Hi guys,

Going to Montana soon for about 2-3 weeks. Any suggestions on must see's ?

Montana is huge. What is your planned home base and what sorts of things are you interested in? My favorite city in Montana is Missoula and the scenery is so spectacular in the western part of the state that I'm not sure I could identify "must-sees", once you've made it up to the continental divide. Two "possibles" would be Glacier National Park if you will be anywhere near that area and Yellowstone National Park if that is likely to fit into your plans. Both are worth some trouble to see. Happy trails!

Jim is right - Montana is a big state. I also love Missoula and the Bitter Routes. I also love the Red Lodge area. Where are you planning?

I agree withe the others.
Montana is the 3rd largest of the lower 48 states, ranking in area only behind Texas and California. At more than 143,000 square miles, it is larger in area than Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina combined. So you are talking about a good bit of real estate.
To me, the area south and west of Billings, the Beartooth Wilderness area, is interesting. And the Bitter Root Range in the Western part of the state is nice. But most of all I like Glacier National Park and Yellowstone.
Although Yellowstone is mostly in Wyoming, enough of it crosses the line to be in Montana, too.
One of the most scenic drives in the USA is the highway from Red Lodge Montana to Yellowstone. It goes over the Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet above sea level.
Spectacular!!
Take a good look at a map before starting out, I thing you will see the places we describe.

Hi Bob - On a different note, could you please visit my posting about missing child, Jessica Koopmans below and forward on her photo to all of you email friends? This is not a hoax, this child is really missing and we need to band together to find her, if it is not all ready too late. Thanks. Denise

THANKYOU everyone. My husband and I have a bit of an unorthodox method of travelling. We decided that since we are living in this big wonderful country we would see as much of it as we could (I'm Aussie and he is American - we are returning to Australia at the end of next year). Basically, we close our eyes, since a map around point to place and that's where we go for a couple of weeks to really "explore". With Montana, I had NO idea, so I'm off to research all the places mentioned above because it sounds so beautiful.

Thanks again

I suggest that you focus on the western third of Montana. The eastern part is relatively flat, hot in the summer, and low in population. I have not looked at the census figures lately, but after the 1990 census, DeKalb County in Georgia had more people than the state of Montana. Unless the 2000 census has changed the picture, Montana is one of two or three states where the number of senators in Congress outnumbers the representatives. (2 senators; 1 representative.)

You should visit Flathead Lake. It beautiful!

All ideas are excellent. Northwest Montana has Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park--must see--and the towns of Kalispell and Whitefish are interesting to visit.

Story: A friend of ours (a native American) years ago when we lived in Kalispell had this . . . Yellowstone is musical comedy and Glacier is grand opera.

You'll enjoy exploring the state.

A big plug for Helena, the state capital. What's not to like - the main drag is named Last Chance Gulch, lots of marvelous 19th C. architecture, interesting (sometimes wacky) local political scene (typical of western big/small state legislatures), civic center in the former Shriners' Temple complete with minaret, recent licit and illicit mining going on from time to time, under city streets (whoops - did I do that?); the Archie Bray ceramics center, Myrna Loy center for performing things - lots of fun.