Bozeman, Montana

Bozeman is located in southwest Montana 2 hours from Gardiner, Montana, 1 hour from Livingston, Montana and 1 hour from Big Sky, Montana. The population is 45,250, making it the fourth largest city in Montana.

In 1864, the town was founded and later incorporated in 1883 by John M. Bozeman who established the Bozeman Trail (a dangerous shortcut for white settlers traveling through Wyoming and Idaho to Montana gold camps) Montana State University is located here, along with newspaper Bozeman Daily Chronicle and Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport. It has been on a few of the “the most livable place” lists over the years for fly fishing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, skiing, hunting and wildlife.

The supervolcano, underlies Yelllowstone National Park, generating the heat for the geysers and mud pots it could create a super-erupt anytime The Discovery Channel and PBS documentaries experts say this is “overdue” along with ruining the whole planet’s atmosphere. it will obliterate as far as the mid-west along with the force of more than 10x that of Mount St. Helen.

The Bozeman Trail was met with heavy resistance from the tribes of the Lakota Sioux, the Northern Cheyenne and the Northern Arapaho. Native warriors wiped out 81 US Army soldiers in the Fetterman Massacre and shut down the trail for good.

Places to stay in Bozeman, Montana

The best time to come is during July and August, when the weather is most reliably good. The last few years these months have been wildfire season in most states, with a high risk of smoke filling the air, blocking views of the mountains. The 2019 Road Trip we were lucky from all the rains and snow this past winter so we did not see one wildfire on this trip.