July Stop: Augusta, MT

I had heard the term “Big Sky Country” to describe Montana a couple times, but I had also experienced big skies my whole life. I grew up where I could see an unbroken expanse of sky stretching from one mountain peak to the opposite one across the valley. My small, country town is surrounded by fields and orchards, so I didn’t expect to be shocked by “Big Sky Country”.

I was wrong.

My phone camera is very outdated, so I do not have a wide lens to capture the full panoramic sadly. I took this on one of my runs!

I have not seen larger sweeping skies in all of my travels so far. It felt as if I was in a dome with nothing but rolling hills to stand on and this sky blue expanse above me. The picture above was taken on a cloudy day, but imagine the massive blue reaching from the Rockies over the plains. I didn’t realize until now that I grew up in a low valley, surrounded by mountains, with the sky above as a fish bowl effect whereas here, it was more of a massive snow-globe minus the snow. Neither is better than the other, and experiencing the open skies in Montana was truly impressive.

The landscapes and outdoors were my favorite parts of Montana. The rolling hills were golden and covered in grain. There were also rivers and gorges and mountain peaks if you drove far enough. Augusta is right at the base of the Rocky Mountain Range on the eastern side, making it one of the closest communities to the range.

Connor and I did a couple hikes amid some of the higher elevations like our Devil’s Glen hike through Dearborn Canyon.
This was an easy 5 mile hike with the best reward, a magical swimming hole. We had to drive about about an hour to the trailhead, and then we set off on the small path that passes private properties and beautiful meadows to get to the sparkling waters.
The area was huge, and we had it all to ourselves.

The water was quite cold, but we dunked in and swam anyways. It was too special not to!
I had to warm up on one of the large rock slabs before we headed back down the trail.

The crystal clear water took on a unique moss green and orange tan color because you could see all the way down to the shiny rocks below. We stayed there for hours because we didn’t want to leave the serene pools and mini waterfalls.

We did another hike within an hour drive called Willow Creek Falls. It was a great hike along a cliffside past three sets of falls.
There wasn’t much tree cover and the trail was better for it because it gave us unobstructed views of the steep mountains across from pretty, green meadows.

The weather was perfect with a bright, blue sky and puffy, white clouds providing sun relief. My favorite part of the trail, aside from the falls, was when we were hiking on the shale from the grey, stoney peaks.
It was a cool moment to know we were scaling the steep mountains we had trained our eyes on at the beginning of the hike.
That was also where the largest of the three falls was, but the second set of falls was when we took a polar plunge into the frigid water. The picture to the right is the one we dipped into.

The third falls were smaller, and the trail continued past them along fenced fields into stretches that disappeared among the turns of meadows and mountains.

Augusta, MT is an extremely unique location in relation to all of the nature and beauty I described. It is partially famous because it is one of the east access points to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. With over a million federally preserved acres, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is one of the most preserved mountain ecosystems in the world. There are over 1,000 miles of trails crossing rugged peaks, alpine lakes, lush forests, and green meadows; not to mention all the non-hiking activities occurring on the land like horse riding, water rafting, hunting, and more.

So Augusta gets tons of visitors going through and accessing the wilderness right outside of town. We think this is why, even with only a few hundred residents, the close-knit community welcomed Connor and I with open arms instead of shunning us like outsiders. Rural towns can be skittish and solitary, but Augusta and the residents were always including us whether it was the 4th of July BBQ or the volunteers at the local museum showing us the town’s rich history. A lot of the businesses and ranches in town were multigenerational as well, so it was great getting to be in a small town where everyone knows everyone. It was such a cute town, and Connor and I loved our stay. It was exactly what we needed for the month of July.

Some places to note in town would be Blue Pine Wine, Lightning Bug, the library, Lazy B, Western Bar & Grill, Latigo & Lace, Forge, and Buckhorn Bar. We got burgers at each bar, and the Buckhorn was my favorite. All three were great places for dinner with friendly staff and patio areas. We also loved Blue Pine Wine because the owner Suzi had free Friday night music while she served glasses of wine. She sold local Montana wine and art, and the atmosphere at her business was always fun.

Lightning Bug was our savior. It is a super cute coffee shop and boutique about a two minute walk away from our house. We punched through a whole stamp card by the time we left. Augusta’s library was adorable as well. It is such a great space with tons resources for travelers and community members alike with guidebooks, printing services, a children’s area, computers, and more. The two shops Latigo & Lace and Forge were wonders of all things Montana and more. They had books, antiques, art, and all kinds of amazing things.

As I mentioned, the community does such a great job with welcoming travelers and having options for lots of people. I loved living right off the main street with accessible cute shops and good eats. We ventured outside of Augusta to check out neighboring towns like Choteau, Dupuyer, and Great Falls, but we liked Augusta best. Great Falls is one of the closest cities to Augusta, so Connor and I had a full date day there to explore the scene.

It was pretty quite the Sunday we went, but we grabbed sandwiches for lunch before seeing the movie Twisters at the AMC there. Awesome movie by the way. Then, we grabbed dinner and drinks at a highly recommended spot called Magpie. They are well known for their infused spirits, although they can make them mocktails which were just as delicious. We enjoyed sitting on their patio as the sun set before we got back on the road to drive an hour back to Augusta.

The reason we chose the quaint town of Augusta was because of it’s proximity to Glacier National Park. Going to Glacier National Park has always been a dream of mine, and I honestly cannot believe that I can check it off my bucket list. We spent three non-consecutive days in the park, and all three were incredible.

The first day, we went to the Many Glacier entrance to hike to Grinnell Glacier which is a 10.5 mile hike. It was quite ambitious for our first day. The hike was definitely challenging, but the views and experience almost completely distracted me from the task of hiking. We hiked straight up and above four shimmering lakes that got bluer the further we went. The first lake, Swiftcurrent Lake, was a deep, navy blue. It has a nature walk around it that I would’ve liked to do if I could’ve walked after the 10.5 mile hike we did. The second lake, Lake Josephine, looked similar in color and was a large lake like Swiftcurrent. The third lake, Lower Grinnell Lake, grabbed our attention and kept us captured the whole time we hiked above it. It was a cyan blue with rocky slopes covered in bright green grasses and trees. You have to keep hiking past the lower lake to get to the glacier viewpoint though, so once it was behind us, we continued the fight uphill.

We were rewarded with the stunning sight of Grinnell Glacier and Upper Grinnell Lake. The lake was a unique and frozen, milky blue with the glacier nestled above in the rocky crags. Glaciers blow my mind because they are fully solid and thousands of years old. The ones in the park are estimated to be around 7,000 years old. This link talks about the park’s glacier geology, and I found it extremely interesting.

We sat down next to the lake to take in the astounding view. One of my favorite parts was the reflection of the snowy mountains onto the still, blue lake. The reflected image was a perfect replica. The lake itself was amazing, half covered in ice with chunks floating about. Someone actually polar plunged into the lake, but I don’t know how they could tolerate the freezing water. I was pretty cold up there, and I assume it was from the altitude and the wind coming off the lake.

The hike down was easier in the sense of reduced struggle, but of course the impact from going downhill is harder on the joints. Seriously though, the views more than make up for the discomfort. There was also a waterfall that crossed the trail and soaked hikers as they charged through. We were some of those said hikers. We got soaked both hiking up and down. It was such a fun experience though, I don’t think anyone minded, especially since it was refreshing as well. We made it back to the car, packed up, and drove the 2.5 hours back to Augusta where we grabbed burgers and called it a night.

The weekend was far from over though. The next day was Sunday and we went right back to the park. We would’ve loved to camp overnight in such a beautiful park with tons of camping options, but Princess doesn’t like being alone for extended periods of time. So, we went back on Sunday through the St. Mary’s entrance this time.

“A quick note for first time Glacier National Park goers: This park requires passes for your vehicle to enter at certain entrances. You will need a usual park pass at all of them, but entrances like Many Glacier need vehicle passes as well which is linked here. Please do your research about entrances and passes before going so you don’t get stuck in a sticky situation.”

I was happy we got to see different areas of the park since this new entrance, St. Mary’s, led us to a whole new area. It also led us to the all famous Going-to-the-Sun Road.
The road takes you past incredible sights in the park, and has trailhead parking lots leading to tons of trails. We got to see Jackson Glacier, Bird Woman Falls, Three Arches, and Goose Island all from stopping alongside the road.

We were also able to go to Logan Pass to hike the Hidden Lake trail which gave us beautiful, exposed views of the mountain sides. This is a very popular trail, and the first half was all wooden stairs.
We saw tons of the park’s iconic mountain goats, and even a bear from a safe distance. Connor loves mountain goats, so he got super excited every time we would see one (shown in the picture on the right).

We could only hike to the lookout point above Hidden Lake and not down to its rim because the trail had been closed from recent bear activity. The view from the lookout was still so pretty though. The lake lives up to its name because it was sunken low and twisted around the jutting, rocky peaks. Quite a classic picturesque spot with the snowy mountains, glossy lake, spiky pines, and a wooden railing keeping visitors from tumbling down the steep decline. We snapped a couple pics before heading back down the busy trail.

We got back onto the Going-to-the-Sun Road for the deep valley and massive mountain views before flipping around and driving home.

I did have a back injury during this trip which was made worse from the arduous hiking. I had to lay low the whole following week. Unfortunately, it affected our second Glacier National Park weekend trip. We had planned to go back to hike to Iceberg Lake, but I couldn’t even walk a flat mile.

Instead, Connor had the brilliant idea to kayak rather than hike that day, thank goodness.
We went to another new entrance which leads straight to Two Medicine Lake.
There is a cute lodge and boat tours there around the perimeter of the lake. We were able to rent a two person kayak for two hours.

I had the time of my life out there with very little pain. I was floating on magical water with stunning mountains all around me. It was so special.
The water was a tad choppy with some chilly winds coming off the surface, but the whole experience was amazing.
I wouldn’t have even had it on my list if I wasn’t injured, or if Connor hadn’t suggested it as an alternative activity.

Sadly, we had to cancel our last day in Glacier National Park that following Sunday because of my injury, but the three days were absolutely incredible and I cannot wait to go back there again.

While we did all of these fun activities and exploring on the weekends, I was writing during the weeks. Most of the month was spent on my future book, but I wrote an article as well. It was such an interesting article because the original lead led me to a whole different topic that I got to learn a ton about.

The article is about a homebrewer opening a production facility in Augusta for his beer, and eventually expanding into opening Augusta’s first brewery.
Tim Little wants to produce and distribute his Tavernacle Brewing Company beers within the year. A few years following that, he plans to open a store front in town.

Interviewing Little was great, and he spoke about why Montana is the perfect place to brew beer because of the clean water and world-class grains. He uses local agriculture products in his beers as well.
I had looked into the agriculture in the area since my leads are usually focused on that community, but I hadn’t had much luck.
Until I spoke with Little, I had no idea that many consider North Central Montana to be home to the “Golden Triangle” where prized grain is grown. Maltsters worldwide are aware of the special wheat and barely grown there.

I interviewed a maltster, Ryan Pfeifle at Farm Power Malt, who grows a lot of those grains on his multigenerational, family-owned farm. They even sell a portion of their crops to Coors.

It was amazing getting to speak to these sources and learn about what makes Montana special in the agriculture industry. There are countless other products from Montana that are also unique to the area like bison, cattle, huckleberries, and more. I could’ve written article after article about all of these interesting products. Maybe one day I will!

The Tavernacle Brewing Company article is unpublished, but in discussion with a potential future publication. There might be some time between now and its publication though. I am hopeful that it will work out because I would be stoked to be in this publication.

The month was a crazy whirlwind as always. A month of time for us isn’t enough to explore and do everything on our list. From the first weekend with all of the crazy 4th of July festivities to packing the cars on the night of the 30th, time rushed by.
On a side note, Connor and I loved all of the 4th of July celebrations in town. I’ve never sat so close to fireworks before where debris from the explosions was raining down on us, still hot to the touch.
We were in the stands at the American Legion Park & Rodeo Arena in Augusta, and the fireworks were set off in the center of that arena.

It was so awesome to watch! We got to see the guys light them off and had them explode above us. Best firework show I’ve seen.

We also did some country dancing and made friends at the community BBQ before the sun went down.

We cleaned up the AirBNB and drove away on the morning of the 31st. It was sad to leave Augusta, just like leaving all of the other places we have made our home these past few months.

August Stop: Ingleside, IL

June Stop Part 2: Ireland and Scotland