Riding in Montana and Wyoming in the United States should be on everyone's bucket list. Everything from breathtaking sceneries, cowboy bars and breaking down in the middle of the night. I met Pete and Elena in Argentina on the second week of our March ride in 2024. They told me about their ranch in Virginia, USA and encouraged me to come up and visit them. I contacted them a month before I was going to the States asking if I could come up and visit for a week and they instantly invited me out West with them - two weeks of horseback riding and exploring somewhere I had never planned to go.
This blog is written by Stine
I arrived at their farm and ended up falling in love with their youngest riding horse. A four-year-old, one-eyed gelding with the personality of a toddler. Blitz had only been ridden by Pete and Elena, so he gave me a few challenges and tested my patience many times, but I was still convinced he was the one I wanted to bring out West.
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We brought four horses for the three of us to have a spare horse. Elena was riding her five-year-old mare and Pete had brought his little red mare. Pete ended up riding the spare horse. A red roan quarter gelding, as his spicy red mare bucked him off twice within the first 15 minutes of riding.
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On our 30-hour drive across the country, we stopped every eight hours to let the horses out to stretch their legs and have a meal. We started the 30-hour drive from Virginia to Fairfield, Montana where we met up with Charlie, a friend of Pete and Elena. Charlie works at a cattle ranch and brought his horse Gus. A slightly obese quarter horse. The first day we did a short ride around the farm and Charlie was telling us about cattle ranching.
The next day we drove off to Glacier National Park. We stayed at Hooks Hideaway where you can camp in your trailer and leave your horses in paddocks right next to you. They also have a motel on the property. It was the cheapest option in the area for camping with the horses. As we arrived, they were trying out their new lot of bucking horses that they had just bought. We got to see the last few bucking horses while Bill, the owner, was more than happy to tell us about his place and events.
Horse riding holiday in Montana
From Hooks Hideaway it was only a 30 minute drive to Glacier National Park. There is no extra fee to enter the park with horses. We had a veteran with us, so we all got in for free. We parked by the side of the road and saddled up the horses. We rode the trail to Cracker lake. We started off in the forest until we were in between two mountainsides and it opened up. The stunning views made the time pass too fast. The trail was easy to navigate and we arrived at the crystal blue lake and had lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, of course. If you can’t go with your own horse, there is the option to go on a ride with a provider inside the park. Despite my anxiety about meeting a grizzly we didn’t meet any wildlife. The boys were carrying bear spray and a gun in case of a grizzly encounter. The ride took us 5 hours.
We drove back to the camp and dropped off the horses. We drove to Going-to-the-Sun road and here we saw a black bear with cubs, a black bear eating berries and a herd of elk. Best way to end the first day of trail riding!
The next day we had bad weather, so we left the horses behind and drove around. Trying bear claws (pastry) and huckleberries. The following day we were well rested and ready for a long ride. Bill told us about a trail around Chief mountain, starting in the Indian reserve. (Note: you need to have a permit to ride in the Indian Reserve) We drove 15 minutes to the start of the trail and afterwards Bill drove the trailer to the end of the trail where we would end up.
The ride was adventurous and after a full day of rain the previous day the trail was a bit slippery. The views varied from open spaces to forest. The entire time we could see Chief Mountain. After two and a half hours of riding we made it to Slide Lake in Glacier National Park. From here it took us an additional one and a half hours to make it to the ridge before going back down. It was windy at the top and we jumped off and walked the horses for a while. We took in the views and started making our way back down. The last hour of riding was in the forest. The trail ended right by the border to Canada. During the ride, I had expressed my concerns and anxiety about the grizzlies but Charlie and Pete had not shown any interest in my concerns. As we drove home Charlie and Pete were talking about how the majority of the trees had scratch marks from the bears and that it was probably the worst area they had ridden in regarding bears. This left me absolutely terrified and very relieved that we had made it out without a single grizzly encounter. The ride took about six and a half hours due to the incline.
After four days in Glacier we drove back to Fairfield, dropped off Charlie and Gus and continued our way to Butte, Montana. In Butte we had to pick up a foal and drop it off in Wyoming with friends who would take her back to Virginia. We spent the night with a friend of Pete and Elena and went on a two-hour ride around Harrison Gulch.
Horse riding holiday in Wyoming
The next morning we drove from Butte to Jackson Hole where Pete had worked the last few summers, guiding trail rides and where we would drop off the foal.
In Jackson we let the horses rest at the fairground where they had stalls while we met up with friends and had a night out. In Jackson we walked around town and then went to the famous Million Dollar Cowboy bar. A historic bar and music venue since 1937 with pool tables, saddle bar stools and western dancing. A must visit when in Jackson!
The next morning we drove off to The Grand Tetons national park. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and as we made it up the mountain side it started raining and thundering, so we turned around and rode back down to the trailer. We did the Lupine Meadows Trailhead. The entrance for the park was once again free as we had a veteran card and the horses didn’t have an extra fee. Even though we didn’t get to ride as much as we had hoped to, we saw a moose and heard a bull elk calling.
We drove straight to Dubois. Here, we stayed 15 minutes outside of the town with a friend. We unloaded the horses in the field and they got settled. We stayed in a lovely self-built wooden house. The owner was a previous dog sled rider and full of stories. He is now retired but told us he used to have 200 dogs on the property and went sledding all over America, Canada and Alaska. Now he has his four horses and one mule that he takes trail riding in the mountains. Next year we are planning to go on a week-long pack trip with him.
Unfortunately and luckily we decided to go back home two days before planned as the weather forecast wasn’t looking promising. After two hours of driving, the truck broke down, but a helpful local man stopped to help. He instantly told us it was the battery and he and Pete got it back together. Ten minutes later, we broke down again and had to get help from a mechanic. We spent an hour at the mechanic while they were making sure we wouldn’t have any more inconveniences. 5 hours before reaching Virginia the truck broke down again with a new issue. It was 9pm and we were stuck in Carthage, Tennessee. Police arrived immediately and two hours later a local stopped and towed us to a safe spot. Here we let the horses out, tied to the high-line, and we tried to get some sleep until the auto shop opened the next morning.
At 7am Pete walked down to get us the part we were missing but then realised that might not be the problem. People stopped by and asked if we needed help and finally a mechanic stopped by. Pete and Elena had walked down to town to get water for the horses and I was trying to explain to the mechanic what our issue was. As it was a small town everyone knew each other. As I was talking to the mechanic another friend of his drove past and pulled over. He was a friend of Billings Crane who ended up being our saviours. They all came to help us out and as the truck couldn’t be fixed they offered to drive us all the way back home to Virginia. Not only that, but when I mentioned I had never been to a Buc-ees before they pulled over by the next one so I could experience one of the biggest gas station convenience stores and longest car wash. By midnight we were back on the ranch and the family of Billings Crane drove back home to Tennessee.
Next year we will head back out West and spend a month riding around the national parks, so if you have any recommendations and must see, don’t hesitate to send me a message on Instagram. Check out my Instagram highlights from the USA to see more videos and photos from our trip. Including our breakdown...
