(But Watch Out For the Bears, Moose, Wolves)

WHITEFISH, Mont. -- The Old West was a land of adventure for thousands of Americans during the 1800s.

And it still is in many places. Particularly, this northwest corner of Montana, where grizzly bears and mountain lions prowl rugged peaks and valleys, snow runs deep on the hillsides, fish are aplenty in cold mountain lakes and bikers and hikers can seemingly journey to the stars.

Whitefish is where Mother Nature comes to kick off her high heels and let her hair down. A land of wild and scenic rivers, majestic peaks and rugged forests. Bald eagles and ospreys pierce the cobalt blue skies and elk, moose and mountain goats munch in the plush valleys.

Unparalled scenery and rustic charm make this area one of the kind of places where Ernest Hemingway could spin war stories with some good ol' boys at the Bulldog Bar or rock gently in a canoe while dangling a line on a remote lake.

This is definitely kick-back country. The only ties and jackets in town are on the executives down at the local bank.

What is Whitefish near? Nothing. Its 644 miles to Salt Lake City, 550 miles from Seattle, 269 miles from Spokane (the nearest city of modest size) and 385 miles from Yellowstone Park. Canada is 60 miles away.

And that's just the way many of the 4,600 local folk like it.

"I just hope people don't learn what we have here and turn it into another Aspen," said Jason Collins, while sipping a beer at the Bulldog, one of about half a dozen rustic drinkeries along the town's four-block long main drag. "We are already growing faster than I would like to see."

The town in the past year or two has added a nice new library and performing arts center. One of the newest businesses in town is the Great Northern Brewery, at three stories the tallest building in town. Visitors can get free brewskies at the Great Northern three times a day (up to two drinks per visit).

The town has 45 restaurants and several bars (offering some of the best bar food and house bands this side of Chicago).

This area, including the rugged Glacier National Park and its glorious Going to the Sun Highway (U. S. 93), get about two million visitors a year, but nobody ever feels crowded because the region is so rugged and vast. Glacier National Park (25 miles away), for example, has more than one million acres and 653 lakes. This is one of the last few places in the world you can get a look at what is left of millions of years old glaciers.

Big Mountain Ski and Summer Resort offers snow skiiers every kind of terrain on its 3,000 skiiable acres (78 runs, 10 lifts), from dozens of beginner/intermediate slopes to backcountry snowcat skiing that can let you get as radical as you want at the 7,000-foot level. You can also go zipping through deep snow on snowmobiles or traipse along on unbroken trails on snowshoes. You can even go dogsledding or cross country skiing. Or, try your hand at riding a mechanical bull.

Big Mountain is one of the only ski areas in the nation that offers a free chair lift from the parking lot to the main lifts (with a groomed run back to the parking lot).

Big Mountain, rated among the top 20 ski areas in the country by Ski Magazine, gets about 324 inches of powdery snow per season.

Free day-night shuttle buses move people between the town and ski areas.

Summers offer canoeing, hiking, trail biking, river rafting, fishing, horseback riding, eight golf courses, Indian reservation tours, etc. Nearby Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, offers 60 square miles of angling adventure.

Trips can be arranged through the Montana Adventure Company (877-223-0745).

Nestled between mountain ranges, Whitefish does not get the kind of weather extremes found in many areas of Montana (such as Cut Bank or Bittle, which are often subjected to extremely cold winter weather). Temperatures at Whitefish, protected by its western slope of the continental divide location, are usually in the 20s-30s daytime during winter, 60-80 in summers.

While Whitefish is relatively remote it is not difficult to get here.

The town of Kalispell is about 11 miles away and has an Amtrack (800-872-7245) station and a major commuter airline airport (Glacier International Airport) served by four airlines (Delta, Horizon, Big Sky and Northwest). Plenty of first-class lodging is also available, such as the Grouse Mountain Lodge and the Kandahar Lodge on Big Mountain or nearly 40 other options. The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce ( 877-862-3548) can offer lodging and adventure trip information.

On the Internet:
www.bigmtn.com
www.montanasfinest.com
www.whitefishchamber.org
www.golfmt.com
www.glacierairport.com

This story was published on 15 May 2002.