Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
Hi lovely people! I’m writing to you from a highway outside of Seattle… we’re stuck in stand-still traffic and I figured “what the heck, let’s write that blog.” Because I still need to share our experience in Montana!
Montana was state #2 on our roadtrip. If I could sum it up in a few words, I’d say:
They sure like their huckleberries.
When we entered Montana, that’s the first thing we noticed! Huckleberry and cherry stands dotted all along the road, everywhere.
I didn’t realize, but Montana has a lot of orchards. It’s a beautiful state. Let me paint the picture:
You’re driving along a two lane highway on a mild afternoon – the sky is blue and to your right rests a sprawling valley, with blotches of marsh sprinkled through the grass. Beyond the valley, mountains like tightened shoulders arch into the sky. To your left, trees with trunks too big to hug populate a thick forest. They reach so high you have to stick your head out the window to see the top. You pass a wooden shack along the road, with a hand-painted sign reading “CHERRIES HUCKLEBERRIES FRESH JERKY” on the front. The sun burns orange as it sets.
Montana: things I didn’t expect
Montana surprised me. I had this crude picture painted in my mind of what it would be like. I mostly expected bears. Like any place, it was so much richer seeing it for myself.
Surprise #1: Mountains (lots of them)
Our first stop in Montana was Missoula, a city famous for their ghost town and a fancy grocery store. We visited said grocery store, which turned out to be an upscale blend of Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage, but less “woodsy.” In other words, we broke the bank.
Driving to Missoula, I was surprised at the scenery: almost 100% of the time, we were surrounded by mountains.
Of course, I’m not talking Colorado mountains – some could even pass as hills (to me, at least). But the mountains weren’t in a defined range, like the Tetons or the Rocky Mountains. They were simply sprinkled across the topography, rising and falling like waves across the whole state. It was beautiful to drive through.
Surprise #2: A startling amount of cherries
I’d heard of Montana huckleberries before, and we did see lots of those. There are countless huckleberry-themed restaurants across the state, boasting “the BEST huckleberry milkshake in Montana!” We did stop at one place and try their “famous” huckleberry pie. They were right, it was pretty delicious.
BUT – I did not expect cherries to be such a big thing here!
After leaving Missoula, we drove further North and encountered a huge lake. As we drove along the border, we passed cherry orchard after cherry orchard lined beside the lake. There were cherry stands every couple dozen yards, begging you to choose their stand as opposed to their neighbor’s. It made me think: who buys these cherries? If every neighbor grows cherries, you’d think there’d be a surplus.
Surprise #3: The kick of huckleberry wine
One evening in Montana, we planned a date night and decided to support a local winery. It was the coolest place – taxidermy decorated every nook and cranny, of which the most impressive was a massive Alaskan grizzly bear in the far corner.
We took a seat and our waiter handed us menus, featuring a dozen wines made from grapes sourced in Montana. We decided to try their $10 sample, which had 1oz glasses of 5 different wines we wanted to taste.
Each wine was interesting, but our favorite was a huckleberry sweet wine, which tasted like the pie we’d had earlier. We decided to order one more glass and split it.
We don’t drink a lot, so I guess we weren’t used to the kick. That huckleberry wine had me feeling loopy for the rest of the night. I don’t know how less than a glass affected me so much, but huckleberry wine is built different I guess😂
Surprise #4: How rude the people are?
I don’t know if we just got bad luck, but almost every Montana local we ran into was rude to us. Maybe they just don’t like tourists, which I can’t blame them too much for.
We suspect it’s more of a culture thing, because every coffee shop & restaurant we went to, customer service wasn’t really a thing😂Everyone treated us like we were idiots!
We even got yelled at by a park ranger in Glacier National Park. We were coming to a stop at a stop sign, but she didn’t think we were stopping so she shouted “STOP!” at the top of her lungs. Startled, I rolled down my window to see what was wrong. She said, “That’s a stop sign,” as if we didn’t see it.
Anyway, weird vibes coming from Montana folk.
Surprise #5: How poorly run Glacier NP is…
Our big stop in Montana was Glacier National Park, which is at the top left corner of the state. Having just come from Yellowstone, we expected something similar. Oh boy, we were in for some fun.
On Saturday, we drove up to the park and discovered the road was reserved – and we didn’t have a permit. We had no idea we had to reserve a dang road (it was nowhere obvious on their site). So we turned around.
Our only other option was to take their shuttle up the mountain, so we grabbed our mountain bikes and waited in line. After 30 minutes of standing out in the cold, a bus pulled up with two tiny bike racks, far too small for Nathan’s tires. “You’re out of luck,” the driver said, shrugging his shoulders.
Downcast, we trekked back to the van, re-loaded our bikes, and went back to the bus line to wait another 30 minutes. Finally, a bus showed up. Our saving grace! The driver stepped out, bearing every ounce of hope we had left. She looked at us and said “I’m on lunch break. You’ll need to wait for the next bus.”
In the two days we spent in Glacier, we ended up waiting ~5-6 hours in total. Granted, we could have planned ahead better. But I didn’t expect the park to be so poorly run. It was even that busy there, but the buses were so small.
All that’s to say, a word to the wise: do you research before exploring a NP. They might be great – or they might be run like a DMV on a Friday afternoon.
Surprise #6: How blue the water was😍
Glacier Park wasn’t all bad – it is actually my favorite park we’ve explored to date. Despite having to wait forever, we got to see a lot of beautiful spots along the way, and we got to hike up to the lake we really wanted to see.
A massive river winds through Glacier and every bit of it is aquamarine blue. It’s unlike any water I’ve ever seen. It’s so clear, you can see the rocks straight to the bottom.
The forest surrounding is covered in thick moss, draped in vines – I was giddy with excitement at how lush and green everything was. Ferns garnish the hiking trail, red and blue pebbles grind under your shoes as you hike in, and birds echo through the forest.
The hike to the lake was 2 miles in, and once we got there all the waiting felt worth it. The water was turquoise, still as a mirror. It rained softly on the rocky beach. A mountain range rested behind the lake, with 3 individual waterfalls crashing from their peaks to feed the rivers beyond. I could stand and watch for hours.
Montana: My Parting Thoughts
Montana has beautiful scenery, and nature-wise, it’s almost perfect. But would I live there? Probs not. The people weren’t very friendly, and despite it being mid June the weather was rainy and 40s-50s our entire stay!
Do I recommend visiting Montana though? YES. Especially if you love thick forests and mountains (and huckleberries). I’d go back to Glacier National Parker, maybe with our kids someday – BUT I’d arrive early in the morning and come prepared with a packed lunch, bear spray, and games to play while we wait. A little extra preparation and I think that park would be so much more enjoyable.
Thanks for reading my review of Montana! Excited to share Idaho next🫶
Ta ta for now!
Annabelle