Northern Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and the Dakotas are so incredibly beautiful. If you haven’t already I’d recommend you see it. /c/travel

I’ve been to LA, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, San Fransisco, San Diego, Denver, the major cities in the NE. I’ve also lived in Arizona, California, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Nevada. But I had never broken past the Black Hills in South Dakota until this past week. I was at a wedding in Bozeman, Montana and had the entire week off of work so I drove the 13 hour trip from eastern NC to Bozeman, Montana, and then cracked off in different directions every day after that to see the sights. After spending half a week in Montana, I drove to Yellowstone, and then down to Jackson, Wyoming, and then to Idaho falls. I saw Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park (the western part), and Glacier National Park. When I got back home I told my wife “we have to come back here.” <br><br>The Rockies are beautiful. The Black Hills are amazing. The Ozarks are really cool. The Blue Ridge Mountains are gorgeous as well. But the mountains out in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho are completely different. <br><br>I think what left the biggest impression on me was the lack of people. I live in eastern North Carolina but I’m originally from southern California. In California it’s always a pain in the ass to go anywhere because of traffic. In NC it’s not as crowded, but there’s still a lot of people. <br><br>I drove almost 7,000 miles in 7 days. I saw hundreds and hundreds of square miles of the prettiest land I’ve ever seen in my life. I passed maybe 2 or 3 actual cities the entire time. I saw thousands of buffalo. I saw hundreds of antelope. I saw hundreds of deer. I saw multiple bears and moose. I saw almost 100 turkeys. I saw multiple eagles. I saw ground porcupines. I saw the most beautiful rivers in the world. I saw some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. I saw waterfalls everywhere. I saw the most unreal sunsets every single day. <br><br>What really got me was driving through the Crow reservation in Montana. There was a guy on the side of the road trying to wave people down to sell something. A little further up the road was a lady doing the same thing. And that was it. That was all I saw for 30 miles. But the land was so beautiful. If I were to do it over I would’ve stopped to talk with them. I wonder what they think about people like me driving through their land everyday. I wonder if they ever get tired of it. I wonder if they like the fact that we are interested in the beauty of their land, or if they feel like we are exploiting it. I imagine it’s a little bit of both. <br><br>I saw a lot of people camping. A lot, a lot, a lot of people camping. I saw thousands of RV’s. I saw hundreds of people on the side of the road with tents set up. There were people near the roads, people up on the mountains, people by the rivers. Tons and tons of people in the woods, outside, camping. I guess I didn’t expect to see that many. But, unless you were in a popular spot like by a lake or river, you couldn’t see anyone else. It was like you were alone.<br><br>I’m not really sure what my point of this post is yet. I’m still processing everything. But I think I might be moving out that way soon. Every time I think about it I get really excited. <br><br>I think what I’m really excited about is getting away from the cities and people. I was talking to some of the older people at the wedding and they were all very concerned that people were moving there from San Fransisco and Seattle and Phoenix and that it was ruining small town Montana. I think about that and I get a little pissed off. I feel like everyone has the right to experience this, but at the same time I feel like you can’t just move to Montana if you aren’t from Montana. It’s not yours, it’s ours. <br><br>I guess the conclusion of this post is to just say that Northern Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and the Dakotas are so incredibly beautiful. If you haven’t already I’d recommend you see it.