The BLT Guidebook

Missoula is famous for its proximity to good skiing, hiking, and (of course) trout fishing!

Back in 2017, we were lucky enough to visit Missoula, Montana and Glacier National Park. This is where the start of my Montana obsession began.

Travel Day

We took a plane from San Francisco into Seattle and a small plane over to Missoula. There was nothing like that fly over the mountain ranges and the descend into Missoula. While there, we rented a car right from the airport. Aside from our weird layover (it happens!), travel was a breeze for the whole trip.

Downtown was our first stop: we walked around Caras Park and spent some time looking out over the Clark Fork River that ran through town. Before we arrived, our agenda was fishing and Glacier National Park. When we got there, we found out that Missoula a ton of breweries and nearby trails.

Day One – Bitteroot Forest & Downtown Missoula

National Forests are in close proximity to Missoula from all sides. It’s always nice to build in a more “exploration day” with no agenda. Since the rest of the week was filled, we went exploring for a hiking trail outside of the city. We only drove about 20 minutes south to access the trailheads to the Bitterroot National Forest.

Bass Creek Trail was easy to get to. We just parked and started walking! It was August and we seemed to be the only ones out there day hiking and fishing.

In the afternoon, we went back downtown and visited a few places for food and beer. You may drive through downtown, see a few streets, and call it a day, but it definitely has more to offer than you think.

Set in the Northside Historic Railroad District was one of KettleHouse Brewery‘s sites- the atmosphere was one of a kind and the beer was classic from what I remember!

Later that night we went to Red Bird on the bottom floor of this cool brick building. We were looking for an evening dining atmosphere and we found it here- all local food and wines with a great beer list.

Day Two- Guided Fly Fishing Trip

At 8 in the morning, we met a stranger pulling a drift boat in the parking lot of our hotel. It was our fishing guide through Blackfoot River Outfitters (I mentioned them briefly in a previous post.) We loaded up and headed toward our launch destination on the Blackfoot River. Blackfoot River Outfitters guide in other places as well, but we wanted to fish the Blackfoot River. If the conditions weren’t great, our guide would have suggested a different location to get the most out of our money.

On this day, it worked out, and we made our way through the beautiful canyon. It was hot (hello, August!), but a lovely float. You could do a half day trip or a full day- we were on the water for about 8 hours (full day) plus a 45 minute-ish trip there and back. The drive was also beautiful. We really did get to cover a lot of area by driving then floating down the river!

Day Three- Glacier National Park

The moment that we were waiting for! (Or was it just me?) We packed up early and headed north toward Glacier National Park‘s West Entrance. It was about a two and a half hour trip from Missoula. You could do this in a day trip if you were pressed for time, but I would recommend at least staying overnight. You can also fly into Kalispell, which is right outside the park if your trip is heavily Glacier-based.

It’s a beautiful, flat, easy stretch from Missoula to GNP. We passed Flathead Lake, which reminded me of Lake Tahoe, and stopped briefly in Whitefish. I think that the small mountain town was more of a destination area. I’ve heard that’s where the skiing is in the winter.

In Glacier, we luckily snagged a campsite at Avalanche Creek Campground! This campground was close to the Trail of the Cedars that leads to Avalanche Lake. Since we didn’t arrive until the afternoon, we spent the rest of the day enjoying this trail and spending some time fishing at that lake.

Day Four- Glacier National Park

Glacier has a transit system that takes you along Going-to-the-Sun Road, over the Continental Divide, and into East Glacier. This road hugs the mountain range and is only a two lane road. Instead of driving, we opted for the free shuttle to Logan Pass parking area, which is at the top of the divide.

From there, we ventured on Hidden Lake Trail that started at the parking lot to Hidden Lake. The air was a bit smoky (it being fire season), but the open mountain range, lakes, and wildflowers were gorgeous. We spent a few hours at the lake fishing.

We didn’t have time to go to East Glacier (in the future we will, hopefully!), but we did travel two more stops that direction for the Jackson Glacier Overlook and walked around there a bit. After an hour or so, we headed back to the campground.

Day Five- National Bison Range + Downtown Missoula

Bright and early, we set out to go back to Missoula (that’s where the plane was!) Before we left, we took some quiet moments for coffee and gazed out to Lake McDonald.

On the way back, we stopped at the National Bison Range. I am OBSESSED with bison (Yellowstone was a dream for me!) We drove through the range and saw all kinds of animals.

Back in Missoula, we switched from a hotel to a B&B (first B&B we ever stayed in- wouldn’t say I am a fan of B&B’s, but it was still a cute place) in downtown. For lunch we went over to Bayern Brewing for German food and beer. This was a bit off the beaten path from downtown.

Then we hit Montgomery Distillery. I LOVED everything about this place. I would say this is the start of my love for craft cocktails.

Travel Day

We left on a Sunday afternoon, so there was time for brunch at Tamarack Brewing. We stopped here the day before for a quick beer, but we sat down and had a full buffet/Mimosa bar for brunch on this day.

The air was the worst it had been all week (heavy fires in the mountains), so we couldn’t relax or do any activities outside after we checked out. To kill some time, we stopped in at Big Sky Brewing – a bucket list brewery for me. There we got to relax before our short drive to the airport.