Visit Montana

Want to get a taste of others’ wild tales, touching moments or misadventures?

The loop — 400 miles of some of Montana’s most scenic highways — recently was named one of the Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies.

After four days of nonstop fishing, I have a sore shoulder, a scarred finger — I hooked myself with a fly — and my own Norman Maclean stories.

"This community really is full of resources that a lot of people don’t know about."

From 2000 to 2001, 62 million adults visited farms and ranches across America, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agritourism operations can qualify for special tax status as long as the land in question is used for commercial production of agricultural, horticultural or forestry products.

Despite fears that agri-tourism might turn small farms into theme parks, it could be key to saving them. Says Liberty Hill co-owner Beth Kennett, "There’s no way we could have stayed and kept the farm going without the extra income."

The grants are designed to support a variety of activities related to heritage tourism and innovative approaches to the use of historic properties as educational and economic assets. They would go beyond the bricks and mortar grants available under Save America’s Treasures.

Several companies in Oregon specialize in ecotourism – taking people to wild areas and educating them about such matters as conservation, native history and geology.

Montana’s dinosaur scene is hotter than ever, and, with a little planning, you can create summer vacation memories that will never go extinct. In fact, dino-tourism is catching on so fast that four of Montana’s state-coordinated tourism regions are pulling together "Montana’s Dinosaur Trail," a map to guide visitors through Montana’s paleontological attractions.