Search results for

Whether you root for the Montana Grizzlies or cheer on the Ospreys, the MSO Hub has you covered. Hats, shirts, pants and socks; show your team pride from your head to your toes. For those torn between teams, the Hub also has a vast selection of Missoula gifts and Made in Montana products and souvenirs. Postcards, bear-paw-shaped chocolates and Missoula themed Monopoly are just a few excellent gift ideas.

Created in memory of a Missoula native who loved kayaking the world’s rivers, Brennan’s Wave is located in the middle of the Clark Fork River just off the shores of the city’s downtown. If you want to ride the man-made wave, summer crowds will gather along the banks to see you tempt the rapids and hearty winter souls will brave the uber-cold temps with you for Stand Up Surfing. I learned to kayak from one of Missoula’s best instructors. His name is Land (perfect name for a guy who spends most of his waking hours on the water) and he runs Tarkio Kayak Adventures. Land and his team of intrepid teachers take groups of adventurers on week-long trips through Montana and Idaho, and they have a fabulous kayaking expedition through Bhutan. If you only have time for a short course, individual experts will spend a day showing you the ropes on either the Clark Fork or the Bitterroot River. My day with Land made me feel like an expert, and even when I flipped and fumbled my kayak, he patiently taught me to take my time and enjoy the beauty of nature. Call Land at: 406-543-4583 or 503-260-7116, or check out the company at http://teamtarkio.com If you are up for some mid-river adventure and the Tarkio crew is busy, contact the folks at Zoo Town Surfers at http://www.zootownsurfers.com The Zoo Town crowd takes to the waves in any temperature. As Norman MaClean wrote, Missoula is a town where the “river runs through it”. Here’s your chance to test the waters for yourself.

Beat the heat in Big Sky Country with an afternoon at Splash Montana Waterpark. With three-story waterslides, a lazy river and Olympic sized pool you’ll find plenty of fun, cool distractions from the sticky heat of July. Bring the whole family; Splash Montana caters to a wide range of swimming abilities and tastes with shallow waters for the wee ones and lounge chairs for the sun bathers. Find your most publicly decent speedos and dive on in!

Dear, sweet, honey. Raw, unfiltered, unheated, made in Montana honey to be more precise. The Wustner Brothers keep their bees in the Sapphire Mountains outside of Missoula, where they can happily forage on Montana wildflowers and create delicious honey. The Wustner Brothers currently have several varieties of honey, including napweed, wildflower and clover honey. Creamed honey in a variety of flavors is also available. Wustner Brothers Honey can be found at grocery stores and in restaurant menus all over the state- don’t miss their creamed honey with local huckleberries for a double dose of Montana goodness.

The Staggering Ox is a unique beast. This sandwich shop – with locations in Billings, Helena, and Missoula – serves up their creative fare in vertical tubes known as Clubfoots. The idea here is that your delicious sandwich meat won’t spill out the bottom, and the clubfoot is easier to hold than traditional starchy vessels. Hey, whatever works. Gimmicky presentation aside, the sandwiches at the Staggering Ox truly are delicious. My favorites include the Blackfoot (black beans, cheddar, Monterey jack, salsa, and more) and the vertical taco (ground beef, cheddar, black beans, jalapenos, Monterey jack). I’m also a bit of a sucker for their green moon juice that comes spills forth from the futuristic beverage dispenser.

A mineral lick for wild game and a swimming place for the Nez Perce and other Native American tribes, the Lolo Hot Springs, “discovered” by Lewis and Clark in 1805, became a health resort for dudes and wealthy Westerners in the late 1880s. Today the Lolo National Forest in west central Montana, 32 miles southwest of Missoula, is a paradise for camping, hiking, fishing, and in winter, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. In a prime location to explore 500 miles of trails and scenic drives, the Lodge at Lolo Hot Springs offers weary adventurers the chance to relax in two indoor natural hot spring mineral baths in enclosed grottoes. Built to suggest a Western fort, lodge rooms are lined with white pine logs and log furniture and have large picture windows overlooking the forest. The lodge rents ATVs and snowmobiles to guests. Lodge-based activities include geocaching, Frisbee golf, horseshoes, croquet, and volleyball.

In 2007, hedge fund investor Jim Manley bought a working cattle ranch on the site of a historic silver-mining claim to stake as his bigger-than-life family retreat. In 2010, he opened up the Ranch at Rock Creek, a toy-filled haven in southwest Montana’s Big Sky Country, with 13 houses with one to five bedrooms, luxurious canvas cabins for “glamping,” or a nine-room granite lodge. All are decorated by designer Jet Zarkadas and feature Oriental carpets, deep leather chairs, cow skin and woven Navajo rugs, custom duvet covers, and period Western photos and memorabilia. Despite the remote location and 5,200-foot elevation, all accommodations have landline, working Wi-Fi, and cell phone coverage; some have moose antlers, a private sauna, outdoor hot tub, and indoor copper bathtub.

Open year-round, the 10-square-mile property encompasses meadows, high country lakes, grassy ridges, and stunning vistas of the Pintler and Sapphire mountains. This self-contained adventureland offers horseback riding; heli-hiking; fly-fishing; river floating; high-tech mountain biking; rope courses; trap shooting; and archery on a 3D course using powerful hunting bows to shoot life-sized models of animals. Weekly rodeo and stagecoach rides underscore the Western theme; in winter, guests cross-country ski, ice skate, and snowshoe on-site. A kids’ club frees parents for spa time and other pursuits.

In this week’s episode of Unpacked by AFAR, conservationist M.Sanjayan shares the secrets behind season two of his ground-breaking PBS show, Changing Planet.