Northwest Montana

If your mental postcard of Montana features towering glaciered peaks, glittering lakes, and dense conifer forests, it's Northwest Montana that you're imagining. The crown of the entire region is Glacier National Park, where fin-like mountain peaks parade across horizon and long, fingerlike lakes fill valleys once choked with ice floes. Going-To-The-Sun Road, one of the world's most spectacular mountain roads, climbs up to top-of-the-world alpine meadows at Logan Pass; venerable log-built lodges provide old-fashioned rustic comfort. As the largest natural freshwater lake in the West, Flathead Lake is the region's recreational center, with ...

If your mental postcard of Montana features towering glaciered peaks, glittering lakes, and dense conifer forests, it's Northwest Montana that you're imagining. The crown of the entire region is Glacier National Park, where fin-like mountain peaks parade across horizon and long, fingerlike lakes fill valleys once choked with ice floes. Going-To-The-Sun Road, one of the world's most spectacular mountain roads, climbs up to top-of-the-world alpine meadows at Logan Pass; venerable log-built lodges provide old-fashioned rustic comfort. As the largest natural freshwater lake in the West, Flathead Lake is the region's recreational center, with fantastic fishing and boating. Parks, resorts, orchards, and even vineyards line the shores. For citified pleasures, Missoula is where academics, aging hippies, youthful Green activists, and urban refugees gather in a utopian-minded community. This high-spirited mix gives rise to a vibrant food scene and an animated, microbrew-fueled nightlife.

About the Expert

Judy Jewell and W.C. McRae are frequent collaborators: together they have written Moon Handbooks to Montana, Utah, and Zion-Bryce and updated the Moon Handbooks to Oregon and Coastal Oregon. Judy wrote the Compass American Guide to Oregon.