Three Days in Missoula: For the Urbane Explorer
How to tackle an outdoor lover’s dream with just the right amount of luxury.
Words by Mark Healy
Photographs by Dave Lauridsen
GOING TO MONTANA and not finding a mountain trail to scramble up or a stream to fish is like going on a taco tour of Oslo. It’s totally missing the point. And yet, at this stage of my life, stuffing a camp stove into my carry-on is as likely to happen as brewing my own kombucha. Come on, I’m on vacation. But a long weekend in Missoula proved that I needn’t sacrifice sophisticated comforts — an art house theater, a top-notch espresso, the pleasures of watching a bartender skillfully muddle the orange zest in my old-fashioned — while seeking serious deep-woods solitude.
FAT BIKE THE RATTLESNAKE.
Just a few miles northeast of downtown is the gateway to 61,000 acres of Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, where many Missoulians start or finish their day — biking, running, and dog walking along the soft pine-needle trail that winds along Rattlesnake Creek. But when the locals turned back to shuttle kids to school or commute to work, I kept going, deep into the woods.
I’d stopped at Missoula Bike Works to rent a mountain bike but was encouraged to grab a fat bike instead. I scoffed at the clownish oversize tires, but they rolled smoothly and confidently over rocks, logs, and roots. As my fat bike and I gradually gained elevation, the bluebird skies and meadows of evergreen and gold transformed into a glaciated topography that flaunted a new trick around every corner: massive rock slides, jagged peaks, ridgelines. I stopped in a meadow to eat the lunch I’d grabbed on the ride out of town. Then the real fun began. The ride up had been quiet, almost meditative; the descent was more like a gale of unguarded laughter as I bounded down the trail on the edge of calamity and control. Ten minutes later, I was on a bench at Black Coffee Roasting Co., taking in a nutty cortado and the late afternoon sun.
CHECK OUT THE NIGHTLIFE.
Friday night at Plonk is the Garden City at its buzziest, as after-work crowds fill the spacious restaurant that serves the most refined cocktails in town, from sage-infused margaritas to overachieving whiskey drinks. The bison short ribs exceed expectations, and the wine list is way above par. But an evening in Missoula isn’t all blistered cauliflower and grapefruit and olive gremolata; Charlie B’s is the city’s most beloved dive, where Montana’s rich literary tradition mixes with CEOs and hard hats. And it’s still the best place to shoot a game of pool or hear a story about a fish that got away.
CLIMB ST. MARY PEAK.
The Bitterroot Mountains stretch down the west side of Montana into Idaho and include several peaks around 10,000 feet. St. Mary Peak is one of the more accessible and striking. An hour’s drive south of Missoula — and another 45 minutes navigating the switchback road that takes you up the trailhead — St. Mary delivers a big alpine payoff (elevation, views, lungfuls of pristine mountain air) for a mild three-hour hike that takes you onto a peak with an unobstructed look at the Bitterroot range.
CHILL ON THE RIVERFRONT.
It’s no surprise that a town with 11,000 college students and a number of start-ups (ranked ninth in the U.S.) would have excellent breweries. Imagine Nation Brewing Co. gives back by funding “a center for community transformation.” An evening on the back deck overlooking the Clark Fork River with a Freedom Fighter IPA can indeed be transformative.
GO FOR A DRIVE, THEN A HIKE.
The upside of riding 15 miles per hour along a ribbed, dusty track of the largely empty Rock Creek Road is that it lets the driver’s eye wander to take in scenes straight out of a Brad Pitt fly-fishing movie and to catch glimpses of the pair of moose chilling in the creek. I pulled over and spied on them as the river valley warmed to the dry morning sun. The truth is, I needed the company. For all its allure, there is not a lot of companionship on the dirt road (Route 102) that runs along Rock Creek. It is a slow, meditative drive through Montana’s prime trout country, which means the waders you see standing midstream are as likely to be from L.A. or Chicago as they are locals. Even those immune to the pleasures of an artful cast should find a kayak to paddle or conjure up some other excuse to get out on the water.
The best way to counter all that potentially lethal sitting is with an afternoon hike — this time, right in town. There are dozens of ways to get up Mount Sentinel; the most straightforward route is the M trail, a well-worn track that starts at the University of Montana’s main campus and is named for the giant concrete M (Missoula’s Hollywood sign) at the school. Climbing Sentinel, however you do it, is a daily routine for a robust mix of students, locals, and anyone who’s in need of a sweat and a little perspective.
TAKE IN A SHOW.
The Wilma is a 1920s-era theater that regularly books the kind of talent that used to bypass Missoula on the long drive from Minneapolis to Seattle. We waltzed in and bought tickets to Future Islands, drank some top-shelf tequila, and marveled at the ease of it all. Last summer the Wilma’s owner, Nick Checota, teamed up with a local brewery to create a “mini Red Rocks” called KettleHouse Amphitheater, in nearby Bonner. One more reason for touring bands to stop and spend a night. I hope they find the time to go for a hike.
About the author: Mark Healy is the Editor in Chief at Ceros. He’s held positions at print publications like Men’s Journal, GQ, Rolling Stone, et al. He lives in Brooklyn but daydreams in Montana.
