It was the second week of October, just on the edge of turning weather. A cold rain had arrived a few days earlier, taking down leaves all over town. Rows and rows of damp brown mounds dotted the street gutters like small mountain ranges. The...
Gnarled, rugged expanses of black and gray lava rock, dotted with muted green sagebrush, define Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in eastern Idaho during snow-free seasons. Miles before reaching the visitor center, a field of hardened lava appears south of the highway,...
A performer walks on stage, acoustic guitar in hand, and a hush falls across the audience. Approaching the mic, the performer — who signed up just a little over an hour ago and has never performed at this venue before — begins strumming and singing....
Just as surfers will spend the balance of their year waiting for just the right wave, and skiers will rearrange their lives in pursuit of fluffy mountain powder, so do ice boaters watch for fresh ice and stiff winds. They’re monitoring long- and short-term weather...
America’s entry to the Rocky Mountain fur trade closely followed a rapid succession of events: President Thomas Jefferson’s fervent advocacy for territorial expansion, the Louisiana Purchase (1803), and the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804–6), the latter of which reported extraordinary populations of beaver, buffalo, and...
Growing up in Bozeman, Montana, cross-country skier Logan Diekmann learned to slide on snow at an early age. By the time he turned 8, he was racing with the Bridger Ski Foundation’s (BSF) Youth Ski League, having started with the program at the ripe age...
Montana had no official eastern boundary in 1805, because the state as we know it did not exist. The confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers served the purpose well enough then, as it nearly does today. The Lewis and Clark expedition reached that landmark...
On a downtown street outside the O’Haire Motor Inn in Great Falls, Montana, it smells like french fries. The sidewalks are empty except for one older gentleman polishing the chrome door handles of the motel. When he finishes with the handles, he wipes the glass...
Remember, raise your hoods at night so packrats don’t build nests in your engines!” The campground host’s admonition seemed slightly odd, but she walked on, continuing her evening rounds. My partner Mary and I looked at each other, baffled. My bemused, stubborn, initial reaction: “No...
This morning, the prairie is treating us to a Homeric sunrise as dawn begins to spread her saffron robes across the eastern sky. The time is late March, the place a remote corner of central Montana’s sagebrush steppe, and Lori and I are here to...