endless trails for puppy tails…read more.. Love Blue Mountain...I take my dogs there on a regular basis to run, hike, and retrieve their favorite ball. We love going here because there is a new, undiscovered (by us) trail around every bend. You can go on a short, quick hike or make it an all-day affair. Awesome place just minutes from downtown Missoula.

Great path up to the M, wonderful views of Missoula. There were benches along the way if you need a…read morebreak or just to enjoy the view. Restrooms at trail head parking.

I LOVE the M trails in Montana! I've never seen anything like it in other states but they're so…read morecute and always great little hikes. I live in Bozeman so I was very excited to compare M trails. The parking here was a little stressful as there are only 3 visitor spots and the rest you need a campus tag. It's nice for the students that it's so close by (that's not the case in Bozeman) but hard if you're not a student. There is only one way up to the M while there are several ways up to the Bozeman one. I loved the Strava map that showed all the crazy looking switch backs but in reality it was an easy hike with amazing views. The wildflowers were so vibrant and I loved that you can touch and sit on the M. The bathrooms are also fantastic! The hike is 1.8 miles with a little more than 500ft elevation so it's very fun and doable for most people.

4.20.25: We made the 3ish hour drive from Idaho to attend Missoula's 6th Annual 420 Block Party put…read moreon by Montana State Hemp & Cannabis Festival. It was a FREE all day, all ages, event with food trucks galore offering a variety of dishes and cuisines, a ton of vendor booths selling arts, crafts, homemade goods, unique gifts, and gourmet candies/snacks, etc., and best of all LIVE MUSIC performed by 3 different bands and a live DJ set. The vibe was awesome and it was good to see so many smiling faces gathering in one place. Also, it was nice not to see a majority of overly intoxicated people stumbling around but instead seeing positive people bringing nothing but good vibes, great dancing, and in high spirits celebrating 420. Weather wasn't too kind that day but you can't really be mad at mother nature lol. I would definitely come back to Caras Park to attend this annual event. Big thank you to all who helped make this block party happen!

This place has great events during the summer. Every Wednesday they have out to lunch event from…read more11-2. Live music with plenty of food trucks. Nice play ground and carousel for the children. The river is nice to see and easy to access with some good shoes. The parking area is not free, unfortunately I did not realize that until a parking ticket was waiting for me as I was heading out.

The trailhead is located 3.1 miles up Pattee Canyon Road. The parking area is on the left and is…read morewell marked by a brown sign on the right hand side of the road. There is ample parking and a restroom at the trailhead, but no water source. Here are the stats: Distance: 6.5-7 miles r/t depending on which route you take for the final ascent up to Mt. Sentinel Elevation gain: ~1,500 feet Intensity: Mostly easy-moderate, with the last half mile being more strenuous Trail: Fire access road for most of the trip, well maintained, rocky in spots Three miles into the hike you will reach a point where the crazy canyon trail and the Hellgate canyon trail meet. At this point, you can either take the easier path to the right, which ascends via switchbacks, or you can continue straight up the road in front of you. The later is very strenuous, and a bit rocky, so I only recommend it if you are prepared for the challenge. At the top you will find a 360 degree view of Missoula, the Rattlesnake Wilderness, Pattee Canyon, Lolo Peak and East Missoula. Even though the trail gets a fair amount of traffic, you will usually find you have the top to yourself, something you never find when hiking in California.

At 5,806 feet above sea level, the summit of University Mountain looms almost half a vertical mile…read moreabove the University of Montana campus, with plunging views into nearby Hellgate and Pattee Canyons. Despite such prominence, it is far less visited than Mount Sentinel (elevation 5,158 ft.), marked halfway up its steep slope by the letter "M," which acts like a magnet for students and trail runners alike who switchback up and down on a regular basis. Even joggers and hikers who use other trails in Pattee Canyon rarely make a stop here, preferring instead to drop down to the Clark Fork and the Kim Williams Trail (via Crazy Canyon Road and the Hellgate Canyon Trail). That's too bad. Because University Mountain is a key stopping point on what I consider to be the best short hike that you can do from the university district: a four summit loop that visits, in sequence, the summits of South Sentinel, University, Radio Tower Peak (elevation 5,543 ft.) and North Sentinel before dropping down back into town. The loop begins and ends at the Evans Ave trailhead. It's around 7-8 miles long with 3,000-3,500 feet of elevation gain/loss, depending on which trail connections you choose. Parts are fairly steep (more than 1,000 feet gain over less than 1 mile of distance), but the views are incredibly rewarding. From the exposed ridgelines, you can gaze in various directions at other prominent peaks outside of Missoula - Lolo, St. Mary's, Stuart, Cha-paa-qn, Sheep, etc. It's a convenient way to orient yourself in three-dimensional space, gazing across miles of open sky in all four compass directions. When the snow falls, as it did earlier this week (October 3), then this hike is particularly lovely, although you may need snowshoes if the accumulation is heavy. The feeling of isolation is very strong, despite the proximity of Missoula down below. But 2500 ft. is a *lot* of empty space, and one of the pleasures of this loop is the chance to gaze down into Hellgate Canyon below your feet, or back South towards the Bitterrroot Range, or West towards the airport where tiny-looking planes are landing, or North into the Rattlesnake, or East at the Sapphire Range. The smells of fresh pine, the feel of rushing wind, the crunch of frozen snow, the sound of your beating heart, it all flows and fixates in your imagination. Three or four hours later, as you walk the residential streets on your way home, you gaze up at the steep slopes of Sentinel and remember what it was like to be perched atop its twin peaks, to disappear into the tree-filled saddle between them, to struggle step-by-step up the exposed ridges, and to reach the cluster of radio towers at the halfway point of the hike. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It's close enough to become a part of your seasonal routine. Each season the loop feels and looks different, and it's doable 12 months out of the year. As much as I love the university down below, the best classroom is higher up, at the summit of University Mountain. You'll learn more there than you can in any seminar, about nature, about time, about space, about the untapped reservoirs of strength in your body, and about where you fit, in a metaphysical sense, in it all. Standing alone on the summit, where the terrestrial colors of land melt into the blue infinity of sky, you perch on unsteady feet, pause to let your pulse subside, and discover in a lightning flash of unexpected insight just what a great thing it is, to be able to breathe. Then, when your eyes have adjusted to the immensities of distance, you blink, swallow, and smile. Time to move on. The next summit awaits.

I have fond childhood memories of this carousel and can't believe it's exactly as I remembered it!…read more$2 for adults and $1 for kids for a LONG carousel ride, and the belts meant my kids could get strapped in and stay secure throughout. Plus, it's next to a playground, which makes for the perfect family outing!

Our Airbnb left a couple of tokens for the carousel so we headed in town for a ride and dinner. We…read moremade it on the last ride for the day. It's an old carousel with history and character. I have not seen a carousel with a grab the gold ring for a free ride since I was a kid. That was fun and brought up great memories. I have also never ridden a carousel that went as fast as this one. There were seat belts to keep you on the horse or dinosaur in my case. It only cost $2 for adults and $1 for kids. The carousel is housed in a playground area that was filled with kids playing on the modern, clean equipment and sits on the river. There is ample parking.

Decent dog park could be better…read more What it has going for it: - good entry areas, newer fencing - poop bags provided - human & dog drinking water source - adequate seating What it has going against it: - fencing is rather short (4ft) - wood chip ground cover can get muddy after a good rain and snow melt - limited shade - no separate small dog run So this dog park ain't bad, but if you got a dog that can jump a 4 foot fence, I would find somewhere else to take them since the dog run is right next to a rather busy road. Add more shading, better ground cover and fence that is taller then this could be a 4 star dog run/park

Discovered this place driving by as there was no other reviews on Yelp. Great place to bring your…read morepooch for some social interaction. Have visited now twice and both times there was a variety of sizes puppies so our golden retriever was able to play and run around. There are a couple benches for the humans to sit, a water fountain for humans and puppies. The ground was covered in what looks like mulch so it is not as muddy as you'd expect it to be. There is no separate enclosure for small dogs but they seem to find each other and play with others their size. Will definitely be dropping by there everytime we are in town.

Great group of people and a cool little fly shop. Our two guides put us on fish all day long even…read morewith low flows! Would definitely use them again.

Casual. Accommodating. (I use the shop for fly tying…read morematerials. If you run into George K., he's a wealth of knowledge and fun to talk to.)