Galatan River Scenic Highway

The scenic highway route north from West Yellowstone follows the Galatan River . This road makes "scenic" an understatement. This would be National Park country if it weren't so close to Yellowstone. We came upon the community of Big Sky and took the detour to go look at it. This is one of the more recent mega-ski resorts with several Inns, condos and the average $5M chalet. It seems to all be for sale, but the prices are still as high as the country. Most places were closed awaiting the ski season.
The spectacular sited resort was empty of tourists and the surprised staff could hardly bring themselves to welcome us. "Hello, are we invisible?" Strange response from the hospitality industry.

I suppose it is popular to bash ski resorts that are on land better left to wilderness area, so I won't. Given the amount of board footage for real estate signs one has to wonder if this place was necessary.


On the other side of the mountain is this great valley with a little town named Ennis. Did they almost get that right? While the town had plenty of tourist attractions, the greater landscape remains recognizable Montana.

This loop up near Bozeman and back to Cabin Creek was a full day of sight seeing complete with a river full of floaters. A modern Armada of water revelers floated and bounced down the river near Highway 84 on the lower Madison River. Plan to take part next time in these parts.

At home at Cabin Creek, I smoked out the skeeters with a green smoker while reading outside. It's probably carcinogenic, but I hope that means skeeters and not me.