Adventure Town: The Missoula Mind-Set. In this cerebral Montana enclave, higher learning begins where the asphalt ends.

Missoula (pop. 62,000) http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/ is home to four major mountain ranges, five trout-laden streams, nine
best-selling authors, and the University of Montana http://www.umt.edu/ ,
producer of 28 Rhodes scholars.

It’s a heady place—
full of outdoorsy intellectuals who enjoy contemplating
the West almost as much as they love playing in it.

And
they have plenty of options for doing so: Hundreds of
miles of trails weave in and around Missoula; the
61,000-acre (24-686 hectare) Rattlesnake National
Recreation and Wilderness Area is five miles (8
kilometers) away; and the Montana Snowbowl http://www.montanasnowbowl.com/ resort,
nine miles (14 kilometers) from town, collects 300
inches (762 centimeters) of powder annually.

Just this
year Brennan’s Wave http://missoulawhitewater.org/ white-water park opened on the
stretch of the mighty Clark Fork River that passes
through town, allowing kayakers to show off alongside
eclectic bistros and bars. There, over pints of Moose
Drool http://www.bigskybrew.com/ microbrew, Missoulians ponder the arrival of
downtown’s first Starbucks.

But not for long: These
residents rarely let rumination distract them from the
dazzling Big Sky country just beyond their backdoors.

by Dan Oko

Full Story: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/travel/missoula-montana.html

(Many thanks to Barbara Neilen of the Missoula Convention and Visitors Bureau http://www.missoulacvb.org for passing this along. Russ)