Autumn was beginning in earnest when I arrived at my son’s place outside Whitefish, Montana, in
early October. It was great to see him and his girlfriend Alex. He had just finished his summer season
as the chef de cuisine - head chef - of the well-known and respected www.cafekandahar.com at Big Mountain outside Whitefish. He would be off work until December. We immediately put together plans to fly fish Montana for a week. The trip would have been longer, but he and Alex had to move into a new house by the first of November.

We packed his roomy Nisson Pathfinder Armada and headed out on HWY 200 to the MO (Missouri River)
southeast of Great Falls, traveled to Kalispell, Bigfork, Seely Lake, Lincoln, turned onto Hwy 434 for a short jaunt to Wolf Creek. Wolf Creek Anglers would be our home for the next two evenings. At $95 a night, it was well worth it. The third night we camped at Pelican Point Campground between Cascade and Craig. It was a wonderful non-fee encampment under old native cottonwood trees beside the mighty and beautiful Missouri.

Fishing the MO (Missouri River) and Flint Creek

The Missouri is world-class fly fishing. The fish didn’t seem to buy into that manifest though, and it
became ‘world-class fly casting with few results’ compared to the previous year when we had done quite
well. We still caught a handful of nice rainbow and brown trout, Steen being the most successful. Our
friend and guide, Peter O’Hearn, captained his drift boat and the three of us shared rowing. The slow fishing was offset by stellar scenery.

After a leisurely breakdown of our camp on the third morning, Peter returned home to Columbia Falls. Steen and I took Interstate 10 to Helena, turning west on Hwy 12 which took us along the picturesque Little Blackfoot River. That led to Interstate 90 and a 21 mile drive to Drummond where we turned south on Hwy 1, and made our way to our friend’s Wight Ranch outside Hall. The ranch has been in the Wight family since 1869. Our Tulelake, California, friend Jace Burrier married Breanna Wight, daughter of the ranch owner. He now manages the ranch which has a few miles of Flint Creek running through it. We camped along the creek for a couple of nights, fly fishing for rainbow and German brown trout. I caught and released a beautiful brown one early morning while Steen slept. We saw deer and moose along the creek, and had a campfire both nights along the lovely autumn creek. It was endearing father and son time.

Journey to Philipsburg, Anaconda and Wisdom

We opted for the roads less traveled to get to our destination of Wisdom, where a wonderful
bunkhouse—compliments of friends Cynthia and Andy Baldauf—awaited us. On my visit to see my son,
I had visited Wisdom and was eager to get back. At Helena’s Costco Store, we had purchased some
lovely lamb chops and other culinary delights that Steen would prepare for our friends and ourselves.
Heading south on Hwy 1, we veered briefly to drive down picturesque Philipsburg’s main street.

The old mining town (known for sapphires) is like a scene out of a Hallmark movie with its attractive
buildings and variety of businesses enticing tourists and retirees. Famous actresses Kate Bosworth and
Scarlet Johansson had their separate weddings there within the last ten years. Singer and TV star Kelly
Clarkson has a ranch in the mountains near here, close to Discovery Basin Ski Area. Steen and I took
a detour (Hwy 1 was closed near Georgetown Lake) and traveled dirt/gravel roads passing by Clarkson’s
ranch.

We eventually found pavement again which took us to the lively large town of Anaconda. Colorado
has nothing on the autumn scenery in this neck of the woods. Large autumnal aspen stands stood out like
glowing gems, surrounded by evergreens. I made a mental note to come back and spend more time
exploring this area. In Anaconda, we picked up a few more supplies as we would be off the shopping grid
for the next few days.

Just outside Anaconda, we turned south again, taking the lightly traveled Hwy 569 which came out at Hwy 43 and the famous Big Hole River, a fabled river that I had fished out of Melrose in 1998. We crossed the Continental Divide with the Anaconda Range to our west, which included several ten-thousand foot tall peaks, glistening with fresh snow. This little-known road was one of those ‘I’ve died and gone to Heaven roads’!

There was minimal traffic and the scenery was sublime. We stopped many times to photograph autumn at its finest.

Wisdom and Yellowstone TV Series 1923

At Hwy 43, we followed the Big Hole River all the way to the Daniel's Ranch--which Andy and Cynthia have rented the last 20 years--where the bunkhouse awaited us. We arrived at the ranch before our friends, Cynthia and Andy Baldauf, as they were busy working on the Yellowstone TV series 1923 in Deer Lodge. The Big Hole River was once named Wisdom by Lewis and Clark. Though the name didn’t stick on the river, it did stick with the town which sports a robust population
of 100, with many of the streets still dirt and gravel. Wisdom is a throwback to another era with ranching
and sport fishing/hunting the main activities. "Valley of 10,000 Haystacks" is another name given to the
Big Hole Valley because many of the modern ranchers in the valley still use the "beaverslide," an early
1900s hay stacking technique. The stacked hay looks like large loaves of bread.

The following day, the Baldaufs went back to the movie set while Steen and I made a driving loop,
taking Hwy 278 south to Jackson where the famous Jackson Hot Spring Lodge is located. Then we proceeded north to Polaris and Maverick Mountain Ski Area. We took a little side dirt road to Elkhorn Hot Springs, but they were closed for the day, although we heard plenty of music and laughter inside the building. Must’ve been a private party.

Traveling through the Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest, we crossed the Pioneer Mountains Scenic
Byways summit and soon-after, started fly fishing Wise River. Beautiful water but we got skunked. We
headed to the little hamlet of Wise River and from there followed the Big Hole back to the ranch.

Darby Hamilton and Back to Whitefish

After bidding goodbye to our wonderful hosts, on the third day we headed back to Whitefish via
Darby, Hamilton, Stevensville and Missoula. South of Darby, I photographed a small herd of bighorn
sheep near the road. Darby is a quaint town and the main site of the active filming of Yellowstone and the
Dutton family. Outside of Hamilton, we stopped at the Riverside Daly Mansion. Autumn colors were
singing on the short lane to the mansion. Because of time, we decided not to go inside the mansion (built
from copper magnate Marcus Daly funds) saving such for a later day. Colonial revival architecture is the
theme of the impressive mansion which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The road from Darby to Missoula has changed drastically from my last trip there less than ten
years ago. This long valley is bursting out of its seams with growth, unfortunately taking over a lot of the
farm and ranch-lands. Seems like everyone wants their ranchette with a few acres. The unfortunate part is
the demise of wildlife as more and more fences are built, disrupting wildlife movements and migration
patterns.

Whitefish and Glacier National Park

	Upon arriving back at Steen’s place, we busied ourselves for the next two weeks preparing and eventually moving him and Alex to a new location, right on the edge of Glacier National Park. In my spare time, I did some autumn backroads, gathering stock photography. One wonderful surprise was driving the road that circles half of Whitefish Lake. There is no road that goes all around the lake. A light rain was falling and the autumn colors were imbued with even more saturation, pulsing with bright and subtle hues. Lucky are the souls that have homes along this stretch. I drove to the access road’s end, turned around and drove back, equally enchanted by the return trip. Near Steen’s new digs off Blankenship Road, I explored some places in Glacier National Park that I had never been to. The Going to the Sun Road was closed for the season, but that didn’t matter, as there were plenty of back and side roads en route to Polebridge and other places. Steen joined me on one of the jaunts and we did a little fly fishing on the way. Note: you don’t need a license to fish Glacier National Park.

Mount Vernon, Leavenworth, Washington and Mount Baker Ski Area

A few days after getting my son and his lady Alex moved in, I packed and headed back home,
taking the long way, including two weeks at my cousin’s place in Mount Vernon. When I hit Spokane, I
elected to take the road less traveled Hwy 2 all the way to Everett. My first evening was spent in the
charming farming community of Wilbur. I stayed at the Willows Motel (509-647-2100). No extra bells
and whistles, just simple lodging. I watched a game of the World Series and did some reading. I had to
laugh when I saw this in the Willows ad: “Fish cleaning and deer hanging stations available.”

Making my way across Washington’s wheat-land the following day, I got caught in the first snow
storm of the season, at times driving on packed snow and other times making fresh tracks. The snow
stopped when I arrived at Hwy 97 on the Columbia River. Passing on the edge of Wenatchee, I then headed to Christmas Bavarian Town USA, Leavenworth. I parked for half an hour and walked around the central plaza with Christmas decorations and lights at full-tilt-boogy in early November, way before
Thanksgiving. I crossed the Cascades, past Stevens Pass and the Ski Area without any problems. It was a
winter wonderland in November! In early evening I made my way to Mount Vernon and my cousin’s
front door.

The following two weeks, I did a lot of exploring, including going to Mount Baker Ski Area which
had just opened. Part 3 of my two-month autumn sojourn will appear in another Highonadventure this
coming year.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Larry Turner is a productive, respected regional, national and international photographer/writer. His work has appeared in countless magazines and books, including Browntrout and Avalanche Publishers' calendars and books, American Heritage, National Geographic Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Sunset and many others. He is the co-author of the book Mount Shasta Reflections, and his photographs have appeared on covers of many books and magazines.  He is an active skier, gardener, fly fisherman,  and adventurer. His greatest love is spending time with his son Steen, Chef de Cuisine of the Cafe Kandahar in Whitefish, Montana