Detour #314: Big Sky by Bentley, Montana, USA

Photo Bentley

A Big British car turns out to be a Brilliant way to explore Big Sky Montana.

If ever a country were overflowing with road trip potential, it’s the United States of America – a country of vast, picture-perfect vistas and truly fascinating individuals to chew the fat with along the way. Although these days you may want to pick your conversation topics wisely…

The agricultural landscapes of Montana might give you some idea of its folks’ voting habits, but the farming industry dotting the scenery also proves an arresting diversion – be it old, abandoned machinery, huge red barns or a shiny new tractor showroom.

This Detour starts in the almost Canadian-feeling Big Sky Resort, rich in premium hotels, plentiful hiking trails and abundant kayak and cycle hire. Well, in the summer, anyway. Come winter this is a bustling – and rather bougie – ski resort. For driving, we wholeheartedly recommend the thick of summertime, with a flight into Bozeman landing you in the throng of hire car roulette. There’s a good chance you’ll get something tall and chunkily tyred given most tourists beeline straight for Yellowstone national park (somewhere you ought to visit, too…). Typically modest US speed limits mean the keys to just about anything should spark joy on the roads around Big Sky, though. The fact I’ve got a near-700bhp Bentley, purloined from the British firm’s big media event in the area? A true jackpot…

Photo Bentley

While the route takes me on a circular trail of brisk, wide roads – basking in the view rather than brushing the outer limits of grip – it doesn’t hurt to start with a 10-mile run each way along Lone Mountain Trail, enjoying the Swiss aesthetic of the trees, mountains and chalets either side of an enjoyable stretch of road. Perhaps, with a decent budget, you’ve bagged a hotel up here, deep in the heart of Big Sky’s – well – big skies. Make sure to pop outside in the thick of a clear night for one of the most enveloping blankets of stars outside of a desert region.

Back down to earth, I join Highway 191 (aka Gallatin Road) for a 39-mile, 39-minute drive south that is broadly pointed straight, and thus needing little in the way of steering input, but whose laidback demeanour is helpful for ogling the stark cliff sides, rapidly cascading river and rich woodlands which bracket its progress towards Yellowstone itself, flirting with the Wyoming border much of the way.

I’m avoiding the nature seekers of Yellowstone and bearing right onto Highway 287, though, through a vast plain with distant mountain ranges drawing me along the shores of Hebgen Lake. Anyone would be forgiven for stopping little and often along here, soaking up the ever-changing views or pausing long enough to allow silence to drop and any hiding wildlife to poke its head into view. Expect deer, all manner of birdlife and a bison or two if you’re really lucky. With or without furred or feathered company, it’s a beautiful spot that already feels a world away from the more urgent 191 that led here.

Photo Bentley

This is me for the next 80 miles (or 75 mins) of driving, though with leviathan ranches to gaze at and the alluring bistros of Ennis for a bite to eat, and one could easily make spend the rest of the day mooching along these roads. The corners get tighter and the action a bit feistier as I turn right at Norris onto the 84, an enjoyable string of turns at Red Bluff awaking my inner driver and with abundant turn around points to gape at newly verdant scenery – or pop back through those corners to keep the blood pumping.

There are campgrounds aplenty here, too, for adventurous drivers with bear-proofed food containers. Or, like me, you can simply continue onwards to Four Corners for a right turn back onto the 191, through Gallatin Gateway and into a 34-mile run back to Big Sky and a well-earned beer and burger beneath its snowy peaks.

Every leg of this route is rich in trailheads and thus opportunities to hike into the wilderness surrounding you – just be bear aware if you do so (local shops are abundant in bear spray). I’d hate a classic American road trip to meet a grizzly end…   

Words Stephen Dobie

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ROADBOOK

CLASS: Scenic Drive

NAME: BIG SKY

ROUTE: Mountain Loop to Mountain Loop

COUNTRY: USA

Distance: 200 Miles

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