Fall 2009

Features

  • Beers & Gears

    Recently I challenged myself to explore bike rides that could start from my front door. There are two benefits to this. The first is that I get to spend more time riding and less time driving. The second is that after a…
  • Trapper's Run

    Mishap on the Madison. It all took place within seconds. Entering a bend in a fast chute of water, the current grabbed the canoe, slammed it into the bank, and started pulling us down. Water poured over the gunnels as the…
  • Death in High Places

    No one seems to have ever tallied the deaths of mountaineers in Montana over the course of the state’s history. A safe bet, however, is that far fewer climbers have died on mountains in the Treasure State than on Mount…
  • Of Mutts and Men

    Fanning out across the field, a dog in front of each of us, we move slowly, deliberately, through the hayfield’s saffron stubble. It’s late morning in the lower Madison Valley; the sky is clear and bright, with a cool,…

Departments

  • Bozeman Tops the Lists

    Congrats, Bozeman parents, your kids are gonna be like you after all. Backpacker magazine just ranked Bozeman number 18 on its list of the best 25 towns in which to raise an outdoor kid. Can you blame them? We’ve got…
  • Welcome to the Jungle

    Teenagers get a bad rap—double if they're teenage girls. Just ask around. Their music is bad. They thrive on gossip. They have no sense of the world outside of their iPods and Facebook profiles.But if that were really true…
  • Summer Market Showcases Outdoor Industry

    One of the great boondoggle opportunities from working in the outdoor industry is going to trade shows filled with shiny new toys and lots of free beer. This summer, some 18,000 people converged on the floor of Salt Lake…
  • A Pipe Runs Through It

    Any southwest Montanan would agree that the Madison River is one of the best local playgrounds around, which is really saying something in our neck of the woods. But there’s a possibility we could see some changes on…
  • Mad River Sculpin

    For the fisherman, fall is a transition from some of the best dry-fly fishing of the year to some of the best streamer fishing of the year. Typically we think of big, gaudy, nasty streamers for the fall, and make no mistake…
  • How Does Your Garden Grow?

    The vision started four years ago. “We were originally working with the city of Livingston to develop community gardens close to the cemetery, so we got very involved and formed a nonprofit to help fund it,” says Linda Mahr…
  • Shank Redemption

    I take a great deal of pride, as you should too this season, in using the whole animal and all its unique cuts. Any knucklehead can cut a few steaks and roasts, then grind the rest, throw out the bones, and be done with it…
  • Trout-Friendly Lawns

    Landscaping with fish and rivers in mind. Every yard in Montana is part of a local watershed that ends up in our world-class trout waters, which means that with population growth comes more sources of water pollution and…
  • Best Dog Photos

    We knew it would happen. Put out a call for dog photos in this town, expect a cavalcade of images celebrating Bozeman’s most beloved beast. And that’s exactly what we got: dozens of photos and stories honoring those canine…
  • Toasty Warm

    Having a little place out in the woods—even if it's just four walls and a roof—can be one of life’s great pleasures. It's a place to rest, think, hide, hunt, and have fun. But it's about to get mighty cold out there, and…
  • Guide Gals

    During hunting season in the backwoods of Montana, it’s not all that rare to run into a chick with a gun, or a bow for that matter. Plenty of female hunters stock the freezer, sometimes during years when their husbands come…
  • Climbing Book Face-Off

    Rock Climbs of Southwest Montana vs. Bozeman Rock Climbs. For the last 14 years, the premiere climbing guidebook for Bozeman climbers has been Rock Climbing Montana—a compendium of 70 routes with topo maps that are roughly…
  • Turkey the Wild Way

    Hunting turkeys in southwest Montana. As the American Thanksgiving celebration becomes less like a Norman Rockwell painting and more like a Chevy Chase movie, we here in Big Sky country have the unique opportunity to…
  • Slaying Slang

    Navigating a hunter's lexicon. Accidentally walking into an outdoor shop during hunting season is like accidentally wandering into the Miami public bus terminal: everyone’s speaking a different language, and there’s a…
  • Self-Shuttle

    Two summers ago, if anyone recalls, presented recreationists around the Bozone with an unprecedented dilemma: gas prices soaring to $4.00. This meant many things to many people. To me and some of my fishing friends, high…
  • A New Season

    Barring judicial intervention, on September 15 the State of Montana is set to begin its first-ever hunt of gray wolves as a species in need of management, hunted in a fair-chase manner much like big-game species. Their…
  • Go Jump Off a Bridge

    It’s a miracle that Bozeman locals Simon Clemens, Eric Kuntzelman, and Trevor Olson are alive. No, they didn’t get swine flu. It’s just that the Montana-raised trio have been flirting with danger since before they were old…
  • Season of Flames

    Acknowledging the sacred of bonfires. Embers trail spiraling molten streamers, lingering in the space between firelight and darkness. Below, flames snap the cadence of autumn: sharp and clean and warm. Coals shimmer and…
  • The Interconnect Challenge

    This past summer, the Gallatin County Park Commission and the Gallatin County Planning Board completed the next step in the county’s comprehensive park and trail planning process. With the assistance of Chris Seifert from…
  • Bozeman Trick-or-Treating

    Halloween is that wonderful day of the year when it's okay to dress up like a jackass and then bang on strangers' doors like cops on a meth bust. We like to do that on weekends over at the senior center, but because…
  • Three Names, Two New Courses

    Purists call it disc golf. Folfers call disc golfers “Californians.” And disc golfers who overhear Frisbee golfers call it “folf” call them “posers.” Whatever it’s called, now players, purists, and posers alike can fling a…
  • Natural Exposures

    Two of Bozeman photographer Daniel J. Cox's images have made the cover of National Geographic in the past eight years, a success most photographers can only dream of. The images in his 2005 National Geographic feature on…
  • Champs & Chumps: Fall 2009

    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:The Gallatin Valley Land Trust…
  • Wax On

    Martial arts training develops key areas of athletic fitness: strength, speed, agility, flexibility, and stamina. This is especially true of modern Taekwondo, with its noted emphasis on kicking. But did you know that…
  • Urban Greening

    This fall, the Downtown Bozeman Partnership is preparing to give the city commission a draft of a plan to enhance the downtown area. The 44-page document, called the Downtown Improvement Plan, proposes a variety of…

Gear Reviews

  • Omega Pacific Link Cam

    I started out your average dirtbag climber, only able to afford a set of stoppers. They were a little awkward, and more work than I’d like, but they got the job done. Then I bought my first cam. It opened up a brand new…
  • Review: Mystery Ranch Snapdragon

    I took the Mystery Ranch Snapdragon on a full-day trail hike; on a long, steep approach to an alpine climb; and on an all-day, off-trail scouting trip deep in the wilderness. The Snapdragon did what Mystery Ranch packs are…
  • Black Diamond Litewire Quickdraw

    My friends called it the funniest noise I’ve ever made. It was a strange, girlish, primal scream, as I was 10 feet above my last bolt, frantically trying to clip the next one above my head. Pumped out of my mind, I reached…

Book Reviews

  • Book: The Mulligan

    Nathan Jorgenson’s The Mulligan (Flat Rock Publishing, $17) is a novel that will resonate with all those who came to Montana to live the good life, not waste precious heartbeats in the pursuit of money and material…
  • Haunted Montana

    Haunted Montana (Riverbend Publishing, $13) is a ghost hunter’s guide to haunted places throughout our state. Author Karen Stevens combines her skills as a research librarian and her extensive paranormal knowledge to create…
  • Book: Saving Headwaters

    A more modern—and to many, just as wicked—crime familiar to outdoors folk across Montana is the ongoing attempt to despoil the state’s rivers by industrial and commercial interests. Saving Homewaters: The Story of Montana's…
  • Book: Images of America

    Regional history is even more vividly showcased in two recent installments of the Images of America series (Arcadia Publishing, $20-$22 depending on the title). Both the West Yellowstone and Bozeman iterations, by Paul Shea…
Outside Bozeman Fall 2009

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