Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front is place of surprises

Jeff — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 11:08:13 +0000

In his book “This House of Sky,” Ivan Doig described them as a “steel-blue army of mountains, drawn in battalions of peaks and reefs and gorges and crags as far along the entire rim of the earth as could be seen.”

“Summit after summit bladed up thousands of feet as if charging into the air to strike first at storm and lightning, valleys and clefts chasmed wide as if split and hollowed by thunderblast after thunderblast,” Doig wrote.

The Rocky Mountain Front, a marriage of opposites between the plains and mountains, has been inspiring writers and regular folks alike forever. The wall of mountains stretches 110 miles in Montana, beginning at the south end of Glacier National Park at U.S. Highway 2 and continuing south to Highway 200 south of the Dearborn River.

“It’s just like a work of art that can’t be duplicated anywhere,” said Gene Sentz, 73, of Choteau, a longtime Bob Marshall Wilderness guide.

The 2014 Heritage Act adds 67,000 acres of new wilderness on the Front, the first new wilderness in Montana since 1983. Another 208,000 acres is designated “conservation management area.”

rocky mountain front – Meanderthals

Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front is place of surprises