone.
Thank you,
Barry

So heres he question we will be spending a little over 2 weeks altogether between travel time, Yellowstone and the Tetons. As a family of 5 it will be nearly impossible for me to pack enough food (especialy meat/dairy products for 2 weeks time) where will be the closest grocery store??We are staying in Gardiner for probably the first 3 -4 days and then on to the Tetons for 2-3. If anyone can offer and help with this Id greatly appreciate it. And just in case it matters we will be there from May 14 - 21/22.

Has anyone camped/hiked out of Two Medicine? I am interested in hiking the loop that makes up Pitamaken Pass - Dawson Pass - No Name Lake - Twin Falls from the North Shore Trailhead. Looks like a great day hike. Has anyone done this or can anyone recommend any other good hikes from Two Medicine or from any starting point on the Going to the Sun Road.

Thanks,
Sam

My family will be travelling to GNP this summer 7/7-21, staying in Dayton. I am looking for a variety of activities to keep varied interests busy for 2 weeks. There will most likely be 6 adults, ages 32-67 and 3 children, ages 6 mos., 14 mos., and 3 years. I am hoping to put together a fun filled two weeks with lots of activities to keep everyone happy. Day trips, no more than about an hour away would be best. We would like to do some fishing, golfing, easy to moderate hiking, rafting, etc. Additionally, I am looking for some great activities to keep my 3 year old busy and interested. Additionally, we love crafts and culture, etc. Any thoughts, anything we absoulutely can't miss or must do, things we should also stay away from? While we plan to do a lot of cooking at home, we would also love some restaurant suggestions!