Continental Divide

Storm Pass on the Continental Divide Trail in the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness – it’s the height of summer…

Leaning into a warm west wind, we are breathing in sweet air and marveling at the immense cordon of mountain ranges stretching out in all compass directions.

Below us, in Goat Flat, a bull elk grazes and a golden eagle riding updrafts soars above us. Seemingly unending conifer forests interspersed with meadows color lower elevations. One can only imagine the wealth of wildlife in this undisturbed geography.

This experience and others like it are readily available on Montana’s Southwest realm of the Continental Divide Trail.

Montana claims 820 miles of this 3100-mile-long passage that winds the length of the Rocky Mountains and Southwest Montana holds 700 miles of it. Access is easy from many communities along the way … Lincoln, Helena, Butte, Wisdom, and Lima.