Rating: 
Summary: GREAT!!!
Review: For someone traveling in Montana, or a new resident, this book is a must! More information on traveling in Montana than all the others I've seen combined!
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Summary: The Ultimate Montana Atlas was all I needed.
Review: I arrived in Bozeman with almost no knowledge of the area but eager to explore. The "Atlas" was all I needed to get pretty much wherever I wanted to go. I explored just about every nook and cranny of the greater Bozeman area and many of the surrounding paradises via drives and hikes I had found out about from the book. The book helped me scout out some beautiful camping spots and cabins which will be great for when I bring the whole family out this summer. The supporting background stories and trivia really made the areas I visited come alive. I can't wait for my next visit, and won't be leaving home without my "Ultimate Montana Atlas!"
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Montana Atlas was all I needed.
Review: I arrived in Bozeman with almost no knowledge of the area but eager to explore. The "Atlas" was all I needed to get pretty much wherever I wanted to go. I explored just about every nook and cranny of the greater Bozeman area and many of the surrounding paradises via drives and hikes I had found out about from the book. The book helped me scout out some beautiful camping spots and cabins which will be great for when I bring the whole family out this summer. The supporting background stories and trivia really made the areas I visited come alive. I can't wait for my next visit, and won't be leaving home without my "Ultimate Montana Atlas!"
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Summary: More info than I learned in 30 years
Review: I have traveled around Montana for pleasure and work for many years. I took some pride in knowing the names of mountain ranges, the best little restaurants, and of course the nicest hot springs at which to spend the night. Then I picked up this guide and found out there was a whole lot more I could know about each of my favorite stops, not to mention the places I haven't been.
I have been to enough of these Montana communities that I know their is more than enough information in this guide, about any community in Montana, that now I take it with me when I travel the state to learn more about each community I pass through.
Once I understood the format, and used it as a tourist - serious about experiencing and learning about Montana - would, I new that I had gotten more than my monies worth.
If my daughter was still young, I would use this book to teach her interesting facts on Montana as we travel the state.
Rating:
Summary: More info than I learned in 30 years
Review: I have traveled around Montana for pleasure and work for many years. I took some pride in knowing the names of mountain ranges, the best little restaurants, and of course the nicest hot springs at which to spend the night. Then I picked up this guide and found out there was a whole lot more I could know about each of my favorite stops, not to mention the places I haven't been.
I have been to enough of these Montana communities that I know their is more than enough information in this guide, about any community in Montana, that now I take it with me when I travel the state to learn more about each community I pass through.
Once I understood the format, and used it as a tourist - serious about experiencing and learning about Montana - would, I new that I had gotten more than my monies worth.
If my daughter was still young, I would use this book to teach her interesting facts on Montana as we travel the state.
Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Travel Guide!
Review: Just after graduating college in May 2003, I moved to Montana. Since my move, I have been using the Ultimate Montana travel guide to design my adventures through the cities and backroads of Montana. My hiking, camping, fishing, dining, lodging, and travel experiences have been greatly enhanced by this incredibly easy to use book! This book is a must have for visitors and Montana residents alike. With the assistance of this book, I have been able to get a stellar introduction to the beautiful state of Montana, and will continue to use the book for my up and coming travels and excursions! A FANTASTIC book!!!
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Summary: Montana.....all you ever wanted to know, and then some!
Review: This is the best guide book I've ever purchased. It's huge, with so many pictures and information - really all you'd ever need to know. The author has historical and local info, as well as reviews of restaurants, hotels, B&B's etc. Maps, phone numbers, detailed info on parks, and the book is organized very helpfully by different areas of the state. If only all travel books were this helpful! I recommend it very highly - even if you just want to learn more about Montana. I need one of these books for my own state. :) Enjoy!
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Summary: Fantastic Guidebook to Montana & Yellowstone
Review: This is the best guide book I've ever purchased. It's huge, with so many pictures and information - really all you'd ever need to know. The author has historical and local info, as well as reviews of restaurants, hotels, B&B's etc. Maps, phone numbers, detailed info on parks, and the book is organized very helpfully by different areas of the state. If only all travel books were this helpful! I recommend it very highly - even if you just want to learn more about Montana. I need one of these books for my own state. :) Enjoy!
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Summary: relocator's dream!!!!!
Review: We are rolling around the idea of packing it all up and moving it to Montana. This is the most incredible book for such an endeavor!!! It gives weather and climate info, elevations, and every other thing I could have EVER thought to ask and all arramged by sections of the state! I am impressed. This is not for tucking in your back pocket though, it's extensive.
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Summary: The Ultimate Guide to Montana. Really.
Review: With a skepticism born of the east coast, my tendency upon seeing something described as "the ultimate" is a "Yeah, right" response. But in this case, they may be on to something. "The Ultimate Montana Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia" by Michael Dougherty and Heidi Pfeil Dougherty is an incredible compendium of facts, stories, information, advice, suggestions and observations. The Doughertys call this book "the essential reference guide to the treasure state," and that's an accurate description.I like to read guide books, and I have stacks of them that I've perused: of places I've been, of places I'm going, of places I'll never visit. As an inveterate reader of guide books, not to mention a traveler to some of Montana's most arcane and unusual places, as well as being a collector of trivia, information and gossip, I didn't expect there to be much in this book that I hadn't seen already. I was wrong. It was chock full of unusual and interesting information, and it was all I could do not to grab my keys, jump in the car and head for parts heretofore unknown.This book still had things to tell me. The entry for Livingston puzzled me as I couldn't figure out what criteria had been used to give commercial establishments a big write-up or to essentially pass them by with a simple mention. A phone call to the writer-editor-publisher shed light on this mystery. Those commercial establishments that got big write ups paid for them. I'm not certain what my philosophy is about this . . . certainly Triple A does much the same. I felt better after I knew that's how the decision was made, because you can use the appropriate pinch of salt, just as you would when reading an ad. Publisher Michael Dougherty explained that this revenue greatly helped to pay for this project and certainly they would have had to have charged a lot more than thirty bucks for this book without that. Still, there are also entries that are clearly included because the Doughertys were enthralled by them, and those are the pieces that make for the most engaging reading. This guide covers everything from kitsch to class, with everything in between. For eclectic travelers it really is a treasure trove. Because they want to make this the ultimate guide to Montana, they'd like to hear from readers about great stuff they might have missed. The Washoe Theatre in Anaconda, for instance. This was an immense project and that they manage to include as much stuff as they did, stuffed into a reasonably sized package of a book (about the size of the Spokane phone book) is quite an accomplishment. You can't fault them for missing a thing or two, and if you call them up to tell them about it, they're pleased to hear about it, and will include it in future revisions. The guide is stuffed with detailed maps, mile by mile information for all Montana State and Federal Highways as well as information on Dining (1796 restaurants), lodging (685 motels, 150 guest ranches, 200 bed and breakfasts) 350 campgroudns, 96 forest service cabins, shopping, auto services, hiking (255 hikes) and fishing( 225 sites), Lewis and Clark information (140 points of interest), scenic drives, adventure, entertainment, area information, local history, roadside geology, 270 outfitters, quick reference guides, 71 public golf courses, 25 hot springs, 200 historical markers, 65 scenic drives, 50 ghost towns, 700 annual festivals and events, 40 rodeos, 31 ski areas, and a partridge in a pear tree. Just kidding about the partridge. Essays on a variety of subjects pepper the volume, including such fascinating topics as the Frontier Cattle Industry, Lewis and Clark, the history of Butte, Kid Curry and the Wild Bunch, a great section on Ingomar (including, if you will, a "bed and breakfast") the Indians and Fort Union, the Nez Perce war, the Bozeman cemetery and the Pryor Mountain Horse herd as well as all sorts of interesting Montana trivia like: the area surrounding the Yellowstone down around Colstrip was once home to one of the largest herds of bison in North American, more than a million and a half animals. Did you know that Petroleum County, the last county established in Montana in 1925, is also the smallest in population with only 518 people? Or that Alzada, Montana is closer to the Texas panhandle than it is to Yaak, Montana? From the town in the southeast to the town in the northwest is 800 miles, or a 12 hour drive. In any case whether you're traveling from Alzada to Zortman, or Glacier to Yellowstone, or Scobey to the Monida pass, or just hitting the highlights as you speed through on Interstate 90, "The Ultimate Montana Atlas and Travel Guide" makes an excellent traveling companion and earns the space you give it behind the seat of the truck, in the glove box, the map pocket or under the seat. An excellent find.
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