W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M
27
e ranch, an in-holding holdover
from the Civil War, has been passed down
through generations of owners to the
present-day Wallis family, whose mission
is to preserve its traditions while upgrad-
ing the visitor experience. "Our changes
will be subtle," according to Adam Wallis,
"we want our guests to experience the
wild with low-impact and high apprecia-
tion of its unique character and surround-
ings." e ranch is certainly unique, as
it is the only occupied dwelling in "e
Bob's" 1.5 million acre vastness. e effect
of zero population is unsettling at first,
though you quickly become accustomed to
the uniqueness of the place, as its ageless
tranquility envelopes your whole being.
"e Bob," as it is commonly known, is
a designated wilderness, named after Bob
Marshall, an early conservationist, forester
T
HERE IS NO MORE SPECIAL PLACE IN THE LOWER 48 THAN THE BOB MAR-
SHALL WILDERNESS AREA, and no more special getaway from "the clutches of mechanistic
civilization" than the small, rustic intrusion of the K Bar L ranch west of Augusta. Our first sign of
its uncommon character came with a warning not to use GPS or any techie-aid to find one's way to
the ranch access trail or boat launch. "No" to cell phones. "No" to the Internet. "No" to civilization?
"
For me,
A N D F O R T H O U S A N D S W I T H S I M I L A R I N C L I N AT I O N S ,
T H E M O S T I M P O R TA N T PA S S I O N O F L I F E I S T H E O V E R P O W E R I N G
D E S I R E T O E S C A P E P E R I O D I C A L LY F R O M T H E C L U T C H E S
O F A M E C H A N I S T I C C I V I L I Z AT I O N .
T O U S T H E E N J O Y M E N T O F S O L I T U D E , C O M P L E T E I N D E P E N D E N C E ,
A N D T H E B E A U T Y O F U N D E F I L E D PA N O R A M A S I S A B S O L U T E LY
E S S E N T I A L T O H A P P I N E S S ."
~ Bob Marshall
