"Montana - Aptly Named!" a Montana Travel Page by johngayton

Perhaps a month or so ago (Jan 2006) I read Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie - In Search of America" which I thoroughly enjoyed. The chapters on Montana, which he describes as his favourite state, had me particularly interested. In many ways his love of Montana matches my own for Devon, even though they are entirely different places. Whilst Devon may not have the mountain ranges there is a similar sense of space, of a country where the sky is king and we mere mortals but temporary inhabitants being granted occasional use of small allotted pieces of the earth below.

And then, about a month later, I decided to pack in my job, move my belongings into storage and visit America for 3 months (the maximum allowed under the Visa Waiver Programme) and do my own search for America.

As coincidence had it, a week or so later, as I was preparing for my departure, I got chatting here on a VT forum about Steinbeck and in particular Montana with, amongst others, EllenH, who lives in Montana.

Having visited her wonderfully evocative pages on Montana, my mind was made and starting from Colorado I decided to visit Montana (from where I am writing at this moment).

I have not been disappointed, Steinbeck rightly puts Montana firmly in the Number 1 spot. The grandeur of the mountains, the open spaces, the small towns with their initially wary but ultimately friendly, inhabitants, and above all the sense of space which I had sought.

I hope that I can do justice to the state on this page, though I know I will only be scratching the surface, but if I can give you just sufficient of a taste to have you seeking for more then I will be Happy.

46 out of the 56 counties which make up the State of Montana are considered frontier counties with an average population of 6 or less people per square mile. Compare this to the fact that the average state-wide wild mammal population is, 1.4 elk, 1.4 pronghorn antelope, 3.3 deer plus significant numbers of bison and grizzly bears and it becomes obvious that animals wildly outnumber humans in the state.

During my trip I saw variously the elk, antelope, deer and bison but the grizzlies were still in hibernation. I also met a lot of really good, friendly people. From the guy who helped shove us out of the snow at Wisdom, to the wonderfully hospitable Joe and Ellen at Hamilton. Other memorable people included the cowboy with an obvious love of his home state that we chatted with at breakfast in the Super8 at Big Timber, the two guys who pushed us out of the snow (Yes, stuck in the snow again!!) at the Days Inn at West Yellowstone and all the general hospitality and friendliness encountered at stop offs such as Whitehall.