Welcome to the Forsyth Montana Picture Tour
The towns of Kalispell, West Yellowstone and Gardiner are known as “Gateway” towns to the National Parks. There should be another Montana town designated as the “Gateway” to “Old Montana” and that town is, Forsyth. By jumping off the Interstate at Forsyth and riding west along Highway 12 you will see a landscape that is a colorful mix of the 19th and 21st Century.
Forsyth is where you can say goodbye to the familiar, like traffic lights, Strip Malls and 24 Hour Gas Stations and enter a landscape they make movies about. The beauty of this 350 mile detour, from Forsyth to Garrison Junction, Montana via Highway 12, is you can return to Interstate 90 and continue west. Enjoy and soak up all the western landscape views because the Highway 12 corridor has changed dramatically in the last forty years and it’s hard to tell what will remain forty years from now.
Detour from the 21st Century
If you make the drive on the empty two lane Highway 12 during the month of June through mid-July the views will change from a vast open expanse of rolling hills covered with green grass, Sagebrush, Russian Olive Trees and an occasional antelope. Further on you will horses and cattle standing in front of the snow covered Crazy Mountains. More importantly you will see the last remaining remnants of the west before it was all “discovered.”
Don’t get the wrong idea, the drive is not flashy with excitement around every curve in the road. Instead, you will see a slower pace way of life that revolves around the seasons and not the television. With luck, you will find pockets along the highway with no Cell Phone reception where you can forget about the Crabgrass in your backyard and focus on the new world surrounding you.
Montana High School Rodeo Association (MHSRA)
We were lucky to catch a High School Rodeo during one of our visits to Forsyth, Montana. Founed in 1947 by Claude Mullins, there are currently 12,500 students in the NHSRA competing in over 1,100 sanctioned rodeos every year. Montana is one of the 41 states, 5 Canadian provinces, and Australia that is involved in the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSR).
Forsyth Residential Historic District
Founded by the Railroad, Forsyth Residential neighborhoods were platted in 1882 but much of the land lay undelveloped until the 1900’s. Forsyth enjoyed rapid growth and new prosperity in the first decades of the 1900’s. After 1901, domestic building styles became more varied when pattern books made the latest architectural pnas widely available. Now you can walk the neighborhoods northeast of the commercial area to see everything from Gothic, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Craftsman style homes. If you are not into architecure the area’s the cool shade provided by the tree lined streets is a great escape from the summer heat.
Don’t Fence Me In
Songwriter Cole Porter said it BEST… “Oh give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above. Don’t fence me in. Let me ride through the wide open country that I love. Don’t fence me in.”
If you want to ride through the “Wide Open Country that I Love” you need to jump off the Interstate at Forsyth and ride west along Highway 12 through a landscape that is still relatively pristine. You will see ancient hunting grounds, historic towns, majestic vistas and a colorful mix of the 19th and 21st Century.
Here are just a few landmarks to can expect to see along Highway 12. Railroad buffs can trace the path of the extinct all Electric Milwaukee Railroad. See a town name after the circular rock formation that was used as a natural corral during the 1880 Cattle drives. Admire the Crazy Mountains to the south and Judith Mountains to the north as you climb into the Little Belt Mountains. Discover pioneer log cabins hidden in the trees and bushes along the Musselshell River. North of the river you can see the 21st Century “Wind Farms” in Judith Gap and west of Two Dot. If you are a fan of Ghost Towns, old schoolhouses and idyllic country churches you will find them scattered along Highway 12. Improbable as it may sound, you can visit a museum full of paintings from around the world at the Bair Ranch. Afterwards, you can cool off in the Martinsdale Reservoir or soak in the Hot Springs at White Sulphur Springs. Once over the Big Belt Mountains you can roll past the 35-mile-long Canyon Ferry Lake into the State capital of Helena for supplies and a nights rest.
In the morning, you climb over the Continental Divide by crossing the 6,321-foot-tall MacDonald Pass. At “Mac Pass” you can grab a snowball and photograph the wildflowers before rolling into the town of Avon for their famous Cinnamon Rolls and breakfast. After meal it’s a quick hop back into the “present” as you return to Interstate 90 at Garrison Junction.
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