Enraptured by a Raptor FestBy Joyce Dalton
Atop the ridge, a raptor monitoring station is manned during September and October by HawkWatch International and Forest Service personnel. While their main mission is counting migrants, they are not adverse to answering visitors’ questions and helping them identify birds. A mounted artificial owl tempts some raptors to approach very closely, hoping to drive it out of the area. Their goal may be foiled, but official counters and visitors luck out with a closer view of the would-be attackers.
For two-legged wingless creatures whose endurance level doesn’t quite measure up to a high altitude hike, a drive along the back roads around Bozeman can be counted on to produce a goodly number of raptors perched in trees and on telephone poles. Unless you’re an experienced birdwatcher, it helps to have someone along who is. My group benefited from the knowledge, wildlife trivia and spotting ability of Ken Sinay, a naturalist guide and director of Bozeman-based Yellowstone Safari Co.
Raptor Fest visitors cannot live by birds alone, even when those birds are golden eagles. Fortunately, Bozeman and the vicinity boast many other attractions.
Named for John Bozeman, a mountain man and mid-19th century guide whose Bozeman Trail led to Montana’s gold fields, the town is home to Montana State University. The restored downtown section claims more than 40 art galleries. Historic tours operate several days per week in summer, but a self-guided walking tour pamphlet featuring 39 sites is available from the Convention & Visitor Bureau. The town enjoys a rich cultural life with a symphony, an opera and a dozen acting companies, including a Shakespearean troup. Sunset Hills Cemetery holds the graves of John Bozeman, the newscaster Chet Huntley and a number of citizens whose names were given to many of the town’s buildings and streets.
Opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, golf, rafting and blue-ribbon trout fishing are found just outside town. Easy excursions can be made to a host of interesting nearby towns and sites including:
Continuing south, the town of Ennis claims a main street lined with boutiques and gift shops. The environs are popular for fishing and floating on the Madison River. Retrace your route northward as far as Norris; then, return to Bozeman via Rt. 84, which runs along the Madison.
For gorgeous scenery, take I-90 east from Bozeman, then pick up Rt. 89 south to drive through the well-named Paradise Valley where the Yellowstone River separates the Absaroka and Gallatin mountain ranges. Once inhabited by Native Americans, mountain men and miners, some of the literary and movie worlds’ big names now call it home (or at least, second homes). For Old West ambience, the Old Saloon in the tiny town of Emigrant is hard to top. “Est: 1902 is written on the ceiling with dollar bills. Thirty miles south of Chico, Gardiner is yet another entry to Yellowstone National Park. While most visitors will want more than a day here, it’s possible to sample the park’s scenery, wildlife and an eruption of Old Faithful and still make it back to Bozeman, only 90 miles away, by nightfall. If you go …. The Raptor Fest is held each fall, usually early in October. Dates for 2005 are October 1-2. Bozeman accommodations include such mid-range motels/hotels as Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Best Western, Fairfield Inn and Hampton Inn, as well as ranches and bed & breakfast facilities. G Bar M Ranch in the town of Clyde Park (www.gbarm.com) is another good option. Among the many restaurant choices in Bozeman, Ferraros (406/587-2555) and Savory Olive (www.savoryolive.com) can be recommended. The town is situated along Interstate 90 and is served by Delta, Horizon, Northwest, Skywest and United Airlines. Contact Information Bozeman Convention & Visitor Bureau: www.bozemancvb.visitmt.com Bridger Bowl: www.bridgerbowl.com Chico Hot Springs Resort: www.chicohotsprings.com Museum of the Rockies: www.museumoftherockies.org Yellowstone Safari Company: www.yellowstonesafari.com Images by Joyce Dalton |
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Bridger Bowl, just outside Bozeman, Montana, is most widely known for its 1,500 acres of ski terrain. But each fall, visitors and locals tote binoculars and cameras, rather than skis and poles, as they head for the top of the ridge. Lifts operate in ski season only, but hardy souls who make the 2.5-mile hike (elevation gain, 2,500 feet) earn an impressive reward: the ideal observation point for the largest known golden eagle migration in the lower 48 states.
Approximately 1,000 golden eagles migrate annually along the Bridger Mountain range. With its 80-88” wing span, the golden eagle is undoubtedly the star, but numerous other raptors, or birds of prey, favor the same route. The bald eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon, American kestrel, northern harrier and various hawks also can be spotted. Thus, Bozeman’s annual celebration, the Raptor Fest, came into being.
Bird-savvy folks also are available at the base lodge with literature and information. One particularly helpful handout identifies species by their overhead flight silhouettes. At scheduled times, lectures about specific raptors are held on the deck, complete with live examples; my group was up close and personal with a great horned owl and a rough-legged hawk. It’s not only great for photo ops, but for interesting facts, as well. Slide-lecture programs and nature films, both at the base lodge and in-town venues, add to the Raptor Fest activities.
We learned that, like humans, raptors seek the easiest way, migrating around particular geographical formations to make their flight less arduous. Hawks and eagles find updrafts, sort of thermal windsheers, then sit there and soar, traveling miles without wasting calories flapping their huge wings. Similarly, they use gravity to descend to the next thermal. Fall winds in the Bridger range are westerly with very strong updrafts, just what raptors like for their long journeys.
His van outfitted with high-powered binoculars for each occupant, two telescopes that could be set up on open windows and another attached to a tripod, Ken pointed out four golden eagles, a red-tailed hawk, Northern harriers, a great blue heron and many smaller, but quite pretty, birds, 23 species in all. The drive also produced mule deer, American pronghorns, a dead prairie rattlesnake, picturesque granaries and barns, and the remains of once-thriving towns which gave up when the railroad left.
A stop at Parker Homestead State Park – at one acre, the smallest state park in Montana – proved evocative. Parker came westward with the Homestead Act of 1862 and built a cottonwood, sod-roofed cabin, now in disrepair. An informational sign reminds readers that “The Montana soil is swallowing hundreds of old homestead buildings like this one. Each takes with it untold stories of men and women whose lives brought them drought and blizzards, loneliness and companionship, fear and simple joys, much like we know today, yet sprung from a world that will never be again.”
Principle among them is the Museum of the Rockies which has permanent exhibits on dinosaurs, Native Americans, geology and Montana’s natural and cultural history. Three halls of traveling exhibits and a planetarium offering four different presentations add further choices. Many of the dinosaur skeletons, including a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the skull of a Triceratops, were found at sites in Montana. Signage often is clever as well as informative; one, entitled “Eggs over Easy,” describes how these mammoth creatures lovingly tended their eggs. An exhibit about Lewis & Clark displays objects the explorers would have seen, items they would have used and pictures and explanations of Native American ceremonies.
The Gallatin Pioneers’ Museum, housed in the old county jail, features household items of the homesteading era, Native American artifacts and a collection of carved Montana agates. In contrast, the American Computer Museum’s exhibits date back hardly more than a couple of decades.
Three Forks, where the Madison River joins the Jefferson and Gallatin, was a significant site in the journeys of explorers Lewis & Clark. At 560-acre Missouri Headwaters State Park, walking trails lead past interpretive displays which provide information about the expedition, as well as facts about local flora and fauna. Built in 1910, the Sacajawea Hotel is a Three Forks landmark and a good choice for dinner, refreshments, lodging or simply a photo.
Just off Rt. 287, south of Three Forks, the little town of Pony guarantees to enchant with a few historic buildings and an amazing metal sculpture of, naturally, a pony. Part ghost town, part living town, the historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places. Named for Tecumseh “Pony” Smith, a mid-19th century prospector, the settlement grew with miners and the railroad. Less than a century later, the mines, economy and population had dwindled.
A bit west of Bozeman, Rt. 191 leads south to Big Sky, arguably Montana’s most well-known ski resort. However, golf, tennis, fishing and other warm-weather sports can be enjoyed here, as well. The same road runs alongside the Gallatin River as far south as West Yellowstone, one of the entry points for Yellowstone National Park. 
From Emigrant, it’s a short hop to Chico Hot Springs where the resort of the same name offers 110 guest rooms in three separate structures, a spa, an indoor hot spring pool and one of the state’s finest restaurants. The quality of the food is matched only by the service and presentation.