The Best of Our Rocky Mountain Road Trip

For 3 weeks last July, my wife, Lynne, and I took a road trip from Cincinnati out to the Rocky Mountains. We visited famous places like Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks and lesser-known spots like Flathead Lake, Glenwood Springs and Hays, Kansas. Here are our favorite places from our journey. If you happen to be in the area, I encourage you to check them out.

Best Food

Honorable Mentions

• Pullman Restaurant, Glenwood Springs, CO. American cuisine, great variety, and nicely sized portions in a great, downtown setting. Our waiter was a doppleganger of Manny from Modern Family. How great is that? Good enough for the best eats on our Colorado leg.
• 2nd Street Bistro, Livingston, MT. Yummy steaks and potatoes were perfect after a day in Yellowstone. Our server was lovely and attentive. It was the best dinner during our Montana city exploration.

Best Brewery

Honorable Mention

• Backslope Brewery, Columbia Falls, MT. A former park ranger opens a brewery and his wife serves ’em up. Great story and the food was delicious.
• Lb Brewing Company, Hays, KS. Lynne’s favorite beer of the trip was a lemon draft from Lb. That alone qualifies them for the list.

Best non-Chain Hotel

Honorable Mention

• Moss Mtn Inn, Columbia Falls, MT is ocated a few miles from Glacier N.P., the setting was beautiful and the hosts, Troy and Jayne, were friendly, helpful, and, in one word, phenomenal.
• Murray Hotel, Livingston, MT. A legendary hotel on the historic stop for the trains stopping with visitors headed to Yellowstone. The lobby was a step into the past with stuffed animals, old West artifacts, and a turn of the 20th century elevator.
• Elk Horn Lodge, Cooke City, MT. Large rooms plus a hot tub, which was unique for that size hotel. The host was delightful and the proximity to Yellowstone is perfect – 5 minutes!

I highly recommend staying in all of these establishments. The accommodations were clean and inviting run by friendly and helpful innkeepers. No matter what time we checked in or needed help, they were there to serve. We were treated like royalty and spoken to like friends.

Best Hike

Honorable Mention

• Highline Trail, Glacier N.P.. An epic 14 mile hike around the mountains, overlooking Lake McDonald and a spur to view Many Glacier from the Garden Wall. We came across ptarmigans, mountain goats, deer, and marmots.
• Park Avenue, Arches N.P. I found this the most peaceful, awe-inspiring stop on our trip. Desert hiking is a favorite of mine and this place left me speechless. Read all about it in my article on Arches and the Great Basin.

Best Scenic Highway

Honorable Mentions

• Iron Mountain Road is a 17 mile stretch of road in our Black Hills leg which contained 14 switch backs and 3 pig tails. I didn’t know what a pig tail was until I did this drive. Wow, it would be super cool on a motorcycle.
• Clear Creek Canyon into Golden. CO. I loved this drive as it beautifully meandered along Clear Creek and the canyon walls shooting straight to the sky.
• Going to the Sun Road. It’s difficult to put this one last, but with such an amazing list, I think it fits. The drive up through the mountains is amazing and breathtaking, although not quite as white-knuckling as the Beartooth Pass.

Best Short Detour

Honorable Mention

• Boiling River, Gardiner, MT. So cool, but yet so hot! The hot Lava Creek meets the cold Gardiner River to create the perfect bathing opportunity. Get there early as the parking is limited. Read about our bathing experience here.
• Montana Grizzly Adventure is halfway between Livingston and Bozeman and boasts 5 rescued grizzly bears. The preserve is run by a caring owner who puts on quite a show and is well worth the price of admission. Seeing the bears is actually worth the price alone.
• Nebraska, South Sioux City, NE. If you are going from Iowa to South Dakota, but you haven’t crossed Nebraska off your bucket list, here’s your opportunity. We stopped for gas and a snack so it really counted.

Incidental Tourists

Other Notables

• Zack, Jessica. We hiked together from the Grand Prismatic to Fairy Falls. The newlyweds initially passed us and then came running back after they saw a wolf. I whipped out the bear spray and continued on to the falls. No more wolves and we had a great time together.
• Robert, Ollie. Two European gentlemen we met whilst hot tubbing in a Hilton in Bozeman, MT. We had an enjoyable time comparing experiences between the U.S. and Europe. Tremendous conversation.
• Ron, Sue retired to Idaho after spending their adult years in Pennsylvania and we met them while staying at the Moss Mtn. Inn near Glacier. We enjoyed the breakfast conversation so much that we decided to stay at the table for a couple of hour and skip the morning at the park. In no way have I regretted that decision.
• Lyns, Brian were experienced Glacier hikers that we met at Avalanche Lake. They gave us valuable advice about hiking in the park and then we swapped snacks from each other’s treat bags. Lyns had never tried figs. Now she has.
• Lee, Michelle biked into Glacier from North Dakota. We met trying to find the Trail of Cedars. A more enjoyable couple would be hard to identify. I took a picture of us but it is too blurry to put on the site.

The Grand Prize

The best part of our road trip was the people we met along the way. I started the trip wanting to see things I had been waiting for my entire life. A couple of days in, I realized that meeting all of these different people and experiencing part of their lives was the real prize. Everyone has a story and it was compelling conversation with many to get to listen to that story.