Montana’s Bitterroot Valley – Elk, Horses, Ranches & More!

April 2016 – After towing our fifth wheel through the beautiful backcountry roads of northern Utah into southeastern Idaho and on up along the Salmon River, we continued on US-93 into Montana’s beautiful Bitterroot Valley.

In Montana we got out on our bikes and toured some of the winding dirt roads. What peace and tranquility we found!

This is cattle ranching country, and we had a chance to visit with some cows along the way.

Special friends of ours live in the Bitterroot Valley, and they took us on a driving tour of some of the scenic back roads.

Farms and ranches dot the very scenic landscape.

Spring trees were in full bloom.

Garden flowers were also in bloom, and we saw some wonderful tulips.

We have visited the Bitterroot Valley before, and one of our favorite towns is Hamilton. Four years ago when we were in Hamilton, we stopped at the Big Creek Coffee Roasters and met the owner, Randy, who, at the time, had just left a successful career as an attorney and Justice of the Peace to start his own coffee roasting business. What a wonderful change of pace!

He had been in business for only a month way back then. So, we were thrilled to see he was not only still in business today but that his business was thriving.

Unlike most little coffee shops, Big Creek Coffee Roasters actually roasts their coffee beans right on the premises, and Randy knows an awful lot about coffee. He had told me on our first visit four years earlier that the best way to brew a fine cup of coffee was to use a Melitta coffee brewer and Melitta filters and to pour almost boiling water over the grounds.

This is the way I had always made coffee — my family brewed it that way when I was growing up — and it is a great way to go if you live in an RV off the grid on solar power because it doesn’t require any electricity.

This time around, Randy taught me about coffee storage containers. I’d always kept my coffee in whatever bag it came in. Randy suggested I try an Airscape Coffee Cannister which has a double sealing system. There’s an airtight inner seal that you push down onto the grounds to squeeze out all the air, and there’s an airtight lid too. It holds about 2 lbs. of coffee and it has been keeping the delicious Barrister’s Blend of coffee I bought from him very fresh!

While we were there, a group from Ohio walked in the door for a cuppa joe. It turned out they were enthusiastic mail order customers who had fallen in love with Big Creek Coffee Roasters while on vacation in Montana years back!

Early each morning, long before it was time for coffee, we kept hearing the familiar and haunting call of a California Quail. These guys’ cousins, the Gambel’s quail, are common in the Arizona desert. We were surprised that some California Quail now live in Montana!

It was a thrill to see a little California quail in Montana, but an even more thrilling animal encounter awaited us as we drove down the highway one afternoon. Out of the corner of our eyes we saw a herd of elk circling each other in a frenzy by the side of the road. Curious, we turned around and pulled over to see what was up.

Suddenly, the herd bolted across the highway.

Luckily, the cars in both directions stopped and let the herd pass.

They crossed the bike path and then began jumping over the fence into a farm field.

What a magical sight it was to see them leaping over the fence one by one!

Finally, they’d all gotten over the fence, and they started running at full tilt across the field. What a sight!!

Our friend Bob is a longtime horse owner, and while we were visiting he wanted to make sure I got out on a horseback ride.

We had tried this once before, with mixed results, and we were both eager to give it another go.

The first order of business was to make sure I looked a little like a cowgirl with a proper hat.

Bob has two horses, Snipper, who stole my heart, and Little Buck, who is very calm and good for a rank beginner like me to ride. Bob showed me how to steer with the reins, and Little Buck responded to my every movement. It was like steering a car. How easy!

I laughed out loud at what a cinch riding a horse was and inadvertently squeezed my legs together. Oops! The horse took off like a shot! Don’t nudge a horse with your feet by accident, because that means Go!

Once I showed Bob I could do a U-turn and go and stop as needed, we started off on the most beautiful horseback ride together.

The pastures stretched to the horizon where the mountain peaks reached up to touch the sky.

My extremely patient horse tolerated all my miscues and mistakes, and we threaded our way through a forest of ponderosa pine trees. We got all the way through to the open fields on the other side without losing either me or my hat!

I can totally understand how people fall in love with horses and riding. This was really fun!

I also now have a huge appreciation for John Wayne’s horsemanship skills. How he managed to tear across the desert at a full gallop with the reins in his teeth and guns firing in each hand is beyond me!!

If you are traveling through Montana with an RV, I can’t guarantee you’ll see a herd of elk running across the highway or that you’ll have a chance to ride across the pastures on horseback, but US-93 through the Bitterroot Valley will take you past some wonderful towns and some beautiful scenery! More info and links below…

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More info about this area:

• Montana’s Bitterroot Valley Tourism Website
• Big Creek Coffee Roasters
• The route we took from Salmon, Idaho to Missoula, Montana

Other blog posts from our RV travels in Montana:

• Northwest Passage Scenic Byway (US-12) RV Trip 01/12/24
• Bighorn Canyon – A River Runs Through It in Montana! 07/27/18
• Beartooth Highway Scenic Drive – Dazzling All American Road – WOW!! 07/06/18
• RVing Central Montana – Great Falls, Cool Coffee & Amish Buggies 06/29/18
• Glacier National Park’s “Many Glacier” – Crown of the Continent! 06/22/18
• East Glacier Scenic Drive – Treasures OUTSIDE Glacier National Park 06/15/18
• Montana Road Trip – Wildflowers, Bison, a Mission Church + Good Eats! 06/08/18
• Ross Creek Cedars & Kootenai Falls – Giant Trees & Swings in Montana! 09/03/16
• Eagles and Hummingbirds in Libby, Montana 08/31/16
• Long Ride Travel by Horse and Bicycle! 08/29/16
• Whitefish to Libby – Big Surprises on the Back Roads of Montana 08/28/16
• “Going to the Sun” from Glacier National Park’s East Side – Breathtaking! 08/21/16
• Glacier National Park’s Quieter Side – Saint Mary 08/17/16
• Glacier National Park in Montana – Mirrors at Lake McDonald 05/29/16
• Philipsburg, Montana – One of America’s Prettiest Painted Places! 05/24/16
• A Glimpse of Cowboy Life and Cattle Ranching in Montana 05/16/16
• Ennis, MT & Earthquake Lake – Small Town Charm & Airstream Trailers! 09/16/12
• Nevada City, MT – Rebuilding History in a Vanished Ghost Town 09/11/12
• Virginia City, MT – Living History in a Ghost Town 09/07/12
• Dillon, MT – Sculpture, History and Hot Rods! 09/02/12

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