Visit Montana

VIBE: Aspen the way it was.

The adventure capital of the Northern Rockies, Bozeman is an old Montana university town of cowboys and ski bums, pickups and unleashed dogs, and two of the premier ski hills in America.

Standing on the porch, coffee in hand, looking across the early mist on the river to mountains touched gold by the sun, the sheer beauty of Montana that struck Lewis and Clark stays with you. And somehow Rock Creek makes you feel as if you belong there.

Climbing back into the warm womb of the van, the wind howls, blowing snow against the trunk of a lifeless tree standing alone in the foreground of a largely empty landscape.

The tree serves as a reminder of Yellowstone’s harsh climate during snowy months, and although it may be slow going, captain’s chairs, a heater and a knowledgeable guide make a snowcoach an enjoyable way to see the park in the winter.

"Our goal is to eventually create a nature reserve of 3.5 million acres … of rolling hills and native prairie land."

Mr. Holt suggests that the draw of the snowy owls may be partly a fascination with the birds’ coloring. "White wolves, polar bears, white whales, white buffalo — there is something about white plumage that signifies innocence or purity," he said. "People don’t flock to see any other animal the way they do white ones."

Climbing frozen waterfalls is a relatively new adaptation of mountaineering tools and technique.

A Rowdy Past, A Wild Present

"It’s a very popular stop along the Going-to-the-Sun Road," agreed Melissa Sladek of the National Park Service’s Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center in West Glacier. "There’s a lot of interpretation already there, with signs and a ranger-guided nature hike."

The organization also recently implemented an adopt-an-animal program. For a donation, donors receive a plush animal toy of their choice. Ratzlaff said similar programs in other national parks have proven very successful.