Visit Montana

As every diehard Star Trek​ fan knows, Bozeman was the site of the first contact between humans and Vulcans, but you don’t have to be a Trekkie to find a reason to visit this charming college town on the high plains of the American West.

If you’re looking for a low-key vacation that mixes ranchy roots, history, and progressive eats and galleries, then Billings fits the bill. (Pun totally intended.)

What most of Yellowstone’s millions of annual visitors never see is an expansive and remote wilderness adjoining the park on its north side, located primarily in Montana.

A break in the trees along MT Highway 83 offers a brief view of the Swan River National Wildlife Refuge, but only by taking the short drive down a one-lane dirt road can visitors experience the grandeur of wild Montana.

The Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau launched a free mobile application http://www.explorewhitefish.com/ Friday that bestows even the most hapless and uninformed tourist with the shrewd knowledge of a seasoned local.

Accessibility is one of the biggest draws of McCart, built in 1939 and the first lookout added to the Bitterroot National Forest rental system.

As iconic as Glacier Park’s central mountains have become, few compare to the spires and walls of the North Fork. Kinnerly Peak makes a dramatic point, upstaging the even bigger pyramid of 10,101-foot Kintla Peak beside it. Dozens more line the eastern horizon. Many lack names.

While standing on a rocky bar along the shoreline of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River, watching Gene Huntsman as he worked his way upstream against the fast moving waters waving his magic wand, I felt an irresistible urge to pick up my camera and record the sight of the moon that seemed to be riding a tumble of clouds skimming over the snow tipped mountains.

Rising in northwest Montana, southern Alberta and British Columbia, a swath of elevated geography is cast on a colossal scale – immense, vast and dramatic.

"What to Do When You’re Struck By a Hummer in Montana."