A cider wind teases melancholy memory. Slanted light brushes the horizon gray. Shadows peer, and crawl, and rise. An embracing maple colonnade invites. Earthen musk hovers. Brittle stalks chaff and scream, restless. Orange specks punch the landscape, soon to be leering. Metal air stills. The......
To call Sun House (Little, Brown, and Company, $35), by David James Duncan, a novel is akin to calling the sun a decent-sized campfire. This book, coming in at nearly 800 pages, commands attention. But the caliber of writing, at any length, would cause the......
Before a flight, I search the U.S. Forest Service website for the latest fire response and air attack restrictions, scan webcams for measly weather reports from “airports” that seldom report any, and listen carefully to the gems that grizzled backcountry pilots might drop in casual......
“The buffalo furnished them meat, robes for bedding, skins for teepee coverings, clothing, foot gear, sinew for sewing, bone splinters for sewing awls, and many other items they required.” — Dominic Michell, Salish Tribal Elder, Circa 1942 While precise numbers are impossible to determine, most......
As we leave Crow Agency in his Tribal Fish & Game pickup, Benito Morrison hands me a foil-wrapped globe the size and heft of a pool cue ball. “The original trail mix,” Morrison, a Crow game warden, says with a laugh. We’re going to view......
The Seeley-Swan Valley, located in northwest Montana, is nestled between — and populated by — giants, both topographically and botanically. No peak in the region eclipses 10,000 feet in elevation, but the Seeley-Swan is bordered by the Mission Mountains and Swan Range, which collectively encompass......
I’ve killed many deer, and I’ve eaten them all, including one I accidentally killed with my car. It was February 2018, nearly midnight in Montana, a few miles west of the Continental Divide. The muley appeared as I curled around a bend where U.S. Highway......
It’s August and somewhere out beyond Big Sandy, behemoth machines crawl across the landscape. It’s harvest time in Montana. In late summer, the “Golden Triangle” of central Montana is alive with men, women, and machines bringing in the summer’s crop of wheat — the iconic......
Montana’s Lones Wigger was, unquestionably, among the finest competitive shooters in American history. While his fame exists mostly in the marksmanship niche, Wigger’s name belongs alongside the legends of the Old West when it comes to rifle skills. Wigger — who died in 2017 at......
For the past eight years, I’ve followed a passion for photographing Native American tribes throughout Montana. Initially captivated by Montana itself — its majestic landscapes, stunning scenery, rural communities, and, of course, expansive Big Sky — my photographic intentions shifted after a conversation with my......
Architecture N2 Architecture Construction MKD Construction Interior Design Michele McCarthy Interiors Architecture projects can be driven by a host of factors. A project’s pace might be set by a hard timeline, its scope determined by a particular program, or its structure dictated by the characteristics......
When Dugan Coburn recognized an opportunity to enrich the lives of Indigenous kids in his community, it jolted him as electrifyingly as a lightning bolt. At the time, he was working with the public school system in Great Falls, Montana as a talent search coordinator......
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing,” observed the 19th-century Danish-French painter Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro. That quote, shared recently with Western artist Beth Loftin by a close friend, impacted her greatly, validating her devotion to depicting......
Rubber meets gravel as our four-wheel-drive vehicles rumble up a dusty road. We pull over at a wide bend near a hairpin turn. After gathering supplies, avian researcher Mary Scofield and volunteer Lesley Rolls head downslope through sagebrush, while I accompany avian biologist William Blake......
Ringed by majestic mountain ranges and located at more than 6,200 feet in elevation, Jackson Hole is the perfect place for restaurant Coelette to showcase its snow-line cuisine. Focusing on techniques and flavors from mountain communities and cultures around the globe, Coelette merges its alpine-inspired......
Tinworks Art’s new place-based multimedia art exhibition, Invisible Prairie, offers a unique opportunity to connect to the poetry, fragility, and mystery of America’s grasslands. The exhibit explores the sensory experience of the prairie, providing an intimate and thoughtful experience that encourages meditation, contemplation, and close......
Paramount Network’s popular Yellowstone series has sparked the interest of a worldwide audience, bringing an estimated 2.1 million visitors and $730 million in spending to Montana in 2021, according to a University of Montana (UM) study. Conducted by UM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research......
A new audio tour of the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (also known as Wyoming Highway 296) near Cody, Wyoming is now available via the TravelStorys app. The approximately 45-mile tour includes 11 separate GPS-triggered scripts — or geotags — describing geology, wildlife habitat, fire ecology,......
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs “2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report,” since 2001 the rate of suicide among veterans has remained nearly double that of civilians, with an average of 6,000 veterans taking their lives each year. Despite the VA’s changes......
Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) is best known for Bozeman’s Main Street to the Mountains trail system, but the definition of “trail” is expanding: With partners, GVLT recently launched the area’s first water trail, the Missouri River Headwaters Paddlers’ Trail. The trailhead (or “put-in,” as......
I write this coming off a weekend spent in Jackson, Wyoming, having driven through Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming to get there. The fir and spruce forests extending from Big Sky to Island Park open up into rolling cropland near Ashton, which meets the expansive Grand......
A new audio tour of the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (also known as Wyoming Highway 296) near Cody, Wyoming is now available via the TravelStorys app. The approximately 45-mile tour includes 11 separate GPS-triggered scripts — or geotags — describing geology, wildlife habitat, fire ecology,......
The air is cool and a breeze pushes from the north, the depth of blue clouds pierces my attention between flashes of light. Moisture lingers heavy and refreshing as the storm drags across bare mountain peaks just beyond our reach. One can almost hear the......
This summer, my daughter discovered our horses. Not quite 2 yet, she toddles toward the pasture adjacent to our house, eagerly proclaiming, “Neigh!” the moment she catches sight of them. She asks to sit on their backs, and, once mounted, she energetically gestures directions as......
By Western Hands: Functional Art from the Heart of the West celebrates the history of rustic design — from the Adirondacks and national park “Parkitecture” style to the work of legendary Western furniture maker Thomas Molesworth — and describes its evolution to the art form......
For 30 years, the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture has provided arts appreciation, education, and activities out of a historic building in downtown Bozeman. Its programming includes arts education for all ages, school and community outreach, exhibitions, performances, seasonal events, and more. Led......
The museums, galleries, and curated art events that celebrate the artists of the Northern Rockies offer an intimate glimpse into the life and livelihood of the American West. Upcoming calendar highlights include: June 29 – November 12 Re-Imagining Conservation: From Many Viewpoints National Museum of Wildlife......
Gallery Wild’s new exhibition, Wild by Four Seasons, opened this summer at the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Jackson, Wyoming and features more than 50 Western artworks by 20 renowned artists. At the resort, guests can enjoy exclusive access to the collection, art walks,......
It was mass confusion in earth tones and brightly colored tails as the Bohemian waxwings lifted off. My brain was in slow motion, along with my slow shutter speed. Aargh, I missed the shot, I thought. Upon viewing the camera’s screen, flashes and splashes of......
Whether you’re on the hunt for new artwork or just want to enjoy an evening sampling delicious bites, craft beer, and signature cocktails, you may find what you’re looking for at the Warrior Taste Fest — and all for a good cause. The popular fundraiser......
It’s hard to know which of your senses to focus on first when you walk into J.W. Heist Steakhouse. There’s the smell of meat cooking over fire, a whiff of garlic and butter. Between the crystal chandelier and the dark wood tones on the ceiling......
Artist Katie Cooney thought she might open a shop selling handcrafted local artwork one day, but she didn’t think it would be anytime soon. She was busy as a photographer, painter, and illustrator, applying her vibrant colors, spirit of adventure, and whimsical visual storytelling to......
To the west, above Sheep Mountain, silver-lined clouds disappear into the alpenglow of the setting sun. Bands of pink settle on the ridgetop across the valley as the summer light slowly fades through the lens of an old jackleg fence on the rise. I watch......
Architecture The Jarvis Group Construction Poster Construction Interior Design Sara Story Design Landscape architecture Coen + Partners In their quest to find a mountain home with both summer and winter appeal, Candace and Charles Nelson visited ski areas in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, all......
Doug Cox is a world-renowned saddlemaker. Operating out of Gardnerville, Nevada — an unincorporated town in rural Douglas County, population 6,200 — he’s been in the custom saddle trade for half a century. At 73, he moves with an unrushed grace that only tradesmen, still......
Refining the art of being present, artist Dale Livezey’s palette speaks of Montana through gradient skies and the sentinels of landscape. His paintings offer a mediation on the intangible values of place, a breath of sanctuary, and that transient balance when the world teeters between......
Patricia Griffin starts by telling me about the wolves. “There was a pack of them on my back hill this past winter,” the esteemed painter, photographer, and conservationist relays over the phone. She’s taking my call from her studio in Jackson, Wyoming — the reception......
It all started with toads. “I grew up in Texas, and actually, the best thing about Houston was the toads,” artist Claire Emery recalls with a laugh. “There were so many toads, and I was an avid toad collector. They would come out of their......
If you talk to a dozen ceramic artists throughout Montana, chances are good they’ll cite three reasons for the state’s unique ceramics community: the landscape, the people, and “The Bray.” In a state as vast in area as it is sparse in population, the existence......
Christine Byl’s Lookout (Deep Vellum, $25.95) offers a stunning portrait of a family firmly rooted to the land in northwest Montana. Told through numerous points of view, in authentic voices, and with a poetic ear for language, this is the kind of novel one becomes......
Residing in the mountains of northwest Montana with her husband and two daughters, Sally Vannoy is living — and painting — her best life. “I live in a place I love, with people I love, doing what I love. What could be better than that?”......
Artist Joe Kronenberg doesn’t spend a lot of time reflecting on his past, but his studio is a repository for its hallmarks. There’s the Ralph “Tuffy” Berg Award for outstanding emerging artist that he received during the 2009 C.M. Russell Museum Auction; a framed reproduction......
Since 2008, Carter G. Walker has been crisscrossing Montana and Wyoming in pursuit of the best places to hike, stay, eat, learn, and explore. In her Moon guidebooks — including the most recent, Moon Yellowstone to Glacier National Park Road Trip (Moon Travel, 2023) —......
“We’re not mad geniuses, that’s for damn sure. We just know what we like and what we feel dignified in producing. And also what we’re good at.” On a recent Wednesday morning, two of the three owners of Brasserie Porte Rouge sat in the filtered......
Most music aficionados don’t think of Montana — let alone Havre, Montana — as a hotbed of sonic Americana, but Dave Martens is changing that view. Martens is a Havre native, a pedal steel player, and the curator of a music archive he calls Lost......
Lane Timothy rekindled his love of painting when, after years of mainstream commercial success, he realized he needed a change. What he needed was Montana. In this return home to find himself, he would leave slick magazine covers and photo shoots to dig into his......
Architecture Reid Smith Architects Construction Schlauch Bottcher Construction Interior Design Mimi Snowden Design On a 1,000-acre site east of Manhattan, Montana lies a quintessential Western ranch house. It’s a site that borders the trout waters of the Gallatin River. A creek, also good for fishing,......
The antique mall below Last Chance Gulch in Helena, Montana is full of temptations. Myriad treasures fill the rooms, many beyond price. An enormous glass bowl full of colorful matchbooks draws my eye. Atop them lies a tattered brown book. About the size of a......
As I detour from Interstate 90 and drive down the rural road toward Fishtail, Montana, my daily concerns diminish to distant contours in the rearview mirror, and my focus turns to the colorful frame ahead. Like scenes in a motion picture, images from the road......
On a late summer morning in southern Idaho, our campground neighbors hang a “Happy Birthday” banner from the awning of their trailer. They are the kind of empty nesters I aspire to be; tanned and fit, they began the day kayaking in the lake and......