I just returned from a 2-week trip to Montana, Banff, and Jasper. My wife, two daughters, black lab and I had a great time. We didn't do too much wheeling, but saw some awesome scenery.
First we loaded up the truck (the dog is the black blob on the right side of the shelf).

 

800 miles or so later we arrived at our first campsite in Montana. I little bit of BLM land near Terry at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Powder Rivers:

 

We took a half day to drive up to Tizer Lakes, just south of Helena. It was a fun trail and it took us around 1.5 hours to drive the six miles to the top. The 4runner made it easy.



The lab really enjoyed Tizer Lake

 

Glacier was a bit smokey so we decided to skip the park and head north to Banff.

The scenery in Banff and Jasper is spectacular.

Banff - Peyto Lake


Banff Peak


Jasper - Snaring River

 

By far the best part of the trip was spending time with my wife and girls. It's the simple things that make life meaningful:

 

Glad you had a great trip. Nice pictures. And wow, Glacier did look just "a bit" smoky. That's too bad.

My family took this trip (Glacier, Waterton, Banff, Jasper, Calgary, Edmonton) back in '94 and I remeber it like yesterday. We've seen most of this country, but it was that trip which has been my all-time favorite to this point. I absolutely love the Canadian Rockies. Also, the lakes up there with the turquoise color, and Glacier for that matter, are just eye candy and just so gosh darn awesome. CO has only a few like that and are quite small in size. They are just the coolest things, though.

I'm planning a trip back up there within the next few years or so. I only had a point-and-shoot with me the last time around and will make it right the next time.

 

I'm glad you liked Tizer. It is a fun drive, good exercise for the rig. You know what's funny? Did you stay in Helena at all? I think you were parked right near my house during your Helena stay if you did. I was driving around and saw a 4runner that looked ready to rally, it looked like your's from your avatar. Of course I stopped to check it out. were you parked on the west side of town, sort of near the CR Anderson middle school?

PS - how was it getting the dog into Canada? I've always heard that it is not easy and to leave the mutts at home if planning a trip up Nort.

 

Nice pics. I just came back from Jasper myself and man was it smokey. There are 3 different ridges on fire there so the scenery wasn't all to great. But on the third day the wind picked up and let us get some nice shots. It is pretty wicked once you get back into some of those back roads.

 

Tizer was fun. Lots of rocks an boulders but no real challenging obstacles. Needs a bit more erosion if you ask me.

I was in Helena for two days. I think we were on the west side of town. I was parked on Lincoln if I remember correctly - south of the cross street of 12 and the pizza hut.

It was easy getting the mutt into BC. The border gaurd didn't even notice him tucked in back. He didn't ask so we didn't say anything. We did bring his immunization records just to be safe.

 

It wasn't very smokey at all last week. We did drive by the Jasper fire on the way to the Miette Hot Springs (twice) and it was just smoldering.

The fire around Lincoln, MT was pretty scary. We were heading west and it suddenly got smokey and there were cops all over the place. It cleared up a bit after we got through town but then started getting really smokey as we headed toward Missoula. We knew about the Missoula fires and turned north on 83 and within a few miles it cleared up. There are a few fires off of 83 as well, but the winds were in our favor that night. I hear they got rain last week and the cooler weather should help out.

 

Yup, you were two blocks away from me. Small world....

 

We drove 900 miles the last day to get home. After waking up in Lewistown, MT we headed east on Hwy 200. That is a great road, but there are long stretches between fuel stations. The fuel light came on quite a ways west of Jordan, MT and I was glad I hauled some spare fuel the entire trip (btw, the sceptor can is awesome):

 

HAHA. Yes, this is travelling in Montana. Towns with gas can be few and far between. If you're travelling through some parts of eastern montana, don't let the tank get below half unless you know the area well!

 

I had a freaky experience in your neighborhood then . . .

I was out walking the dog after dark and a herd of mule deer scared the piss out of me. There must have been a dozen of 'em running down the alley. One was the biggest buck I have ever seen. We have rabbits in our alleys in Minnesota and seeing a herd of deer running through back yards, jumping fences, and crashing through gardens was quite a sight. What do you feed those things?

 

THey eat the flowers in people's gardens. Everyone in the neighborhood knows which deer you're talking about. There are two BIG bucks that hang out most of the time, one of them has a short antler. The other is a beast, he's huge. Last year there were three, but this year I usually only see two. They really like it in the yard across the street from my house. That's cool that you got to see them.

check out the picture. Do they look familiar? this is across the street. I guess I can't add the pic to this edit. check the next post!

 

pic

 

yeah, i saw the HUGE one. at first i thought it was an elk or a camel with a coat rack tied to its head.

we saw a ton of deer near Lewistown, MT. Over 40 mulies in a few minutes. Four of 'em were good sized bucks. Lots of the does had twins. I suspect someone in MT is running around giving the does fertility drugs.