Montana is the fourth-largest state in the United States and one of the least densely populated — nearly a million square miles with under a million people. The landscape is defined by the Rocky Mountain ranges in the west and the vast northern Great Plains in the east, and the wildlife is genuinely spectacular: grizzly bears, wolves, mountain lions, elk, and bison all live here in significant numbers.
Glacier National Park, in the northwest corner on the Canadian border, is the main destination and one of the finest parks in the country. The Going-to-the-Sun Road, which crosses the park over Logan Pass, is a feat of engineering and one of the most dramatic drives in North America. The park is best visited in July and August, when roads are fully open; even in summer, snowfields linger.
The rest of the state rewards those who look beyond the national parks. The Little Bighorn Battlefield, where Custer's Seventh Cavalry was destroyed in 1876, is one of the most sobering and historically important sites in the American West. The university city of Missoula is relaxed and liveable. Bozeman has become increasingly popular as an outdoor recreation base. Helena, the state capital, has a compact downtown with good history museums.
Montana has warm, dry summers and cold winters. Fly-fishing the Madison, Gallatin, and Bighole rivers is world-class. The state motto — Big Sky Country — is not exaggeration.
