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A Montana Horseback Riding Vacation
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Glacier National Park is an hours drive from our place in western Montana and a few hours drive south takes us to Yellowstone Park.
You'll find plenty of scenery and horseback riding opportunities in between.
It's more "open" in Central and eastern Montana with not as much "vertical" scenery, but still there are many special places between the Missouri River and the Little Bighorn.
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The - Especially when the fall colors appear. |
the western gateway for pack trips into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. |
This is from the north fork of the Flathead River looking towards the western boundary of Glacier National Park. |
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There's a number of guest ranches located in various parts of the state offering a variety of activities on horseback -
horseback lessons and riding, cattle drives, horse roundups, wildlife watching, photo expeditions, hiking tours, even gold panning expeditions -
what follows is just the tip of the iceberg but a nice selection nonetheless.
- A Pack Trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness
One of our favorite destinations is the Bob Marshall Wilderness in north central Montana. In approximately the middle of this wilderness area and a part of the Continental Divide is the "Chinese Wall". This 1000 foot escarpment is over 15 miles in length. When we first saw some photos of the Wall (very dramatic) it became a "must visit" destination.
A guest ranch adjacent to "The Bob" is the Rich Ranch, located in the scenic Blackfoot River Valley. The ranch features a newly built cedar/log lodge and cabins nestled in the edge of a large natural meadow with a backdrop of majestic mountains. Nearest towns are Seeley Lake and Missoula. The major attraction attractions are the Seeley-Swan valley between Swan and Mission Ranges, and the Blackfoot River of A River Runs Through It fame. (This is wilderness with a capital W). - Ridin' and Fishin'
In the Great Bear Wilderness adjoining Glacier National Park to the South, there's an outfitter's ranch called Spotted Bear Ranch (www.spottedbear.com)
You can travel several days by horseback up the Spotted Bear River and then take a float trip and fly fish all the way back (or come back on horseback if you prefer).
- A (Bucking) Horse Auction Further East - quite a bit further east but still in Montana, is Miles City, site of the Annual Bucking Horse Sale every May. You can find out all about it at http://www.buckinghorsesale.com/ This would be a horse vacation with a definite twist and Miles City still has a definite cow town flavor to it - especially during the days of the Sale.
- A Horse Drive
A recent issue of Western Horseman an article featured the town of Three Forks and it's Annual Horse Drive (April 29-30 in 2006 details at www.montanahorses.com) . We've overnighted there several times at the classic Sacajawea Hotel. Three Forks is located on I-90 in south-central Montana and is so named because of it's proximity to the confluence of the Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison rivers - the Headwaters of the Missouri. The article described the annual Three Forks a Horse Drive in which approximately 500 horses were driven from one location to another (including over I-90 and down Three Fork's main street!)
I suspect a horse drive might be a bit more interesting than a cattle drive. It would certainly be a faster pace. Horses generally prefer to trot (or canter) rather than walk. In fact the term "horse drive" is a misnomer. Trying to drive horses (we're not talking about horse and buggy driving here) is a bit like trying to herd cats. Push them and they'll go every which way. You have to hold horses back rather than trying to force them forward. Sounds like work - and fun and should make for an interesting horse vacation.
You can enjoy ranch activities or go off on day trip of your own. Located near Lodge Grass, Montana on the Crow Reservation, the ranch is only a few minutes drive from the Little Bighorn Battlefield Historical Site. The nearest larger towns are Sheridan, Wyoming and Billings, Montana.
