On a picture-perfect June morning, a week shy of the summer solstice, sunlight streams through the spires of the enormous ponderosa pines above me. I sit mesmerized, perched in the palm of a cool granite outcropping worn smooth through a millennium of rushing waters, fixated...
Callan Wink takes another step in establishing himself as a major writer of the American West with his new work, Beartooth: A Novel (Spiegel & Grau, $28). Wink, the author of two previous books, Dog Run Moon (a short story collection) and August (a novel),...
Kimball Geisler paints landscapes that draw people outdoors. Whether it’s the distant peaks draped in stubborn snow or the murmur of water skimming a bend, Geisler brings the universal intimacy of nature to his work. To be clear, he doesn’t paint portraits of landscapes; instead, he...
It should come as no surprise that upon entering the Bozeman offices of Yellow Dog Flyfishing, I’m greeted by Daisy, a lovable yellow lab whose tail wags back and forth at the speed of light. It’s probably equally unsurprising that she shows me Montana-sized hospitality....
The alarm goes off, and my eyes open. Ok, let’s do this. “This” is getting out of a warm bed and putting on layer after layer, capping it all off with a somewhat bulky drysuit. It’s going to be a perfect morning: sunny, no wind,...
ARCHITECTURE | DARKHORSE DESIGN GROUP CONSTRUCTION | CEDAR RIDGE BUILDERS STONEWORK | GREENWOOD MASONRY CONSTRUCTION For more than two decades, Darci and Tim Greenwood have spent their working lives fulfilling other people’s dreams. Darci’s nationally acclaimed company, Greenwood Events, is based in Whitefish, Montana, where she plans, produces,...
Depending on which way the wind blows, the winter air smells of wood smoke — deep and almost sweet — for blocks around The Union, where meat is being grilled over an open fire. The warm glow from what was once Helena, Montana’s beloved Union...
For a boy who only knew red dirt, heavy air, and the threat of twisters, visiting the Northern Rocky Mountains must have been magnificent. He traveled by train from the southern Great Plains to work on a U.S. Forest Service crew in northwest Montana, where...
I help my father Quicken a pinewood blaze Against the falling night. The kerosine stove exhales With its hot oily breath And mingles With the woodsmoke And two days Of stale sweat. Lake water boils, Setting the pot lid chattering. Water For splintered ramen, Instant coffee, And hot chocolate From a crumpled Paper packet. Sitting on stern stones, I carefully nurse My tin cup While...
After picking up the rental car, we were jumpy about the bitter weather — an emptiness I could feel in the pit of my stomach. The 115-mile drive from Billings, Montana skirted the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Then it bisected the Crow Reservation, which...