Spring 2008

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY SUBARU! Once again, Outside Bozeman and southwest Montana drivers have teamed up to celebrate this most prized of Asian autos, the stalwart Subaru. Within the following pages are some of Montana’s most…

As a year-round angler, there are always a few things I look forward to—and saying goodbye to snapping the ice out of my guides with frozen fingers is definitely one of them. In early spring there a lot of great rivers to…

Tips for better fishing. During the frenzy of the hatch, trout can become very selective. Finding the fish and figuring out what they’re eating is only half the battle—now you’ve got to present your fly to them properly.…

Getting hitched under the Big Sky.Face it: no outdoors enthusiast worth his salt readily and without profanity cancels a sunny, spring-weekend excursion to pack into a church and watch a twitterpated twosome tie the knot.…

730 billion: dollars spent on active outdoor recreation in U.S., 200624 million: number of Americans who paddle every year6 million: number of Americans who play soccer15.9: percent of men over age 30 who have been married…

A meat-less alternative to a breakfast classic.  One of my fondest memories in life is wild-salmon fishing in Sitka, Alaska with my 93-year-old grandfather in 2003. We caught so much fish that I found myself with a huge…

Our guide to Livingston's big back yard.It’s easy to extol the virtues of Bozeman’s unequivocally badass back yard—but don’t rave too loudly, lest ye drown out the sweet, seductive song of our wind-scoured neighbor 22 miles…

When you think of massage, what comes to mind? It may simply be relaxation, or you may expect a more clinical experience. You may want to work out the knots, release the tension in your lower back, or get rid of a headache…

A sensitive natural area at risk. Wetlands compose less than two percent of the land in Montana, but there's some right here in Bozeman—for now, anyway. As co-owner of 33 acres of marshy ground behind the Village Downtown…

“Wilderness is 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; wilderness areas are devoted to the public purposes of outstanding…

Last August, we hit a particularly bad bison jam on the road that cuts through Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley. Humans rarely have the right-of-way in this bison-packed section of the Park, and our bus wasn’t going…

Every day, one stalwart citizen does the right thing while another acts like a blithering bonehead. Here's a recap of admirable acts and embarrassing blunders for the the past season. Champs:Sparse Miller, owner of Sun…

Black birds circling the sky are a common Western motif. But if they’re flapping more than soaring, it’s not buzzards you spy, in all likelihood, but the ubiquitous raven, or its cousin the crow. These raucous avians are…

Here are suggestions for things to try as you head down the road to greener living. 1) Reduce. The first, and for some of us the toughest, of the 3 Rs. Ask—Do I really need that new whatever-it-is? Will it last? Will it be…

If you have a camera that allows you to change the lens—a single-lens reflex (SLR) camera—specialty filters will improve the quality of your photographs. So before you head out to take photographs in high mountain country…

How and why to landscape more appropriately in Montana. Every so often an existing word gets revived. Like an old rock & roll star returning to the stage, it becomes popular and brings a newfound respect and a fresh…

Spring has sprung, and we aren't the only ones waking up from a long winter. All over Montana, warmer weather is bringing grizzlies out of their dens. When bears awake, they are sort of in a daze, and their only intent is…

Codger Tour #3: The Castle Mountains.It's not just the young and fit—the climbers of frozen waterfalls, the runners of Bridger Ridge—who long to get out and experience what makes Montana special. I’ve been making sure that…

The slopes of the Mill Creek drainage, near the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness boundary, look bleak and dark. Blackened torsos of burned trees contrast the clear blue sky. Gushing water rips deep cuts in the soft, fire-…

It's tough being a Bozemanite sometimes. Which coffee shop am I gonna frequent? Which one of these Suby Outbacks is mine? Grab a jacket, a Nalgene, those never-ending out-of-town guests, and get back into the boonies for a…

I have a good friend who chides me mercilessly when I don’t ski enough. This year was particularly bad. “You’re the freakin’ editor of an outdoor magazine,” he cried, incredulous, “and you only skied 12 times this year?…

A miraculous recovery.Twelve years ago on a backcountry adventure my two sisters, me, and our mama crossed paths with Pita the Wonder Dawg, or PWD for short.One day, in search of new biking challenges we found a little…

The fire was burning down. Luckily we still had a pint of rum left and nothing else to do but throw more wood into the hole. You see, the fire was literally burning down—into a reflective snowy cavern that grew deeper with…

Dancing around Bozeman. At its most basic level, dancing is entertainment; hence the insane popularity of Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, and similar shows. For most of us, dancing is just plain fun,…

Insurance can be a totally boring topic until you're looking at a thousand-dollar bill to fix the lung you punctured with your buddy's ice axe. That's when you realize that gear isn't the only expense thrillseekers have to…

There’s no shortage of energy bars on the market today—my local grocery store, for example, devotes an area bigger than my closet to them—but most have only subtle differences in flavor, shape, etc. Like energy drinks, you…

Even if a thick mane of hair protects your head, you may still need a little extra coverage when exposed to the elements. The Adventure Hat from Sunday Afternoons should be an essential part of all outdoor enthusiasts’…

You’ve probably heard of yerba mate—it’s that South American tea and coffee substitute that’s only slightly less potent but much gentler on the stomach, and is rife with health benefits. California-based Guayaki uses hand-…

Three Forks-based Outa Ware has built a watertight reputation for burly technical clothing that outlasts everything else in one’s outdoor wardrobe—and their new Norris Pants are no exception. In addition to Outa Ware’s…

Finding home in Montana. After wandering the mountains of the Pacific Northwest for most of her life, a happy bipedal hominoid named Hairy Ann has finally settled down in Missoula, Montana. “I’m ready for a more urbanized…

Sometime between the end of April and the middle of May something spectacular happens. Depending upon the air and water temperatures, as well as the ever-volatile spring weather, little moth-like insects emerge from local…

Bozeman’s skateboarding population is booming. And desperate for more elbow room. The skatepark is busy and crowded. “If someone like yourself (read: never-skated-before-in-my-life) wanted to learn, there’d be very few…

Kevin Connolly's trip on two wheels.  An MSU honors program senior completing a double-major in media and theatre arts, Kevin Connolly is one helluva rolling exhibition. With digital equipment funded by his silver-medal…

It's be easy to pick out boaters across Montana in the winter. They’re the ones with the shit-eating-grins plastered across their mugs after every cold smoke dump leaves its calling card. And that’s not just because most of…

An updated edition of the 1977 original, Northwest Trees (Mountaineers Books, $19) is a beautiful and meticulously illustrated book profiling more than 60 species of native trees in southern British Columbia, Washington,…

Thomas Elpel is the director of the Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School in Pony. The guy has been around for years and is one of the area's foremost experts in survival skills. Elpel's written several books on various…

Montana photography books are like architects—shake a tree around Bozeman and five will fall out. But like architects, not all photo books are created equal. Take Montana Panoramic (Great Wide Open Publishing, $75), a new…