Due to regional wildfires, there’s been some really smoky days around here, but they can make for some really cool photography, as can be seen in in the above photo, the smokescreen creating a really red sun above lower sureshot lake with Hollowtop Mountain in the background (the highest peak of the mountain range), in the Tobacco Root Mountains.
It is my first time spending any significant time in these particular mountains of southwest Montana, and also my first time camping here, and so far it has been really nice stay, and beautiful area to explore.
I found a really amazing campsite right on the bank of a small un-named creek, really a perfect spot to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature away from the crowds, above two large alpine lakes that can bee seen in the photo below.
And being almost 15 miles off the highway and up mostly dirt roads, it’s a pretty secluded, surrounded by forest and plenty of open meadows as well, in part due to previous wildfire in the area.
There doesn’t seem to be as wide a variety of wildflowers as the mountains closer to Bozeman that I’ve spent most of my time in Montana exploring, but they are still beautiful, and there is at least one type scattered around my campsite that seem new to me, definitely not so common in the nearby Gallatin and Madison ranges if at all.
There are tons of roads and trails in the immediate area, making for plenty of mountain biking and hiking options, and Dakota has thoroughly enjoyed the rides and walks through new and unfamiliar terrain.
One of the most recent bike rides we took followed a steep Jeep trail up a ridge to a high point with some spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.
Situated at about 7,500 feet elevation, there are plenty of amazing views around, on the days when the smoke clears out, including of the upper sureshot lake below my campsite.
Despite the area drought, there has been a good amount of rain in the days I’ve been up here, and I got a really cool shot of some mountain showers on a drive up the road one evening, returning from a day of errands in town.
The Tobacco Root mountains sit due west of Bozeman, and are surrounded by small western towns and miles and miles of rural ranch country, north of Ennis, and I’m camping on the east side of the range. Although a long drive down a dirt road, it’s really pretty drive past a number of large ranches before finally reaching the national forest, and horses can almost always be seen grazing in some of the open fields.
All in all, it’s been a really scenic area to stay in and explore, from the sagebrush covered hillsides to the dense forests, full of lakes and creeks, I suppose it fits the Montana stereotype pretty well. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and hope you have enjoyed my photography of this scenic area.
I love the Tobacco Roots. I grew up in Bozeman and was just hiking there last week. I have been to Hollowtop many times. I have been to Hollowtop lake and then Mirror and Skytop lakes on the same trail many times. Enjoy the area it is very sweet and not many people there to mess it up. If you head west I'm on the Washington/Idaho border. Also Philipsburg and Pintler mountain range are some of my favorites about an hour to the west. Have fun!
Oh that's cool, I spent over a decade in Bozeman and the surrounding area before leaving to travel the west, did quite a bit of freedom activism there back in the day. The Tobacco Roots are indeed a pretty awesome range, I'm seeing. Glad I decided to spend a couple weeks up here, much quieter than the mountains closer to Bozeman.
My future is totally up in the air at the moment as I have no clear plan yet what I will be doing or where I will be going yet, but there's a decent chance I will be migrating west later in the season, as I've been in touch with a guy in Idaho I may stay with in exchange for some help around the property sometime in the fall and/or early winter. If I do head that direction, I will definitely let you know as it'd be really cool to meetup in person. I appreciate your videos and all the activism you do for freedom, keep up the good work in these crazy times!
It looks like a perfect camping trip :) Did you get any berry picking done?
No, no berries up here that I've seen as yet, but it is that time of year so I am keeping my eyes open, and for edible mushrooms, but haven't seen any of either so far. If I do have any luck, I'll probably make a post about it, though!
Sounds good - enjoy your trip :)
Beautiful post really enjoyed it keep up the great work 👍🏾
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