Montana in March: Hyalite Canyon

 Next stop was Gallatin Gateway Inn to meet Ann's brother Michael and his family. They live a few hours west in Dillon, but came east to Bozeman to ski with us.

The Gallatin Gateway Inn is the former station on the electric railway from Chicago to Pugot Sound where visitors to Yellowstone freshened up and maybe spent the night before the bus ride through the Rockies to the park. Now it's been lovingly restored as and inn and reception center. We had a nice meal together and enjoyed the Spanish Revival architecture, spent the night, and were up the next day for a ski in Hyalite Canyon.

Hyalite Canyon is a Forest Service recreation area for nearby Bozeman, and is nicely groomed in the winter. We parked at the reservoir and hopped on the trails. At start level, again it was old, wet snow. Grooming was evident but not fresh. As we climbed the mountainside on a forest road, we left the regularly groomed area behind and continued into the fresh snow zone. Again a classic western ski route, up the mountain until you are done, the back down the way you came. We the same variety of weather as at Lone Mountain. Gray, drizzle, sun, fresh snow, back to drizzle. Amazing the changes in weather with elevation.

It was fun, though not quite as scenic as Lone Mountain, and great fun to be out on skis with Mike, Jackie and the girls, who were home visiting. We don't get to see Brynn and Erin much now that they've left home and live elsewhere.

We got back to the truck only to find it flat. So we had snacks, put on the spare, visited some more. Erin and Jackie did some sledding.

Once we were ready to go, we had to decide where to go. Mike had to be back at work the next morning, so they were heading home. We had two more days in our vacation, and had originally thought maybe we'd ski in Yellowstone. But after finding that the roads had just been plowed in Yellowstone and the snow coach tours were over for the year, we decided to instead accompany Mike and Jackie home to Dillon, visit there, and ski with them on their home turf. So off we went into the sunset, over the two ranges to the Beaverhead Valley and Dillon. Always a beautiful drive.

The broad, high valleys and snowcapped peaks of southern Montana have always been one of my favorite parts of the Rockies. I often find the front range of the Colorado Rockies somewhat claustrophobic. Here you can see forever, and still have the mountains.