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Great Falls literally has whitewater in ever direction. Within a 3 hour drive, you can hit a number of great waves. Here is an illustration.

I happened to notice that while most of Montana was having winter last weekend. Down in Livingston it was going to be 60 and sunny. That’s where one can find Yankee Jim Canyon on the Yellowstone River. Out the door by 9am had us on river at 1 after scouting the main rapids along Hwy 89. Running at 1400 cfs, the largest rapid was a lean, mean, boat stopping machine at that low level.

Once onboard, we all agreed that the snow laced mountains and clear blue pre-run-off water was a treat. A few mintues later the edge of our raft slid over the entry ledge of Boxcar into it’s two huge waves. Water sprayed over the crew, kids laughed and screamed and adults “expressed concerns” with the rough ride.

We floated out the rest of the scenic canyon. We watched an eagle dismantle a fish just 10 feet above us. Then we loaded up, grabbed dinner in White Sulphur Springs and were home by bedtime. #genuinemontana

Great Falls is really fortunate to have a terrific ski area like Showdown, less than an hour away. The tree skiing there is among my favorite of the many areas that I have skied out west. They have a fantastic youth ski program that has gotten both my girls skiing black diamond runs in a couple years with a minimum of tears.

Of course, the youth ski program also frees up some parent time. The King’s Hill has has a number of great backcountry routes. On this day, I decided to ski Deadman’s pass.

The trail starts right at the top of the pass on the west side of the highway, behind the forest service cabin. This route gets only light traffic.

The trail follows a forest road to the top of the pass. I often stop here, ski several runs on the steep shoulders then ski back down. However, if you have two cars you can continue across the ridge and ski a very nice slope down to Deadman Creek then out to your car on Highway 89 near forest road 837. Allow 4 hours for the full trip. I ski up to the pass and back in 2 hours with a couple quick short runs on top.

Early in the season, I ski up to the pass and back on metal-edged skinny skis. After big powder or later in the season,like this day, there is one exposure corner that becomes fairly technical and could result in sliding down a short chute into some trees; so I go with full alpine touring gear. There are several sidehills that offer fun powder in the trees so bring a helmet.

Man I live winter in Genuine Montana!

You have probably seen the pictures and thought that the Running of the Bulls looks like a pretty crazy scene, right? Well here in Genuine Montana you don’t just run with the bulls, you ski – and we aren’t talking about some domesticated, about to be a whopper, cow. We have real, free range, born and bred wild – buffalo. Well technically they are American bison.

Looking for some quiet time away following the COVID holidays of 2020, we booked a cabin outside Gardiner on the north entrance to Yellowstone NP in early January. We got a lazy start on a Saturday and still made the easy and scenic three-hour drive to Gardner around mid-day . Awesome.

First stop, geyser skiing! This is one of my girls’ fav’s, although to me its always surreal The Park Service grooms a nice rolling trail around the Mammoth Hot Springs geysers. A quick 40-minute ski on the trail yields great views including looking into several boiling caldera’s – on your skis.  We actually spotted some tracks that I am fairly sure were wolverine.

The Park Service has also started grooming cross-country ski trails on the closed winter roads, which offers a great backcountry experience.  Taking advantage of that opportunity, on day 2 we skied the Blacktail Peninsula Road, where we met up with a small bachelor group of bulls. Fortunately, they were content to let us ski by without incident.  

We timed our ski in late afternoon so we would return to the car around sunset. Stopping trailside, we offered up a couple howls knowing there are wolf dens on a ridge several miles off the Blacktail road. As we skied back in the fading light, we could hear the wolves in the far distance returning our call and watched some wary elk on the ridge above us.

I am raising two young kids in one of the most amazing places, offering countless adventures. Decades from now I hope their grandkids listen to these stories and wonder if they ever really happened.

Great Falls has a plenty of jobs available, great schools, 15 minute commutes and is one of Montana’s most affordable communities.  Consider a trip to find your own Genuine Montana adventure or make “G Falls” your permanent location and adventure your new back yard!