Beartooth Wildlife Management Area beckons for PPL Montana employee
I’ve been camping with a group of friends in the Beartooth Wildlife Management Area, along Cottonwood Creek, for at least 7 years.
East of PPL Montana’s Holter Dam, the Beartooth area is a beautiful retreat. Bordering the north side of the Gates of the Mountains, the landscape connects to dense forests and rugged mountain ridges. Abundant hiking trails offer views of bighorn sheep, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and songbirds and raptors.
I feel a wonderful bond with nature when we camp in the valley along Cottonwood Creek. There’s a sense of isolation knowing you’re surrounded by hundreds of acres of wild country and unbeatable displays of wildlife.
You have such diversity in this land — sage and grass-covered valleys, cool creeks and mountains all around.
This place holds so many memories of group camping with friends and my daughters, Kalli and Frankee, and granddaughter Jazmynn, and singing around the campfire. There’s usually about eight of us, and we bring in our campers, supplies and four to five horses for our week’s stay. The kids like to go over to swim at Black Sandy Beach, near Holter, which is only a mile away.
The best part is seeing the stars in the pitch black sky. They look like endless troughs of tiny polished gemstones.
And there’s nothing like waking up in the morning in this wilderness area, smelling the coffee brewing and knowing you’re at peace.
As for meals, we make everything.
Our favorite gourmet camp dish is pleasant pheasant.
We brown pheasant in butter and cream and bake it over the fire in a Dutch oven with garlic and spices. Delicious. We also have steak and burger nights.
The hardest part is returning. It’s always a letdown coming back home with laundry to be done and settling back into a routine.
The great part of my job is working with my colleagues at Rainbow Dam and being on the Missouri River, where we produce clean energy every day. It’s always a good reminder of our state’s renewable energy tradition, which goes back more than 100 years. We are proud of that.
Access:
It’s about an hour from Great Falls, in Lewis and Clark and Cascade counties, about 40 miles north of Helena and 60 miles south of Great Falls. Exit Interstate 15 at Wolf Creek and take the Missouri River Road east to Wolf Creek Bridge; turn south on Beartooth Road, which runs along the east side of the Missouri River and Holter Lake, and follow the signs to the Beartooth Wildlife Management Area.