In June 2017 I got the opportunity to complete a river restoration training (Wildland Hydrology‘s Applied Fluvial Geomorphology, AKA “Rosgen Level I”) in Seeley Lake, MT. My employer paid for the course and travel out there, and I took a few vacation days and the weekends bookending that week-long training to do some fishing, hiking, and trail running on my own. I also got to visit Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton national parks. It was my first time visiting Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho as well. This recap shows off some of the highlights from the trip!
I flew into Missoula on the Friday evening before the Rosgen course and it was late when I arrived so I just checked into my hotel room. The first thing I did the next morning was stroll around the University of Montana campus and hike up the hill to the big “M” for a great view of the city. Then I hit the road with fishing gear in search of a Cutthroat Trout, which would be a new species for my angling lifelist and the one fish that I hoped to pick up while I was out there. I enjoyed the snow-capped mountain scenery as I drove around the Bitterroot River Watershed looking for a suitable place to fish. However, with the recent snowmelt, the rivers were flowing high or flooded and fishing was a challenge in the main river.
I located a smaller tributary stream that was also high but flowing much less rapidly. It had some nice pools and wide open casting lanes, so I gave it a shot with much optimism. My first few catches were Brown Trout, of which I have caught many in Minnesota and elsewhere. It took some work to find a Cutthroat, but eventually I hooked into one and new right away once I landed it that I had caught the fish I was after!
Cutthroat Trout have reddish marks on the underside of the head, which is how they got their name. They also have many black spots, which become denser near the tail and on the caudal fin.
After catching my primary target, I mostly set fishing aside for the remainder of my trip and opted to spend my free time driving around checking out the scenery and doing a lot of hiking and some running. I had never been to Idaho and I was close to the border so I went there next. I drove to Salmon, Idaho because it was the first significant town along the highway. Just driving around was fun because the scenery was so cool!
I had lunch and a beer at Bertram’s Brewery in Salmon, then drove back towards Missoula. On the way, I stopped to fish another small stream in Montana. I saw this mule deer “hiding” as I made my way to the river. I was on high alert for bears, since there are grizzlies in that area.
The next morning (Sunday), I drove up to Glacier National Park. I passed Flathead Lake (pictured below) on the way and stopped to stretch my legs, skip stones, and take some pictures.
I was excited to visit Glacier National Park but also bummed that the famed Going-to-the-Sun road was closed to motor traffic due to snow. I had very limited time (a couple hours) to explore before I had to head to Seeley Lake to check in for the conference and get settled in the lodging there. But I enjoyed the views of Lake McDonald and went on a solo hike along the river (not recommended due to being in grizzly bear territory, but I wasn’t truly alone because I kept within sight or at least earshot of other park visitors).
I checked into my quaint little cottage at Double Arrow Lodge in Seeley Lake. I had this cabin all to myself! I would live there!
The Rosgen class took up my time Monday through Friday afternoon. Monday and Tuesday were very long lecture days, while Tuesday and Thursday were long days of field methods practice and touring past river restoration projects. Friday morning was for group presentations (which we had to stay up late into the evenings working on), but we got out around midday. Rosgen courses are rigorous and exhausting but packed with information and practice and one of the most useful courses I’ve ever taken.
We did, however, get an hour long break each lecture day for lunch and I took advantage of that by taking one of the kayaks out on the lake. The scenery was so awesome!
After the course wrapped up I made my way back to Missoula. But first I made a few stops to cast a lure. I didn’t catch any more fish but the streams looked good.
I drove to Bozeman, MT on Friday night after class. The next three full days (Saturday – Monday) were vacation days before I had to fly back to Michigan on Tuesday. I used Bozeman as a base to explore Yellowstone and other places.
Before traveling to Montana, I had signed up for the Vacation Races Yellowstone Half Marathon. It’s funny now (as I write this in June 2023), having since summitted several 14,000’+ mountain peaks and run many ultramarathons including a handful of 100-mile and 100km-distance races, but I was really nervous about the combination of running 13.1 miles at an elevation of almost 7,000′ above sea level. This was only my second half marathon ever, at the time, but I really enjoyed it and it sparked an interest in racing that has obviously snowballed (out of control?). Adding to the fun, is that my former colleague Dylan Goodell had signed up for this race too! After serving as Huron Pines AmeriCorps member, he had moved out to Salt Lake City so it wasn’t too bad of a drive for him to meet me there. Dylan actually had a lot more racing experience than me at the time and he left me in his dust, but I really enjoyed the course atmosphere and views. And despite the elevation, terrain, and moderate amount of vert for a half-marathon, I PR’d my 13.2 distance by a few minutes (beating my 2014 Charlevoix Half-Marathon time, and that is a road race). An interesting feature of this race was that the remote aid stations didn’t serve Gatorade or other sugary drinks and didn’t allow us to toss sugary Gu wrappers in the trash due to not wanting to attract grizzlies.
Dylan and I hung out for the rest of that day. After a big post-race lunch in the town of West Yellowstone we checked out Yellowstone National Park, which was all new to me!
Dylan and I checked out highlights along “The Grand Loop”, in the counter-clockwise direction, that first day. Our first stop after seeing the bison was the Fountain Paint Pot Trail, which features some cool hot springs and other geological curiosities.
Further down the road, we encountered a “bear jam”. Cars were lined up to see this momma grizzly bear and her two cubs, across the river. It was my first wild grizzly bear encounter and fortunately I was safely next to the rental car with plenty of distance between us!
After stopping to see Old Faithful erupt, we continued towards Yellowstone Lake and then followed the far side of The Grand Circle back up to Inspiration Point and the Lower Falls overlook. Both provided some amazing views and we got away from the crowds a bit.
I dropped Dylan off at his hotel in West Yellowstone late that afternoon and made my way back up to my hotel in Bozeman. I stopped at a river crossing for a few casts and caught a few small Rainbow Trout.
I picked Dylan up in West Yellowstone again the next morning for another day of fun in Yellowstone National Park. This time we turned north to check out the Mammoth Hot Springs area, stopping at sites of interest along that route.
Mammoth Hot Springs was very interesting. We hiked around and took a lot of pictures in this unique area.
After Mammoth Hot Springs we checked out another geothermal area. By this time is was getting chilly, windy, and a little rainy, so we put on our rain jackets for one last hike to this overview:
Dylan had to get back to Salt Lake City so I bid him farewell that afternoon. We grabbed lunch together in West Yellowstone and then I checked out some of the souvenir shops before returning to Bozeman. I again stopped to do a little fishing along the way but didn’t catch much (or anything, I don’t remember). But it was a beautiful little river!
Since I was driving right by Big Sky Resort and had time to kill, I drove up to check it out. It’s a big ski resort, but now, as an ultra runner, what interests me about this place it that it serves as the venue for the Run the Rut race, which is on my bucket list now. I bought a Mountain Hardware zip-up fleece at the gift shop there, which I still wear often.
On my third and final full day based out of Bozeman, I was ready for a solo adventure. This time, I passed through Yellowstone to get to Grand Teton, which was the focal destination for that day. But I stopped at Grand Prismatic Springs in Yellowstone to check that out first.
The weather was moody AF at Grand Teton National Park, which made it feel mysterious, exciting, and a little foreboding. I got hailed and rained on a few times and the wind was strong and cold. But those conditions made for some excellent photography fun. Check out these photos from my drive through the Tetons:
I stopped at a trailhead to get a few hiking miles in at Grand Teton. Bear warnings were everywhere so I picked a parking lot crowded with cars and hung within sight of groups of other hikers for safety. No bears encountered.
After the hike I opted to take the long way back to Bozeman. I drove south to check out Jackson, WY and grabbed a late lunch there. Then I took the Teton Pass (Highway 22) west into Idaho and drove back north along the western side of the Tetons. The high parts of the pass were icy and I had to drive through snow, but the fresh snow was pretty on all the pine trees.
The next morning was devoted to driving back from Bozeman to Missoula to catch my flight home to Michigan. It was a dreary day and about halfway through the drive the rain was coming down heavy. I had to sit through a traffic jam, which sadly was a result of a car hydroplaning and getting crunched by a semi truck head-on. The driver and passenger were both killed. It was a somber reminder to slow down and be patient. There are worse things than running a few minutes behind due to the driving conditions.