Western Montana

A litte about Wisdom:  Population is about 100.  The elementary school serves kids from K thru 8th.  It is located right in town and has somewhere around 20 kids total.  The highschoolers have to be bussed to Dillon, which is an hour away.  Dillon is the closest town to find a full grocery store.  It is south of wisdom...an hour on a dirt road..but it's a good dirt road.  Butte is also about an hour drive northeast.  There is a small grocery store in Wisdom and it has good souvineers. 

The town of Wisdom is something in itself to experience.  If you want pizza, you can take your family to the local saloon.........real cowboys walking in.....and real places to hitch the horses outside!  The town truely takes you back to the westerns, but these people are for real.  There are lots of other shops (not necessarily catering to tourists) but the town has all the necessities......post office, gas, sporting goods store, groceries.....

Wisdom is centrally located to many many attractions.  Anywhere you stay, you will have driving time to the many "must sees."  Butte is northeast, Missoula is northwest, Annaconda is north, Salmon Idaho is southwest, Jackson and Bannack and Dillon are south, and Coolidge Ghost Town and Crystal digging and Virginia city and Nevada city are southeast.  Wisdom is right in the middle of all this and is surrounded by mountains on all sides.  The Lewis and Clark trail passes through many nearby areas. 

My dad's house was right in town on Highway 43.  My most memorable morning was waking up to the sound of bellowing cows and looking out my window to see a real cattle drive, with real cowboys on horses and their dogs following, going down the highway.  (We also got mixed in a cattle drive on the way to Virginia City).  Being I'm from Georgia, that was something to experience. 

Another neat thing about this part of Montana is it doesnt get dark until about 11 pm.  The beef and milk taste of sage, water smells like sulfer, and the mosquitoes are big and can bite through jeans.    It was snowing in June when we arrived.  The only safe time to visit this part of Montana without running the risk of getting snowed in is June through Aug/Sept...........and unfortunately the mosquitoes know this.  The pain is worth is, though, because words cannont describe the beauty and atmosphere in southwestern montana.