Comfort zone.
My wife Mardi and I don’t hike together very often. She prefers walking the sidewalks in our Helena neighborhood or pushing our daughter CK in her wheelchair on the Prickly Pear Land Trust Trails. On the other hand, I keep in shape by hiking up Mt. Helena several times per week – pace is an issue as well. However, occasionally I can convince her to try something more challenging with me – as long as I promise not to be in such a hurry.

Selling points.
Some relatives gifted us a two-night stay in their Airbnb in Bozeman (link below), so this was a great opportunity for us to do a couple hikes together – Mardi’s idea! On the first day (Monday) we did a relatively easy 5-mile out-and-back hike on the Hell Roaring Creek Trail. When we got back to the car I pointed out Storm Castle Peak on the opposite side of the valley and started my sales pitch. I told her about the limestone arch near the summit, the nice switchbacks, and incredible views of the area that get better the higher you hike. I even showed her photos of my last trip up there with our dog in 2017, emphasizing how unique the hike is. Even though the Storm Castle hike was only 5 miles round trip, Mardi could see that it would involve a lot more elevation gain than the 5-miler we’d just finished, but I promised we would take our time. She was up for the challenge!

Tuesday – Game Day.
We had a nice breakfast, made the half-hour drive from Bozeman to the trailhead south of Gallatin Gateway, and started hiking at 10:15 am. It was warm, but we took frequent stops in shady spots along the trail, and stayed hydrated. The sky was exceptionally clear for this time of year (no smoke from wildfires), so we had great views of the surrounding area, including the lookout perched atop Garnet Mountain across the valley. It’s uphill all the way, but the well-designed switchbacks make the slope bearable – It just takes time, and we had plenty of that. We reached the summit at 12:30 pm, enjoyed the views, explored the limestone cliffs, ate some snacks, then started down shortly after 1 pm. The parking area was full when we arrived in the morning, and full when we finished the hike at 2:45 pm. This is a popular hike! (See link to photo tour below).

Post Game.
Mardi and I thoroughly enjoyed the Storm Castle hike, especially the  chance to experience it together. When we got back to the Airbnb we each popped a couple ibuprofen, then took naps. After that we cleaned up and took our generous relatives out for a tasty meal at Pizza Campania – It was grandioso!

FYI
Although it doesn’t feature the Storm Castle hike 100 Classic Hikes: Montana by Douglas Lorain is one of the best resources around for finding hikes and backpacking trips all over Montana.

Below: This map marks hikes that have been featured on bigskywalker.com so far, including several in Glacier Park – Select full screen to expand, zoom in for more detail, or click on a marker for a link to the post.

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