New West Essay

We were riding through rugged mountains, past meadows busting with wildflowers, while a big blue sky hung overhead. I was looking down at the blond mane of the horse that had carried me 10 miles into the Taylor-Hilgards and back when my saddle started to roll.

I leapt from the seat and landed on my feet. My horse, Towson, was totally unfazed and kind enough to stop while I regrouped. Until then, I had been feeling pretty cocky about my horse skills. Here I was: A real Westerner atop a horse, wearing cowgirl boots in the backcountry.

I should have known better than to leave my cinch too loose. At home, my 3-year-old son and I read “Cowboy Small” ad nauseam, prompting Anders to run around the house telling me to “pull the girth tight.” Sometimes the girth is a hatband from his straw cowboy hat, other times it is a bungee cord, but the point remains the same: Don’t leave your saddle loose.

There are certain things Montanans should know how to do: Run a river, navigate in the backcountry, grow a garden amidst all odds, stomp and cheer at the rodeo and ride a horse. I’m raising two Montana boys, so I figured I better giddyup.

IN RUSSELL COUNTRY

You ever heard that rumor about Montana being Trout Country? Well, I guess it’s true, sort of, at least in the collective public consciousness. In reality, though, Montana is also Walleye Country.

Especially up in north central Montana, officially known as Russell Country. In July, in fact, with the kind assistance of the Russell Country tourism office, my fishing partner, Gene Colling, and I spent nine days up there trying to prove it.

SASKATCHEWAN FISHING LODGES

I’ve been to a lot of fishing lodges, and some things are always the same. Mainly, there are other people there--guests, lodge managers, cooks, guides and other human beings.

And some lodges are getting cushy with clean sheets every morning and gourmet meals every evening--and high tech conveniences like satellite TV, wifi and Skype.

But not on this trip, not at Bill’s Lake. 

LET'S BE FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS INSTEAD

Today, I’ve decided to abandon my normal manner of being diplomatic and gentle and say something that needs saying without sugarcoating, so here goes.

Just in case you haven’t traveled around Europe, here’s how it works. You can, for example, fly into Spain, rent a car and drive over to France. And guess what happens when you get to the border?

Absolutely nothing! 

BY BICYCLE AND TRAIN

Riding a road bicycle over Logan Pass on the world-famous Going-to-the-Sun Highway is hardly a new idea. Thousands of people do it, and most--if not all--conclude that it’s the best way to thoroughly enjoy the scenic splendor lining the historic roadway.

On a bicycle, you can soak in all the scenery, not just glimpses out your window. You can hear those cascading streams starting their long plunge down to the oceans and wind working hard to wear down the mountains, even the red-tailed hawk’s cry from above. Every pedal stroke of the way, you can feel the fresh breath of the wilderness on your face. Can life get any better?

BANFF TO JASPER ON 23MM TIRES

Decades ago, the late CBS News correspondent Charles Kuralt crisscrossed the United States filing a series of “On The Road with Charles Kuralt” reports. After driving his RV over Beartooth Pass, a 64-mile section of U.S. 212 on the Montana/Wyoming border between Cooke City and Red Lodge, he decided to call it “the most beautiful drive in America.”

A lot of people have already heard that, but I want to point out that he did not say “North America.” If he had driven his RV on the route between Banff and Jasper, Alberta, the famed Icefields Parkway, he would have ranked the Beartooth Highway no better than second place.

And if Charles had ridden a 20-pound bicycle instead of a multi-ton RV, he’d enjoyed both roads even more.

MISSOURI RIVER WALLEYES--AND MORE

Now I know what I’ve been missing every time I sped through Loma, Montana, on my way to somewhere else. This sleepy little ranching and farming community, located 55 miles north of Great Falls on U.S. Highway 87, is a gateway to some fast-action fishing like you probably have never experienced--catching a variety of warm-water species on a free-flowing section of the Mighty Mo.

To call it “diverse” might an understatement. In our first hole, for example, we quickly caught five fish, all different species. At the same time, all around us, we could soak in the incredible diversity of flora and fauna and the unspoiled scenery of this still wild stretch of the Missouri River.

SASKATCHEWAN FISHING LODGES

When you walk into the main building at Cree Lake Lodge, that’s the sign you see on the wall, Pike Capital of the World. Actually, to be fair, a lot of fishing lodges justifiably call themselves something similar, but after visiting more than my share, I’d have to say Cree Lake Lodge deserves the title.

Rivers and Recreation

Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks is looking for public comment on their proposed changes to the system for a highly coveted permit to float the Smith River in central Montana.  Superb scenery, a blue-ribbon trout fishery, remote setting, and a 59-mile stretch of undisturbed water combine to make the river one of the most desired floating spots in the state.  So desired, in fact, that FWP had to institute a permit lottery to curtail the number of visitors and protect the stretch from degradation a few years back.

But the organization wants to make the trip more accessible and so its proposing changes to the biennial rule that would make it easier for people to obtain a permit.

“There’s been an increase in the number of people applying—it’s been steadily going up since we first instituted the permit system,” says Linda Howard of MSP.  According to Smith River State Park manager, Colin Maas, FWP usually gets around 5,000 applications for 850 permits.  So in any given year you have roughly 17% chance of floating the Smith—acceptance rates that are lower than some seen in the Ivy Leagues. 

IT'S ABOUT TIME OBAMA DID SOMETHING GREEN

Back in February somebody leaked seven pages of a “vision document” conceived within the Department of the Interior and created quite a political uproar. OMG! Top brass in the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service (all Interior Department agencies) and a few green groups were actually discussing the idea of creating 14 new national monuments using the same end-run strategy employed by President Bill Clinton when--only three days before turning over the keys to the White House to George W. Bush--he used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate the 377,000-acre Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument in north central Montana and 12 more monuments in other states.

Now, it appears as if President Obama might do the same thing, even though Interior Secretary Ken Salazar claims it’s all “false rumors.” But in an excellent analysis (click here), Great Falls Tribune capital bureau reporter John S. Adams verifies that Interior Department higher-ups have indeed been seriously chatting up the monument idea. Salazar should have been proud to admit it.