Driving the Beartooth Highway

Bozeman has a beautiful backyard. The Gallatin Range fences in forests and alpine meadows perfect for hiking, biking, camping, and fishing. Recreational opportunities abound in our backyard, but it is Bozeman’s back forty, Yellowstone National…

Hope & the Holidays Golf Scramble

Hope & the Holidays is not a new organization, but an adaptation of an old one. Toys for Tots had been around the Bozeman area for approximately 18 years, organized and managed by Bob Metcalf of the Marine Corps and Michelle Reiser, a realtor…

Ranger Rick: Tales From a Former YNP Ranger

Rick Gale

Good Evening Campers In 1975, it was estimated there were only 136 grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone. Today, Yellowstone is home to some 600 grizzlies. My ranger days in Yellowstone included a lot of late evenings trying to prevent grizzly…

Pedals & Paws

As summer welcomes Bozemanites into its embrace of warm, sunny days, spandex-laden cyclists flock to the streets to train their legs in hopes of racking up their Strava miles or taking home the gold at the upcoming mid-summer races. However, for two…

Keeping an Open Mind Different Rods for Different Waters

Most trout fishermen in Montana use either a 5 or 6 weight rod for all of their fishing needs. Don’t get me wrong, if you are going to have one rod for any situation either of these rod weights would be your best bet (I’d go with the 6…

A Parent’s Summer Survival Guide

With school coming to a close and three months of warm weather ahead, now is a perfect time to start thinking about activities to get you and the children out of the house in the weeks to come. Taking a walk or playing in the backyard are great ways…

Water, Water Everywhere but Not a Drop to Drink or Swim In

It is that most glorious time of the year again. The days begin to get longer and warmer, the snow starts to melt, and the hillsides and mountains explode into color and greenery. Bozeman is a veritable smorgasbord of outdoor activities in these all…

The Muddy Low Down – Early Season Biking around Bozeman

Oh, March. You were so promising for an early start to mountain biking season this year! As temperatures soared into the 60s for days at a time with hardly a cloud in the sky – and as Bridger passholders did their best to stay positive as a…

No Spandex Required Bozeman’s Commuter Challenge Is On

We all know that here in Montana we spend a whole lot of time driving. With our expansive state and our wide open spaces, being able to jump in the car and go to the lake or the mountains is one of the perks we enjoy about living in our beautiful Big…

Celebrating Bozeman’s Water Supply

Bozeman is known for its blue-ribbon trout streams and sparkling mountain lakes. These pristine bodies of water are a playground for locals and tourists from all over the world. Moose wade in the shallows, fish dart beneath the surface, and hungry…

Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch

After a long winter with limited insect activity, most people view the famed “Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch” as the first major bug hatch of the season. This hatch draws anglers from far and wide to take advantage of an amazing flurry of insect…

The Y Without Walls

Participation by Bozeman area families and children in Gallatin Valley YMCA (GVY) programs doubled to almost 4,000 in 2012, after almost doubling in 2011. This past year, more than 1,000 Bozeman/Belgrade-area children played on GVY’s youth…

A Completely Biased Review: Bridger Bowl

There is little doubt that Bozeman is a skiers’ paradise; we were after all voted #2 in Powder Magazine’s recent Ski Town Throwdown. If living here for you has nothing to do with skiing then you probably don’t want to read this…

The Coldsmoke Awards

Ten years ago, working on a job site in the heat of mid-August, a discussion about starting a local film festival that would celebrate winter culture and showcase independent filmmakers planted the seed for the Coldsmoke Awards. The initial focus was…

The Heart of The Beartooth

In my heart, mountains have always been sacred places. I know I’m not alone in feeling a deep sense of gratitude for the opportunity to seek refuge from daily stresses or heavier emotions in the undisturbed silence on a snow-covered peak. My…

What is The Ski Life

My ski life started one cold February morning, just after I had done my morning chores and headed off to school in an old Montana schoolhouse. As soon as we piled off the bus, a smiling teacher rounded us up and declared that we were loading back on…

Loving Bozeman in Four Seasons

An Inner Voice —the sense that my calling and my study lie elsewhere, in the sweet air and under the open sky of the broad world, among my friends and folks, in space and movement and adventure. —Edward Abbey When I am in Montana, I…

You’ll Laugh, You’ll Cry, You’ll Crave Cannoli

As I sit at my kitchen table, watching Brutus the snowstorm transform the view outside my window into a winter wonderland I have two diametrically opposed urges. The first is to grab a coat and snowshoes while running out the door screaming MONTANA…

Got Sidecut? A Ski Chat with the Doctor

Ski Bum – as defined by the online urban dictionary, is “a skier, usually male, in his late 30’s or older, who generally spends the entirety of his life at ski resorts. The rest of his life is spent sharpening skis or purchasing…

Bozeman Winter Recreation

There is no denying that we live in a ski town. Many employers offer powder days along with sick days, and a free bus runs from town up to Bridger Bowl. So, when I moved to Bozeman from out-of-state, people often assumed it was because I was in…