What's Your Beef? Happy 250th Birthday

Steve McGann

American Democracy At A Crossroads

Sacajawea in the Gallatin Valley

Steve McGann

The young Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark from Fort Mandan to the Pacific Ocean and back has been part of our history for over two hundred years. The facts of her history have often been obscured by myth, speculation and fiction. There…

Midwest Trip

Steve McGann

Familiar yet exciting, the Interstate 90 run from the benches of northern Wyoming up into the Little Bighorn valley was filled with anticipation: the arrival in Montana, the comfort of home. We made that drive recently after a long road trip through…

Long Trails

Steve McGann

Hikers have a number of Super Bowls. Most of us who spend time on trails are aware of the long paths referred to as thru-hikes. The term refers to multi-day, usually multi-month hikes that follow defined designated trails in various sections of the…

A New State Park: Judith Landing

Steve McGann

Recently, while researching for an article about our Gallatin Valley Montana State Parks (Missouri Headwaters and Madison Buffalo Jump), I discovered that we have a brand new State Park located in Central Montana. Surely this called for an on the…

Dorothy M Johnson: Montana's First Lady of Letters

Steve McGann

Montana has an outstanding literary legacy. The names A B Guthrie, Norman MacLean, and Joseph Kinsey Howard come to mind. There are many more men on the list. A name not often mentioned is Dorothy M Johnson, most likely because she was a woman. Yet…

Bozeman and Bridger

Steve McGann

A quick study of the names used for places and features around our town—creeks, streets, mountain passes, businesses, a mountain range, and the city itself—would give the impression that persons named Bozeman and Bridger were the most…

What's Your Beef? Let’s Appreciate Where We Are

Steve McGann

I watched a YouTube video the other night made by an outdoor adventurer. He travels the western United States exploring and sharing his experiences. He lives in Idaho, but seems drawn to western Wyoming and southwestern Montana. In the video he…

What's In a Name?

Steve McGann

A good friend called me a number of years ago, excited about a property. He thought that we should buy it, split 50/50. It was a cabin in the woods in Montana near Lincoln. I asked for details. He said it was a bit run-down, overgrown, kinda hard to…

Winter Camping

Steve McGann

Winter is the season of dramatic contrasts: the dazzling light of sun on snow, then the full dark of 5PM; the wonderful warmth of a room with a fireplace and the numbing cold just outside the front door; the gaiety of a holiday group, and the…

Trees of December

Steve McGann

Trees are a big part of this season of the year. Christmas trees, Yule logs, branches and greens for wreaths, all get attention. Seems like a good time to write about them and all the other trees, the ones still out in the forest. As a kid, I am not…

The 12 Hour Walk

Steve McGann

Over a year ago, I heard about a book titled The 12 Hour Walk, by Colin O’Brady. I read some reviews and the account of one person who had done this walk on trails around Bozeman. The book reviews were positive and the experience of the walker…

Navigation Don’t Get Lost

Steve McGann

As Yogi Berra said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” I choose to interpret the Hall of Fame catcher and philosopher as meaning to forge on, to boldly go, without hesitation. But when you begin, it does help to have an idea…

River Ramblings

Steve McGann

Connected But Random Water Thoughts

Deadly Yellowstone

Steve McGann

In the forward to the new short story collection, Deadly Yellowstone, editor Lise McClendon describes the stories as amusing, scary, mysterious, even fantastical. She does not mention entertaining, but they definitely are that. The collection…

Owner’s Manual for Yellowstone Park

Steve McGann

The first couple of times that I toured Yellowstone Park I entered and departed from the Wyoming gateways. Hey, on the initial trip I was a little kid in the back seat of my grandfather’s Chevy and the second time, a clueless college kid…

The Bob Marshall Wilderness "The Bob"

Steve McGann

“... Recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain... ” These inspiring words from the 1964 Wilderness Act are a mantra for those who appreciate…

Our State Parks

Steve McGann

I recently read a news story about the American Prairie Reserve donating land to the State of Montana for establishing a State Park at the confluence of the Judith River and the Missouri. It was mentioned that this would be Montana’s 56th…

Terminated and Traumatized

Steve McGann

This opinion was contributed after our editorial deadline had passed, we included here in the Recreation section. The United States of America is being dismantled in plain sight. The new administration has authorized unelected, sometimes even…

Top 10 Walks In The Park

Steve McGann

Bozeman is surrounded by mountain ranges, rivers and creeks, and vast open farm land. Farther afield there are wilderness areas, large lakes, and state and national parks. Drive out of town in any direction and amazing natural areas are close at…