Lima to Wibaux

Day 1: Hamilton - Bitter Root Brewing

When driving into Montana from the south on I-15, you must drive through a lot of great scenery--about 210 miles of it, in fact--before getting to your first brewery and before clinching your thirst with some Last Best Brew made by Bitter Root Brewing in Hamilton.

About three miles before Dillon, turn west (left) on State Highway 278. You can stay on Highway 278, through Jackson, perhaps with a stop at historic Jackson Hot Springs, until you reach Wisdom where you turn west (left) on State Highway 43.

A more scenic, but slightly longer, route to Wisdom would be the Wise River Road, a newly paved Forest Service road (also called the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway), which turns north (right) off Highway 279 about 19 miles west of I-15. If you take this option, stay on the scenic byway, which follows a narrow route between the East and West Pioneers mountain ranges, until you reach the tiny berg of Wise River and then turn west (left) Highway 43 and onto Wisdom. Along the scenic byway, be sure to stop at Elkhorn Hot Springs. If you have time and have planned ahead, you can even spend the night there. Ditto for Jackson Hot Springs if you took the Highway 278 route.

In either case, as you drive west from Wisdom drive and assuming you have enough time, stop at the Big Hole National Battlefield where the Nez Perce fought off a surprise nocturnal attack by the U.S. Army. Then, keep going west until you reach U.S. Highway 93 on the Idaho/Montana border. Turn north (right) here and try to get up to Hamilton before Bitter Root Brewing closes (8 pm, except 6 pm on Sunday). While you taste some of Bitter Root's Last Best Brew, you can enjoy some great pub fare at the same time in the same building at the Brewer's Grill.