Its the perfect celebration of locally sourced Montana cuisine! If you choose to take on the task, make sure to bring sunblock, plenty of water, and snacks to fuel you along the way. Everythings coming up Dana & Alicia! new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], If you do go in mid-summer, expect crowds. Flathead Lake is also home to its very own resident monster. WebCheck the road conditions from Idaho to Montana and plan a trip based on the weather along the way. FOLLOW OUR PARKS RULES. Covid is still with us. Even small, cute animals like chipmunks have been known to hurt humans who come too close to them. Then it was time to set out on our whitewater rafting trip down the Salmon River. By the time we got ready to canoe back, a storm was starting to roll in. Lets go! Fuel up at Pocketstone Cafe, the ultimate American breakfast spot in Big Fork. Although the parks had been fairly crowded this whole time (Yellowstone more so than Glacier), this is the first time it began to feel a bit too touristy. Today was one of our main driving days, which can be some of the best days of a road trip! Alternatively, you can rent an RV or campervan and have your shelter conveniently on wheels. Montana has so much to offer including its crown jewel, Glacier National Park and weve designed the perfect 10-day Montana road trip itinerary through Western Montana, complete with details to help you plan each step of your trip. If youre interested in experiencing Indian Country during your visit to Montana, I recommend reading through this booklet or browsing this site! While we were waiting for him, a pick up truck pulled up to us and the driver yelled Let him go, hell follow!. We were averaging about $250 a night. Be warnedthis trail is not for the faint of heart, but you will be rewarded with some of the best views Montana has to offer. Huckleberries are a Montana Thing, and youll want to make it a point to eat them in as many different forms as you can while youre in Montana! Take your camera! 1. We arrived in the evening, so we watched the sunset at Higgins Street Bridge, took a walk downtown, and had a few drinks at The Rhino Bar, a proper dive with yummy beers on tap (this part of the country has consistently incredible beer). The food is amazing literally everything on the menu is incredible and the drinks are fantastic. The sheer magnitude and untouched rugged beauty make you feel small in the most wonderful way. Once youre back in Big Fork, head to Raven for a post-hike dinner! International Selkirk Loop, 6373 Bonner St, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805, USA 4. We thought for sure we were about to watch someone get eaten by a wild animal! The entire state is a paradise for anyone who loves hiking, swimming, or anything outdoorsy. })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-P6R8DKB'); 3 years ago we quit our jobs, put our stuff in storage, and took off on a (disastrous) year-long honeymoon. We recommend staying at Pine Lodge, located right on the Whitefish River and a 3-minute drive to downtown. ), 18 Restaurants in San Francisco for the Best Authentic Chinese Food, Learnings From Five Months of Travel Blogging While Working Full-Time. Today, we share down-to-earth travel tips from our many (mis)adventures on our blog andpodcast! But like, there were llamas there. One of the best ways to get the full Idaho experience is to road trip through the state. Road Trip Conditions. We stopped first to walk through Freak Alley, an awesome display of street art and fun thing to do in Boise, and then got appetizers and drinks at Juniper (potatoes of course) and Chandlers, a fancy steakhouse. Unsubscribe anytime. Your 2nd tour option is a historical icon of Glacier National Park: the Red Buses were the first-ever motorized tour buses in a US National Park, and they have been operating since the early 1900s! From there, we set out to Jenny Lake where we rented a canoe to paddle across to Inspiration Point - a great thing to do in Grand Teton. This revelation resulted in frequent singings of Oh give me a home, where the Bison roam throughout the remainder of the trip. WebDay 14 Day at Flathead Lake, MT. WOAH- NO, we do not want to support a business like that. There is a Department of Indian Affairs as well as a program dedicated to growing Indian tourism (including through grants and other funding) at the state level, and efforts are being made. Stay: Country Motor Inn is a budget motel in town. About halfway through our drive back we had our second animal encounter. It was another awesome Alicia & Dana Adventure! Autumn Travel Itineraries Montana Road Trip Sponsored Post The West USA National Parks USA Wildlife Wildlife. So if you want to post some cool pics of the nature you seego for it! Weve got an itinerary for the California bit of it to help you plan: https://practicalwanderlust.com/pacific-coast-highway-road-trip-itinerary/. Speaking of which: Before you leave Big Fork, stop by the adorably named Grateful Bread Cafe and pick up a slice of one of the top 10 huckleberry pies in Montana! It was another awesome Alicia & Dana Adventure! But fun fact: designated in 1996, Escalante was the last part of the continental U.S. to be mapped. Again, use Kayak to price-compare prices on car rentals for your trip! They had to go take care of a parking ticket and let us borrow their board until they came back. I havent been to The Peoples Center, but will definitely be checking it out when were home next year. We continued our way down Going to the Sun Road, enjoying the many scenic turnouts along the way. Visitors range from overweight midwestern American families on their annual vacation to scantily-clad young girls ready for a night at the Marquee. Our itinerary took us through the iconic national parks with a number of must-see stops on the way to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming! The drive in itself did have beautiful views, even before we reached Going to the Sun Road. Wild Horse Island is a totally unique Montana destinationand the name says it all. Todays your recovery day in between hikes, so youll be taking a slow, leisurely drive around scenic Flathead Lake! This excursion essentially a big loop back to where we started took almost the entire day, but I really wanted to see what is considered one of the most beautiful and treacherous roads in America. Try not to let it bother you and focus your energy on appreciating the incredible natural phenomenon in front of you (easier said than done, sometimes). Minus the ostentatious Trump 2020 banners hanging on some of the houses, of course. We found a hotel a couple miles from downtown and had enough time for Alicia to squeeze in a quick run before heading out for dinner. The road is 50 miles long and takes about 2 hours one-way with no stopping (but youll definitely be stopping a few times, so allow yourself extra time). From there about an hours drive from Big Fork Wild Horse Island is just 45 minutes of athletic activity away! Then we headed to the Norris Basin Geyser, where the pools ranged in color from milky sky blue to emerald green. It has a beautiful outdoor seating area, the perfect place to enjoy the brewerys delicious Amber Ale. Until next time. It is going to be crowded, people are going to be annoying. The plan was to go sand sledding and sand boarding. They also decided to rename the center to honor three of the chiefs that represent the native tribes of CSKT, the Salish, Pend dOreille, and Kootenai. Its also a destination with much to offer those who stay for a The drive from Idaho Falls to Missoula is gorgeous. Read more Access exclusive video content, free resources, and more! (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': I didnt realize that thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. Disclaimer: This post includes sponsored content from Moon Travel Guides and RVShare, both of which we have personally tried and vetted (theyre great). It was the perfect way to end the first day of the Wyoming portion of our road trip. (note from Alicia: Who in 2021 locks a car from the door and not from the keys!?). But before too long, the Blackfeet were forced out of their re-assigned home in order to make way for luxury hotels and trains and wealthy tourists. The tours run between April and October note that they are not wheelchair accessible. A Rookies Road Trip Through Montana, Wyoming and Idaho A car-averse traveler finds freedom in the drivers seat, covering 700 miles and three states over three days. And be sure to get something comfy: this is a road trip, after all! The hotels wraparound deck offers the best lakeside sunset view Ive ever seen! Whats the difference between a cave and a cavern? A cave is any cavity in the ground that does not receive sunlight, while a cavern is a type of cave that includes stalagmites and stalactites. Lunch is included and carried on the llamas, who are excellent pack animals (if youre a differently-abled hiker, this is a HUGE help, particularly for overnight or multi-day treks which would be far more difficult without the assistance of a pack animal). Locals openly carry guns at family-friendly tourist destinations, and, I assume, elsewhere. This is how!! After our musical detour, we grabbed a final meal of our road trip at Wild Root and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our early - and long - day of travel home. We recommend staying somewhere walkable, so youll want to base yourself close to downtown on either side of the river. Here is our exact day-to-day road trip itinerary from San Francisco: Day 1: Drive from San Francisco to Stanley, Idaho (~12 hours)Day 2: Stanley, IdahoDay 3: Salmon, Idaho & Missoula, MontanaDay 4: Drive from Missoula to Big Sky, MontanaDay 5: Big Sky, Montana & Yellowstone National Park, WyomingDay 6: Livingston, MontanaDay 7: Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone National Park, WyomingDay 8: Grand Teton National Park, WyomingDay 9: Escalante, UtahDay 10: Las Vegas, NevadaDay 11: Drive from Las Vegas to San Francisco (~8 hours). :) Purchase a step-by-step guide to this itinerary. And while youre exploring, if youre a cheese lover (and really, isnt everyone), be sure to stop by Flathead Lake Cheese for samples of local Montana deliciousness. Welcome to Montana, where there are two times as many cows as people and miles and miles of gorgeous, rolling wilderness to explore! Day 3-4 of your Montana Road Trip: Bozeman. We definitely want to do glacier but he also wants to do Yellowstone so we may need to figure out a slightly different itinerary. If we could redo our trip, I would have gone this route. Even our new downtown 3-level parking garage gets full now. Outdoorsy has a diverse selection of road trip vehicles ranging from no-frills campervans to glamping-ready RVs that fit any budget. Though Missoula is pretty small, the nightlife is young and lively and there were a lot of people out and about. Multiple scenic byways, some of the most picturesque mountain views in the state, and plenty of waterfront beauty makes this road trip one you'll never forget. National parks are protected for their scenic, inspiration, recreational, and/or educational value. When planning your itinerary, keep in mind that the estimated driving time on Google Maps is often longer when you factor in bathroom and restaurant stops. During our trip, we saw everything from bears to moose, including one moose who kept trying to come uncomfortably close to us (fun fact: moose are some of the most dangerous animals in the parks give them a wide berth). Our brainstorming and researching along the way paid off, as we learned we WOULD be able to access Going to the Sun Road IF we arrived before 6 AM or after 5 PM. I didnt even go all the way up to the top of the hill, and I still had to put my hands in the sand to slow myself down. Like, more snack breaks than me, which is really saying something. We made it in perfect time, just 4 minutes before the geyser was set to blow. I grew up right around Glacier National Park and I think everything you mentioned was perfect for enjoying the area! We figured, worst-case scenario, we would be paying double what we had been paying alreadybut worth it for a little bit more flexibility during the day. When we got to Boise, we ate a delicious lunch at Forks and then checked into our hotel to get ready for the evening. Boise was actually the only place we could find a rental car. We headed to the Target across the street (6 minutes before it closed) for pillows and blankets (we took the extra 30 seconds to get blankets that matched our houses, obviously). Obviously, there are many other options at all price ranges. The trip begins and ends in Portland, Oregon, but spends much of the time in and around Glacier National Park in Montana. You can learn more about wildlife respect and safety here. It literally felt like being at Disney World. So far on this trip, rooms had been expensive due to the amount of travelers in the area. I would have never imagined Montana a place I would want to visit but you have me convinced I will love it! Wow I love this post and itinerary ,such lovely places. Salmon, two hours north of Stanley, is another small Idaho town of 3000+ residents. :) Purchase a step-by-step guide to this itinerary. The 50-mile route cuts across Glacier National Park at an elevation of 6,646 feet and is open seasonally, so youll want to plan accordingly. We unfortunately were not one of the lucky winners of said tickets (Dana may or may not have thrown her phone across the room in frustration). By the time we left the monument, it was around 7:00 and we decided it was a good time to start looking for a place to stay the night. However, some Tribal Nations, including the Confederated Salish and Kootnai Tribes and the Blackfeet Nation, are leading the way on Tribal infrastructure and, in turn, tourism. sorry you had to deal with that sort of garbage at the Miracle of America Museum. Here are a few more excellent resources for self-education: Lets get to the good stuff! We moved along quickly because we wanted to make sure we made it out to the main road before it was completely dark. But if you do have some time in town, we recommend booking a Missoula Back Alleys tour! Well also send our favorite travel tips straight to your inbox! If youve never tried to change from a wet bathing suit into comfy driving clothes on the side of a road, well, youre missing out. One of the best ways to get the full Idaho experience is to road trip through the state. Those who complain about visitors and new residents dont seem to realize that most of these folks who have been rude to staff in establishments and our Natl Parks, who have been raging litter bugs and just generally inconsiderate have been among their own. On the road, we did some quick research (when we were lucky enough to get reception between the trees and mountains in the middle of nowhere) and found the Weir Creek Hot Springs in Clearwater National Forest on our route to Montana. As a western montanan I dont agree with this road trip. We each had our own twin bed (the most comfy beds of the whole trip!) Because we didnt have the special tickets to enter the road during normal hours, we couldnt check out the east side of the park until after 5PM so we decided to hike up the road itself for a little bit, which was a great call. We of course went out for some dinner and beer sampling at Tamarack Brewing before calling it a night. To get you started, we mapped out an Idaho road trip for you and the family with more diversity than most cross-country trips can provide. We enjoyed the 2 hour tour through the caverns - put this on your Montana itinerary! From Livingston, we took a two-hour drive to Red Lodge to enter Yellowstone via the 68-mile Beartooth Highway. That will help keep the money youre spending funneled directly to the Tribal Nations, which supports Indigenous communities. From the summer season all the way through September, Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly known as Big Mountain) offers weather permitting outdoor adventure! Big Sky, like so much of Montana, is absolutely stunning, with wide-open skies, winding rivers, and purple-hued mountains in the distance. Day 3: Missoula, Montana to Glacier National Park. So, we made the hour and a half drive to Ashton for affordable lodging, which we found at the Eagle Peak Lodge. Theyre very popular. At least about 1/3 of the license plates we see are from out of state. Domesticating a llama is not difficult or harmful to the llama. Bozeman will be your next stop from Billings. There were several people who had walked out into the brush (not on a trail or path-stupid people) looking to get a better glimpse of the animal. and enjoyed chatting with the owner and his father. Neither did we but the kind owner at the fruit stand took pity on our eastern palates and let us sample huckleberry jam before we bought the pie. During my trip I spoke with a Montana state government employee involved in developing Indigenous tourism, who shared some of the challenges faced at the State level. A bear ready for a dip in Hells Canyon. Clear Sky. Roadtrip Idaho Montana Wyoming US Travel. We drove with the intention of finding a cute town to visit and we were not disappointed in Augusta, Montana . Additionally, this itinerary includes routes that pass through American Indian reservations. 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