Want to figure out what kind of bird is making that sweet sound, navigate a new area, or find out what that constellation is on a starry night? Whatever your area of interest, there’s most likely an app for it. Outdoor-related apps are numerous, covering...
On the east end of Main Street in Bozeman, Montana’s thriving downtown, where boutiques and galleries mingle with hip bars and restaurants, there’s a diner that still functions — as if untouched by time — as a relic of the Old West. Here, at The...
There exists a word for the way the air smells after a rainstorm, or at least that’s what a friend told me. An amusing piece of data, perhaps, but I have to wonder whether anyone would mention the word while stepping into a spruce thicket...
Bird watching, or birding as it’s commonly called, may not be for everyone. Some may consider it to be a hobby most often associated with the elderly. (My grandfather was a birder, binoculars hanging from his neck at all times!) But many of us who...
On a warm summer day a few years ago, my husband and I woke early to explore the 2,160-acre Wild Horse Island, part of Flathead Lake State Park in Northwestern Montana. Our goal was to hike to its highest point, Eyeglass Peak, 900 feet above...
When artist Meagan Blessing was 9 years old, she filled an expedition-style backpack and walked out the front door of her family’s home in Seattle, Washington. It was summertime, school was out for the year, and she was ready for a great adventure. Her plan:...
In the summer of 1910, Idaho and Western Montana suffered one of the most devastating fires in the nation’s history. It was a conflagration that historians refer to as the “Big Burn,” which killed 87 people and turned 3 million acres of trees — an...
Working as a photojournalist for more than 20 years, Janie Osborne has had the opportunity to travel the state of Montana extensively from her home base in Bozeman. Although Montana is a tourist hotspot, known for Yellowstone and Glacier national parks and an abundance of...
All gifts are temporary The sun, the moon, the stars Stripes on the backs of chipmunks Beaver tracks in the mud. This morning It was a troop of robins Busking for worms Their bouncing advancements timed To a foghorn of cows. Meanwhile The rising sun Didn’t believe in a thing Not me, not you And the...
A regular contributor to Big Sky Journal, John Clayton is the author of Wonderlandscape: Yellowstone National Park and the Evolution of an American Cultural Icon and Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands. In addition to Big Sky Journal, Brian...