Distinctly Montana Magazine

TRAVEL GUIDE For a self-guided MISSOULA WALKING TOUR OF THE DOWNTOWN, sponsored by the Missoula Downtown Association, view www.missouladowntown.com/play/historic-walking-tour For the ART SCENE AND LOCAL WATERING HOLES, see www.firstfridaysmissoula.blogspot.com For an excellent list of MISSOULA TRAILS AND CURRENT EVENTS, see www.destinationmissoula.org For area CULTURAL EVENTS, try the Missoula Cultural Council, www.missoulacultural.org For a listing of UNIVERSITY EVENTS, try http://events.umt.edu/ THE RATTLESNAKE: MINUTES FROM THE MADDING CROWD The Rattlesnake is the place to get away. Originally a sepa- rate town named Company Town and Woody Addition for the workers at Missoula Mills in the late 19th century, the area still has a separate less-hurried feel than town with its tall Ponderosas, deep shadowed streets, and cooler tempera- tures. Bears, each fall, travel down the Rattlesnake Creek, ignoring fences as they feast from fruit tree to fruit tree. Blossom's Bed and Breakfast, a four-room Craftsman-style bungalow nestled at the foot of Mount Jumbo, is a charm- ing place to stay. At the top is wilderness, the 34,000-acre Rattlesnake Wil- derness Area, where you can hike for an afternoon or back- pack to the 7,960-foot Stuart Peak. My favorite? The newer 1.8-mile Ridge Trial of North Hills Trail system, informally known as Peace Sign Hill (the peace sign is now gone, but a peace sign is outlined in rock in its place). Here the round humps of the mountains look like crouching animals and the cityscape spreads out, long and lean, from its roots—the river and the railroad—and you can count the five valleys that gave the place its nickname: Hub of Five Valleys. Spring twilights in the Rattlesnake are long, cool and best spent at Ten Spoons Winery, built in 1997 with a smashing view of Mount Jumbo. (Tasting room open Thurs.-Sat., 5 to 9). Celebrate a spring evening listening to jazz, sipping a Moonlight Pinot Noir on the porch as the sun leaves the grape arbor, the Rattlesnake Valley, and, finally, the evening sky. Ahh, Missoula. www.mustardseedweb.com 62 DISTINCTLY MONTANA • SPRING 2012

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