Five Adventures near our Missoula Location

by Mackenzie Ottman & the Missoula team! 

Life is better in Missoula for many reasons.  Each season brings a fun new type of adventure.  In the heat of the summer you can find Missoulian’s floating down the river, drinking beer at Downtown Tonight, or hiking one of the many trails our city has to offer.  The opportunities for fun are endless in Missoula, so let me tell you about my top 5 activities to do within 20 minutes of our wonderful city!

1. Float the Clark Fork River

True Missoulian’s know that this is most fun way to cool off on a hot summer’s day!  The usual float starts at Tamarack pull off. To get to Tamarack, drive to East Missoula taking old Highway 200, and it’s about 5 miles down the road on the right.  Once your tubes are in the water you can float all the down to Caras Park, the perfect place to get out and grab some food.  One of the best times to float this stretch is on Thursday night, so you end up at Caras during Downtown Tonight.  There’s no better way to end a float than with a Missoula sunset, good food, and live music!  Don’t forget to pack your own beer to stay hydrated during your float!

l Floating the Clark Fork l

2. Thirst Gear

There are two things Missoulian’s are really known for - their love of bike riding and their obsession with beer.  Thirst Gear has managed to combine the two into bike-like brewery tour!  Thirst Gear is a 15 person “bike” that will take you on a 3 hour tour of all the best places to drink in Missoula.  Whether breweries, distilleries, or dive-bars are your thing, you choose where you pedal, how long you stop for a drink, and you get to DJ your own music the whole time!  Biking has never been such a party! You can book a tour with them at www.thirstgear.com. 

l Manager Mackenzie and her friends having a Thirst Gear ride! l

3. Hike the M or the L

l View from the L in Missoula l

Need to burn off all the beer you drank from one of our wonderful breweries last night?  Hike to the M or the L!  Both are within city limits and give you the best views of all of Missoula!  An early morning or sunset hike are always the best - not only are they a little bit cooler in the summer - but they also are just so beautiful!  The M is especially pretty in fall because you get to look at all the amazing fall colors and it’s a great seat to watch a Montana Grizzly football game!

l View from the M Hike in Missoula l 

4. Out To Lunch/Downtown Tonight

l Grab some friends and head Out to Lunch is one of our favorite summer activities! l

One of the best parts of summer in Missoula is all of the free entertainment!  There are so many great local musicians and SO many great food vendors that Missoula combines them into one big party.  Out To Lunch is every Wednesday from 11am-2pm, this is a great place to escape from work, chow down on your favorite lunchtime meal, and maybe even stop by our store since it’s so close!  Downtown Tonight is every Thursday from 5pm-8pm, it’s the same thing as Out To Lunch but there are more drink options and different vendors.  Catch some surfers at Brennan’s Wave and enjoy some great live music at both!

5. The Bike Path

l Bike paths are the perfect way to see Missoula l

If you’re looking for a great way to see the scenery, take Missoula’s Bike Path!  The path starts all at the Kim William’s Trailhead near the University and you ride it all the way south to Hamilton, that’s almost 50 miles of beautiful biking!  The trail is connected to many other bike paths in Missoula, so if you’re looking for a shorter ride you can even just make your goal to get to Big Dipper Ice Cream!