Bozeman, Montana, United States
Woe is me! Stuck at home during quarantine, lockdown,
stay-at-home, house arrest, home detention, caged animal life – whatever you
want to call it. In reality it’s
probably less woeful that most peoples’ lives nowadays and less so than being
just anywhere else. The reality is that nationwide lockdown was pretty mild
here with most businesses closed but no true limitations on movement. I had
planned to go skiing in the weeks up until I was supposed to leave for Greece,
but even the ski areas were closed. That’s ridiculous; skiing is made for
social distancing – wide open spaces, fresh air, lots of cloths, gloves,
goggles, gaiter. Ditto for groomed cross
country ski trails. In theory I could have hit the back country on skis or snowshoes,
but my skinny x-country skis aren’t the greatest in ungroomed snow.
As the weather started getting nicer, I began exploring
around town on foot. They say every cloud has a silver lining, and one benefit
of the gym being closed is that it forced me to get out and explore the town for
exercise rather than walking uphill on a treadmill while reading.
I actually
went out and bought myself a used treadmill as soon as things started closing
down, but it turned out to be much too noisy for my downstairs neighbors. I can
imagine how I must sound like a stampeding elephant on the thing. I moved it to
the garage once it warmed up a bit and snow became less frequent for having my
car in the driveway. But the garage workout was depressing and I didn’t use it
again.
When I moved to Bozeman I bought a guide to day hikes in the
area. It covers around 100 ranging from walks in town to mountain climbs within
about a 90 minute drive from town. After a year here there were still many
nearby I hadn’t tried out yet. April is
still chilly in Montana, although this spring was much warmer than when I
arrived last year. Although, the valley was mostly snow free, is wasn’t until
late in the month that even low trails in the canyons were mostly snowfree, let
alone trails somewhat higher in elevation.
I gradually checked off most of the trails around town over
the month, plus some in the lower hills and canyons in the Gallatin foothills a
few miles south of town.
You can definitely observe much more on foot than you
can driving, and my walks took through parts of the area I hadn’t even driven
through before. It’s probably a good
plan to get to know the town through its neighborhoods, parks, and trails if I’m
going to live here permanently and considering purchasing real estate.
Although there are significant differences,
Bozeman has many similarities to another university town I lived in, that being
Boulder, Colorado where I went to school. These include the older
neighborhoods, the burgeoning tech industry, the hills and mountains around the
valley, and plenty of open space and trails around town. Bozeman is a much
smaller scale, though, and far less snooty and psychotic than its Colorado sister.
The similarities were often apparent as I hoofed it around town. As my slew of
pictures displays, Bozeman is a very nice place to live, even during lockdown.
2025-05-22