Trip to Montana

[MGordon]

My wife and I are leaving for a trip to Montana on July 6. Ultimate destination being Glacier National Park. We have about two weeks.



If any body has any interesting routes, must see or must avoid spots, great camping places etc. , we would appreciate hearing from you.

 

[timjones]

You need to take the "road to the sun" and "rim of the world", there are absolutely beautiful. Also nice is take the boat ride on black lake.



p. s. might be the same road.

 

[TPCDrafting]

My folks did that trip last year in two weeks. Cut off at Casper over to Shoshoni for an excellent milkshake. There is a road side attraction there known as Whitmore. Spend the night in Thermopolis and sit in the hot spring pools. The holiday inn has one of the biggest collections of taxidermy I've ever seen. Head up to Cody from there and see the museum of western stuff. Big gun collection among other things. Spend a few days in Yellowstone. Head up to Glacier from there, a day or two there, head for Banff and Canadian Rockies. 3-4 days there. and head for home. You should be heading through Cheyenne around the time Frontier Days gets started. It's a whirlwind trip, but you'll see quite a bit. I would skip Canada and spend more time in WY and MT. Save Canada exclusively for another two-three week trip. You pulling a camper? I can get rv park names if you're interested.

 

[Doc Tinker]

I made a trip out there, last summer, with BillH and our wives.



Stick to the west end of Montana. Miles City is in the middle somewhere, and boy was it ever hot and dry there. I found the best dang rootbeer in Miles City though, wish I could get more.



If you can stomach the traffic, I would suggest that you go through Yellowstone. Watch out for the idiots who park their cars in the middle of the road to chase after buffallo. I couldn't believe the number of cars that were abandoned with the doors all hanging open. If you go out the west entrance, Route 287 is a real nice drive, through Ennis, Montana. You could do a side trip there, into Virginia City.



We only had time for a few hours in Glacier. We were sad that we didn't allow more time for that part of the trip. Glacier appears to be a one stop place. Go there, stop and enjoy until you're ready to go home.



Doc

 

[moparguy]

If you have the time, check on the Chalets run by the National Park Service (believe that's right). There were three open 10 years ago, but due to plumbing problems they shut down and 2 have recently opened back up.



If you do check this out and can get a reservation, you'll have to hike about 4 1/2 hours or so up into the mountains to the Chalet, the only other option is the mule train that packs in supplies or a helicopter.



We were lucky a few years ago and were able to spend a night at the Sperry. The hike in and out and the night at the Chalet were the high-light of our Glacier trip.



Good luck, Ronnie

 

[smartineau]

After you leave the park, I would suggest heading south and go down to Big Arm (on lake flathead) there is an RV park there and a state park, both good places for a day of rest away from the millions of people in the park. Then go down HWY 93 to St Ignatius Mission (a beautifully painted church like they have in Europe, about an hour or so to visit). Then continue south for about few minutes and go to the National Bison Range. a 2-3 hour visit.



IF you are a hunter stop in at the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation headquarters in Missoula.



steve

 

[MGordon]

tpcdrafting,



We will have our camper. We will try to stay in undeveloped camping areas in the National Forest when possible, but plan on staying in an occasional RV Park to dump and re-fill. So if you can get some names of some RV parks for us, that would be great.



smartineau,



Thanks for reminding me! I'm a Life Member of the RMEF. I can't believe I forgot about stopping there.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I went to Yellowstone the 1st weekend of May and got snowed on, but it was a great trip. Some if YStone wasn't open yet due to snow. Very few people, but the geysers seemed to be pretty calm and Mammoth Springs was all but completely dead.



What I enjoyed on the trip:



Caverns at Lewis & Clark state park. Very very cool, but involves about 2+ miles of hiking.



Philipsburg: Neat, interesting old mining town. I would take the entire side trip to this town which takes off from I-90 past Missoula and joins back up before Butte.



Virginia City: Very old Western/ghost town with a large majority of the town comprised of original structures built in the 1860s.



Nevada City: A couple miles away from Virginia City, same sort of town, with quite a bit of old railroad equipment.



In Anaconda there is a massive smokestack, biggest one I've ever seen.



Vaughn

 

[lschultz]

tpcdrafting

So thats what Kevin does when he is not working at that gas(sewer)plant stands on the side of the road and lets people look at him and he has become a attraction!Now the story is coming out why he is the way he is.

 

[TPCDrafting]

MGordon, PM sent your way. I wasn't sure if posting RV park names on here was an ok thing. AND NO, Wally World wasn't on the list.



Lschultz, I shouldn't add Kev on a stop list like that, but He and the Mrs. sure are a nice couple to meet. I hope to get back up again soon. As a matter of fact, all TDR Wyo. members are very nice people as far as the ones I've met. No strange ones yet!