Sweet Sweet Montana

vkinkler
Jul 9, 2015
2 min read

Montana may be a long drive East to West, but it treated us well!

Billings was our first stop, where we checked out Montana Brewing Co. for dinner and a local brew. I loved the Strawberry Whitetail Wheat seasonal and the Chocolate Lovechild Porter! Though the service was a bit lacking.

Despite being Montana's biggest city, Billings was quiet, clean and beautiful; the streets lined with sculptures and flowers.

We kept heading West and camped out for the night near Livingston. We camped and swam at Dailey Lake in free camping. There were a lot of fishermen and campers out, but it was a serene place in the foothills with clean-ish water and a great view.

On to Missoula. What a gem. A university town with a chill vibe in a sweltering valley. Here we visited Kettlehouse Brewing, where I sampled

the Recovery IPA--made with tangerines and sea salt. As a brewery should, it smelled like hops inside and featured local art.

The river through town provides a much needed cool-off and there's actually a wave simulator that lets you surf the river! The bridges and tunnels were covered in mural art and graffiti art.

On the look out for free camping once more, we settled on Kreis Pond, near Frenchtown (40 miles West of Missoula), where we set up at Ninemile Camp.

The signs warned of bears and advertised moose in the area, but we saw neither. We did hear something interesting late at night; not mountain lions, but possibly bears? Regardless, we had bear mace and kept food in the car.

The water was clean and great for tubing or diving, though I didn't see any fish in there. There was only one other group of people camping near us, and we were stoked to have the quiet. Leashes were required for dogs, and there was a ranger station just a couple miles down the road fully equipped with fire trucks and all the supplies.

We were only 10 miles off the interestate, and one night from Idaho.