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Best Western Hangouts
Picture yourself in a boat, maybe a canoe, shifting your weight left to right to manage the river current. Fly rods reach past the stern over dry bags and a packed lunch. If you dream of hunting, instead, there's the wide-open ground, heavy hoof tracks left by an elk or a giant pile of bear scat, a hunter’s ironic gift of hope.
It’s hard not to wax nostalgic about towns with woods elbowing the outskirts and cafés that set their hours according to hunting seasons. Do these cow fries and buffalo burger really taste good or am I super hungry? Just one of the questions you have the option to ask yourself in a town like Alzada, Mont. http://www.travelmt.com/mt_sites_9889_Stoneville+Saloon.html, where the blonde barmaid at the Stoneville Saloon will serve you a cold one and shoulder your sporting arm while you fill outa hunting license.
Stoneville Saloon is real. You won’t find it in Louis L’Amour’s imagination or John Muir’s diary. It’s a place like many modern western scenes that take us back to our roots, recalling a time when pioneers depended on ingenuity and perseverance to settle the frontier. Many of us consider hunting as American as “one nation under God,” even as we roll through suburbia in Escalades. So when you roll, make sure you’re rolling through these fine Western hangouts.
Sheridan, Wyoming
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Where to find it: 144 miles north of Casper; 130 miles south of Billings; 156 miles east of Cody
What’s hot: Elk and moose haunt the Bighorn Mountains west of town and antelope, mule deer, pronghorns and varmints crowd the prairie. Everything from bass to northern pike troll the town’s rivers and streams, so if you can’t hook something here, get a new hobby. Toss dry flies to trout in the morning and fish for walleye in the afternoon. Bugle in an elk on Saturday and bag pheasants after Sunday service.
The Bighorn Mountains cast afternoon shadows across the ranches in the foothills, although ranching these days is less about beef and more about giving saddle time to Hollywood types and wealthy corporate kings. Or queens. Queen Elizabeth of England, who has distant relatives here, visited in the 1980s, and like any sensible horsewoman dropped by King's Saddlery, known worldwide for hand-tooled tack and ropes.
Locals say Sheridan is what Jackson used to be: unpretentious and affordable. The folks are friendly here, but if you visit, they ask that you “stay humble, polite and if you wear an Old West outfit, prepare to feel out of place.”
Attractions: A bustling Western art scene, an old-fashioned downtown and destination golf courses.
Population: 16,429
Contact: http://www.sheridanwyoming.org
Lewistown, Montana
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Bottom Line: Million-dollar views on a blue-collar budget and enough outdoor distractions to end a marriage.
Where to find it: 100 miles east of Great Falls; 120 miles south of Billings
What’s hot: A quarter tank of gas gets you near elk, pheasants, trout, wild turkeys, walleye and even prehistoric paddlefish. "There's so much to do just outside of town that if you hunt or fish there's never downtime,” said Dave Snyder, of Don's Sporting Goods.
The hardcore don't stop when the snow flies, either, ‘cause ice fishing is a favorite pastime.
Outfitters and guides:
- DC Outfitting
- Triple B Outfitters http://russell.visitmt.com/listings/11843.HTM
- Beaver Creek Outfitters http://www.beavercreekoutfitting.com
Lewistown’s Main Street hasn’t changed much since ranchers and gold miners settled here at the turn of the century. Croatian immigrants, who came to Lewistown when the railroad arrived, built many of the town’s stone buildings that still stand.
Surrounded by large cattle ranches and wheat farms, Lewistown remains a major trading post. There’s a lot of history here, too. In the late 1800s, cattle rustling and horse thieving got out of hand until a band of cowboys went on the warpath. The death and the destruction that followed are the notorious Vigilante Raids of 1884 and the killing of Rattlesnake Jake, a horse rustler suspected of murder and wanted in at least a half-dozen towns.
Attractions: These days, most visitors are after sapphires, not outlaws, said Sue Smith, who owns a bakery and gift store that sells Montana-made goods, including Yogo sapphires. Their influence is evident in names such as the Yogo Inn http://www.yogoinn.com, the town’s main hotel built from an old train station, and the Sapphire Cafe, a lunch spot for locals. Four downtown stores sell the sapphires, which are difficult and expensive to mine.
Prospector Jake Hoover found the sapphires in 1894, after failing miserably at mining gold. He gathered the blue pebbles from sluice boxes and sent them in a cigar box to New York’s Tiffany and Co. Tiffany’s replied with a check for $3,750. Since then they’ve made miners, merchants and the local economy millions.
Side trips:
Ackley Lake State Park
- Fish for 10- to 15-inch rainbow trout. Located 17 miles west of Lewistown on U.S. 87.
Giant Springs State Park
- Discovered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805, Giant Springs is one of the largest freshwater springs in the nation. Tour the fish hatchery and picnic along the banks of the Missouri River. Located 3 miles east of U.S. 87 on River Drive in Great Falls.
Judith River
- Ask for directions and, even then, one out of three people will probably say Huh? The river is pretty remote. If you fish for trout here, consider some advice from the Judith River faithful. Stalk. The water holds some big fish but finding them ain’t easy. Fly-fishing on the Judith River is like fishing on a spring creek. You need long, wimpy tippets, careful approach and solid presentation to have a fat chance at a large trout.
Population: 6,300
Contact: http://www.lewistownchamber.com
Las Vegas, New Mexico
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Where to find it: 68 miles northeast of Santa Fe; 78 miles south of Taos; 123 miles east of Albuquerque and 325 miles south of Denver.
History before the hunt: Las Vegas laid claim to its name about 70 years before that upstart neon metropolis sprang out of the sands of Nevada. With only about 14,000 people, this Las Vegas has more than 900 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, four grand old hotels (two still accept guests), and not one but two period-piece downtowns.
Las Vegas isn’t famous like other Wild West towns such as Dodge City, Deadwood or Tombstone but in its heyday is said to have been just as dangerous and lawfully rotten. Doc Holliday had a dentist’s office in town, and Billy the Kid hung out here. Teddy Roosevelt recruited some of his Rough Riders in Las Vegas and they often shot tequila in the saloon of the Plaza Hotel. So did Wyatt Earp and gunslingers Mysterious Dave Mather, Hoodoo Brown and Hook Nose Jim.
“Without exception there was no town that harbored a more disreputable gang of desperadoes and outlaws than did Las Vegas," said historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell.
The landscape: Las Vegas is on the edge of two ecosystems, nestled where the Sangre de Cristo Mountains meet the Great Plains. East of town, at the national wildlife refuge http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/newmex/lasvegas/index.html used by 250 species of birds, an eight-mile loop drive winds past ponds, marshes, grasslands, brush thickets and cottonwood groves. A half-mile hike leads into a box canyon that prairie falcons and cliff swallows call home.
Looking back toward Las Vegas from the refuge, the rounded humps of Hermit’s Peak dominate the sky behind the town. Tilt your head to the left and the peak forms a profile of a face peering skyward. The mountain in the mid-1800s was home to a real hermit, who dug out a cave and moved in. Now it offers a day hike that just might test your manhood.
The 9.5-mile trail rises to an elevation of 10,160 feet from 7,520 feet, and the view from the top is vast — mountains in one direction and in the other, the Gallinas River snaking down a canyon into town. In front of you, miles and miles of grasslands spread out, probably looking much as they did when the wagon trains and the railroad arrived to put Las Vegas on the map.
Hunting: Here’s a quick list: pronghorn, bears, elk, deer, doves, mountain lions, wild turkeys and Canada geese. Success rates are as good as it gets, and nearly everyday is a good day to hunt. Las Vegas gets 300 days of sunshine and averages 15 inches of rain each year.
Outfitters:
- Brazos River Ranch http://www.nmoutfitter.com
- Pecos River Outfitters
- Pecos Bar X Bar Ranch http://www.pecosbarxbar.com
Side trip:
- Six miles northwest of town is Las Vegas’ grandest old hotel, an eye-popping Queen Anne-style structure called Montezuma Castle. The railroad built a spur there in 1882, drawn by a hot spring on the site, and twice a hotel went up and then burned to the ground. The current building, designed by famous Chicago architects John Root and Daniel Burnham, is the third.
- The Montezuma became a stop for the rich and famous, but its popularity peaked in the 1890s. Down the hill, the hot springs — the original draw — remain open. There’s little formality — you’re on your own. And there’s only one rule: Wear a bathing suit.
Population: 14,565
Contact: www.lvsmchamber.org
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