Three Forks Montana Archives - Traveling Huntleys

Last Updated: October 11, 2026

The Grand Loop Road was not built for cars. Army engineers laid it out for stagecoaches, and for its first decade nobody was allowed to drive an automobile on it at all.

Sandy Huntley at the overlook above Grand Prismatic Spring, Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

It is the figure eight of roughly 140 miles that ties together every major feature in Yellowstone, and driving all of it in one day can take four to seven hours depending on wildlife and traffic. We spent the first part of June 2022 working through it from West Yellowstone, Montana, about an hour and a half from Fishing Bridge. We were last here in the fall of 2020.

[Read more…]

Last Updated: June 22, 2026

Montana is one of the largest and least populated states in America — and one of our absolute favorites. On this leg of our Pacific Northwest loop, we pushed east from Walla Walla, Washington through northern Idaho before crossing into Big Sky Country. We would have loved to revisit Glacier and Yellowstone, but with New England fall foliage and a Florida winter on the horizon, we had to keep moving. What we did find along the way — a hidden ghost town, a cave carved by ancient seas, and a sandstone pillar signed by Lewis and Clark — more than made up for it.

Historic cabin with American flag at Garnet Ghost Town, Montana — a well-preserved gold rush ghost town managed by the BLM near Missoula

[Read more…]

Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone: A Stagecoach Road, a Basin That Blew Up and the Head of the Missouri

Montana & Idaho Road Trip: Coeur d’Alene, Missoula, Garnet Ghost Town, Lewis and Clark Caverns & Billings