YOU CAN'T KEEP SOMETHING LIKE THIS SECRET

When you hear the word, Libby, what do you think?

Not good, eh?

The micropolis of far northwestern Montana makes a lot of headlines, but it seems like it’s never good news.

When I bring up the subject down at the coffee shop or taproom, most people start talking about asbestos, the corporate greed of W.R. Grace, and people gradually dying because of it…or about a remote timber town swamped in the wake of the implosion of the wood products industry, closed mills, unemployed loggers…or about red-necked, AR-15-toting, arch-conservatives hiding out in remote cabins, driving around in camo-colored Jeeps, scouring the skies for black helicopters….or an Appalachia-esque community fraught with economic despair that doesn’t welcome outsiders.

SASKATCHEWAN FISHING LODGES

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”

That’s Norman Maclean’s frequently quoted brilliance from his book, A River Runs Through It, and what you can’t help thinking about when staying at Twin Falls Lodge in northern Saskatchewan.

It isn’t Montana’s Blackfoot River Maclean made famous, but the mighty Churchill River, which flows freely through a series of sprawling lakes long-gone glaciers gouged out of the Precambrian Shield. These lakes essentially become wide spots in the river. The Cree name for the river is Missinipe or Great Water, and I couldn’t imagine a better description.

PARADISE FOUND

Attention road cyclists. Where can you ride 90 miles straight on smoothly paved, pothole-free roadways; almost devoid of motor vehicles; all lined with fantastic scenery, but no fences, telephone poles, or buildings?

We cyclists all know the answer to that, right? Not many places. But I found one right here in northwestern Montana.

Having been an avid cyclist for decades, I'd frequently heard about the terrific cycling opportunities in Kootenai Country, but for some reason, I never made time to experience it. I finally had my chance this summer. [more]

ROADHOUSE REBORN AS BISTRO

For decades I've been hearing about the Dirty Shame Saloon in Yaak, Montana. Some of the stories I heard sent a shiver up my spine and made it sound like one of those rowdy roadhouses of the Deep South where hippies entered and never were heard from again. It is, so the stories go, the type of establishment non-locals might want to avoid, especially if you're decked out in Lycra, and if you dare enter, don't accidentally have eye contact with the wrong person or his girlfriend.

Finally, at least two decades late, I had my chance to check it out, and it was almost a disappointment to learn that, nowadays, the most dangerous thing in the Dirty Shame Saloon is Double Haul IPA. [more]

SASKATCHEWAN FISHING LODGES

The first thing you do when going to Pine Island Resort for the fishing adventure of a lifetime is go to the Osprey Wings floatplane base in Missinipe, Saskatchewan. If you're lucky, you'll get to chat with Gary Thompson, owner of both the floatplane service and the resort.

Thompson has been around a long time, and along the way, he has fielded all the stupid questions anglers can ask and has answers ready. For example, when we went in to check in for our short flight to Pine Island Resort, we could hardly find a place to park, so, stupid me, I asked why so many vehicles parked around the base. He quickly replied, "Those belong to all the people we flew out somewhere, but forgot where we took them."

He was joking, eh?

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YOU ALWAYS ENJOY REVEALING A BEST KEPT SECRET

Anybody who likes fly fishing for trout has heard about Montana's world-famous blue ribbon rivers--the Big Hole, Bighorn, Madison, Missouri, Yellowstone, and all the rest, but when you go there for a relaxing day on a classic trout stream, you not only face competition from the wily salmonids, but also competition from your brethren. On any summer day, you have to courteously share the river with dozens of drift boats and even more wade anglers.

Unless you're on the fabulous Kootenai River in far northwestern Montana, that is. [more]

SASKATCHEWAN FISHING LODGES

Most fishing lodges have the one-size-fits-all plan, but Thompson's Camps has a totally different marketing plan: Make your own Canadian fishing experience.

After driving for about an hour north of La Ronge on a mostly unpaved roadway along the boundary of Lac La Ronge Provincial Park you roll into a small community called Missinipe, home of Thompson's Camps, nestled on the shoreline of immense Otter Lake. Missinipe is the Cree for Great Water, which aptly refers to the mighty Churchill River flowing through Otter Lake and many other sprawling shield lakes in the area. [more]

THREE FREE WEEKENDS IS GREAT; NOW TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he was waiving national park entrance fees for three prime summer weekends (June 20-21, July 18-19 and August 15-16), a widely reported and welcomed pronouncement.

But I'm more interested in the back story.

To me, even though Salazar didn't say a word about it, his action seems to forecast a new philosophy coming out of the National Park Service (NPS), starting with this admission that ever-increasing fees are partly responsible for steadily declining park visitation. And ending, hopefully, with something I trumpeted two years ago in this column, making our national parks a free tradition.
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LOCAL MICRO-CLIMATE CLEARS THE TRAILS EARLY

In May, winter still clings tight to most popular hiking areas in the northern Rockies such as Glacier, Frank Church, Wind Rivers, Bitterroots, and Absaroka-Beartooth. This means cabin fever can become a pandemic in May as hikers anxiously wait until late June if not July for the snow to give up the trails.

But unknown to most hikers, they can enjoy fantastic early-season hiking--backpacking or day hiking--on many trails in the northern sections of Yellowstone National Park from early May to early June. [more]

FESTIVITES START 4 PM, MAY 14

Beating gloomy economic doomsayers and continuing controversy stemming from its amenity land sales division, Cabela's is opening its doors in Billings on May 14.

And the "World's Foremost Outfitter" takes its Grand Openings seriously. [more]