Alaska to Montana move...better outdoors and hiking opportunities (Billings: camping, living)

[kristina_no]

We are moving from Southeast Alaska to Billings Montana for family and job reasons. My husband and I are in love with the outdoors opportunities, hiking in remote and isolated places, being one to one with wilderness. I realize that places like that are within a several hours drive of Billings, but can anyone tell me if it's possible to find pristine and remote scenery outside of Billings? Is there still plenty of isolating wilderness left in Montana or is it getting pretty busy there? Any comments on the hiking and camping opportunities near Billings would be appreciated. Thanks!

[notoriouskelly]

With barely a million population, Montana's wilderness is still unspoiled.

It blew my mind to go into the mountains around Darby on a Saturday and see no one, or maybe a couple guys gathering firewood.

And this is going up one side of a mountain over a saddle back and coming down on the other side.

May 2010 - South of Billing- Bighorn Canyon- two other vehicles in the park when I shot this:


Big Horn Canyon - #1 - YouTube

Aug 2010 - One other vehicle on the mountain when I shot this at Placer Gulch South of Big Timber:


Bacon & Beans GPAA claim - YouTube

L-O-V-E- Montana!

[historyfan]

USDA Forest Service - Caring for the land and serving people.

This is a website for obtaining or printing maps of US Forest Service lands. The high country will most likely be Forest service lands.

Montana has thousands of acres of public lands, Federal---Forest service and BLM and National parks & monuments, State--state lands & state parks.

[MTSilvertip]

Montana has plenty of room to find solitude, and lots of wilderness.
Montana's lands are very diverse, Plains, Mountains, Forest, Badlands, but all types have remote sections as well, and you don't have to be far from town to feel like you are the only one on earth.

The biggest difference between Montana and Alaska, aside from the fact Montana doesn't border oceans, is the fact in Montana there are roads, you don't have to use a bush plane to get away from it all, or to access good hunting and fishing.

Montana has more huntable species of big game than Alaska, we straddle 2 waterfowl flyways, lots of songbirds, small game and wildlife. While we only have Kokanee salmon, there are a lot of other species of freshwater fish easily available.

Our climate isn't that much different from interior Alaska, Snow, cold, long winters,really, you should feel right at home.
The northern lights don't appear as much as in Alaska, but we still get them.

Billings is much dryer than Sitka or Homer or the inland passage, but within an hour you can be in black spruce forest, fir or Lodgepole pine. We don't have the alder thickets, but sumac is pretty close as are the groves of quaking aspen.

Billings isn't that different from say Fairbanks, little dryer perhaps, but the size is comparable.

Montana's as a people are very similar to Alaskans as well, very outdoor oriented, lots of fishermen and hunters, many of us live very close to the land.

It is probably the best state in the lower 48 to have enough similarities to Alaska to make your move pretty comfortable.

We even have Grizzly and wolves

Good Luck!

Just as an example, yesterday we received snow in some areas, today it's only 37 degrees. Not bad for the middle of May huh?

[kristina_no]

Very grateful to everyone for the responses. Absolutely excited about exploring Montana outdoors opportunities and seeing different species of wildlife. It is true that accessing the remote parts of Alaska requires flying in. And for the most part you end up flying in some nasty weather which made me very nervous. So I'm very excited to explore by car and seeing the beautiful places you guys have described. Love the refreshing feeling of colder weather, hopefully we can survive the few really hot weeks of Billings summers we have heard about :-)

[NDak15]

Originally Posted by kristina_no

We are moving from Southeast Alaska to Billings Montana for family and job reasons. My husband and I are in love with the outdoors opportunities, hiking in remote and isolated places, being one to one with wilderness. I realize that places like that are within a several hours drive of Billings, but can anyone tell me if it's possible to find pristine and remote scenery outside of Billings? Is there still plenty of isolating wilderness left in Montana or is it getting pretty busy there? Any comments on the hiking and camping opportunities near Billings would be appreciated. Thanks!

There is plenty of remote and pristine scenery all over Montana. Lots of space and lots of unspoiled areas. Billings doesn't have the rugged mountains many associate with Montana but you can get to them and also to the plains, which have a rugged beauty as well IMHO. If you get a chance and you really like wilderness you might consider checking out the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It's a long drive from Billings but a neat area and you will likely feel right at home.

[mtnlady]

The Beartooths are about an hour from Billings and offer lots of remote backpacking opportunities. There's also a lot south of Livingston and south of Bozeman, within a few hours of Billings. You should be able to find all sorts of hiking/backpacking opportunities in that area of the state.