Have you ever made plans to go on an adventure, trip or holiday? You probably imagine all the most wonderful and glorious possibilities that you will experience. Whether an exciting exploit into new territory, or a peaceful, relaxing, getaway where everything is perfect. But then reality sets in your fantasy-plans turn out to look a bit different than you imagine. Maybe the place you are going isn’t as nice as you imagined, or some circumstances leave you unable to accomplish what you set out to? Or maybe some personal drama distracts you from achieving that peace and relaxation you were looking for? Whatever it may be, we all experience this and Jake and I are no exception.

But in this case, it was the opposite. For the first time, in a long time (or maybe ever) the reality was even better than the fantasy.

Jake and I left Challis, Idaho with mixed feelings. We were excited of the prospect of that whole world and disappointed in our inability is to attain it at the present. At least the drive north was gorgeous as we followed the Continental Divide over mountain passes and luscious forest into Montana.

Victor

We’ve discovered a rhythm on this adventure that works pretty well and we were at the point of needing another break from nature’s elements. I found us a great deal on a B&B, a cabin in the woods that is part of a huge property. From here I could do some work and Jake could take on the daunting task of finding us land to explore and hopefully purchase.

As we made our way up the long driveway, we could hear the sound of dogs barking. I saw a llama in the pasture nearby. Reyanne, our host, came out to greet us and gave us the grand tour of the property. She introduced us to her animal family, 3 small dogs, Charlie, Doc and Alice (Doc is my favorite) and her llama, Toni. Reyanne is a rockstar at nearly 68 years old, running this amazing compound by herself.

After our chat, Jake and I were beyond excited. This place could be a spitting-image of the life we have dreamt for and it gave us a renewed sense of hope. So much so that I was already investigating the possibility of staying here a bit longer. The property is about 50 acres, perfectly nestled at the base of large mountains and surrounded by thick forest. It even has a stream running through it and it was all purchased for a ridiculously reasonable price. However that was almost 40 years ago, so times have changed and certainly the value of this land is considerably higher.

Jake found us a realtor in the nearby town of Hamilton, who said that we should come in for a face-to-face with her the following morning. She was exactly how I imagine a native would be, super cowgirl and extremely friendly. Jamie took our “must-haves” list into account and gave us a stack of listings that she recommended in various nearby areas: Corvallis, Conner and Darby.

If you look on a map of western Montana, all 3 of these locations are south of Missoula (which is sort of like city-center). Having never been here other than for a short period of time a few months ago, we figured it best to see as much as possible. Maybe one area will speak to us more than others? Victor certainly has done that.

Our first stop was Corvallis, being that it lay almost directly across from Victor, on the lower-laying Sapphire Mountains. Both of the parcels that we are looking at are 40 acres and border each other, so we could purchase both and have 80 acres to work with.

The drive wasn’t too terrible along the gravel road. It grew steep as we neared the properties, but Old Blue managed to get us there in one piece. And we were pleasantly surprised by the land. It was mostly usable and seemed to offer plenty of great spots for us to do everything we would want to do. It is crazy how different the ecosystem is as compared to the opposite side of the road. Its more arid, spread out and has a bit of a desert-feel to it. There are a lot more pinion pines and sage brush with large expanses of open terrain. Its beautiful in its own way, offering incredibly expansive views that most people would pay a premium for. I guess thats why these parcels are so expensive!

While we were there, several vehicles of varying sketchiness drove through the property. Yes, THROUGH it. I guess we overlooked the minor detail that an easement bisects both parcels of land, smack through the center. If it was just a couple of neighbors, I suppose it could be overlooked, but we are talking hundreds. There’s a large neighborhood around the bend and that, for us, is a deal breaker.

The following day we went down to Conner to check out a promising 160 acre parcel for a RIDICULOUSLY good price. It was a haul, taking us back almost to Idaho, but showed a lot of promise. We turned off the highway to a narrow, dirt road that went behind some large hills and then turned up the side of a mountain. I didn’t think Old Blue could handle this, but Jake insisted that we keep going. When we turned the last corner onto the property, we were completely dismayed. The beautiful, luscious mountain trees were no longer surrounding us. All we had was a yellow, barren wasteland. It looked like a fire ravaged this area and left nothing but a graveyard behind. It was so sad to see, but it all made sense. No wonder its so cheap!

Jake thought we should at least give it a chance and walk it to see if there are any hidden gems. There used to be a cabin up here and we found its remnants in the pile of rubble that lay on the exposed block of cement that used to be its foundation. The only usable bit that remained was a wood burning stove (not bad)!

As we continued exploring, I noticed a shanty way up toward the top of the hill. I’m positive that this is all still part of the land for sale, yet we could see that there is definitely someone (or several someone’s) living up here. Or more like squatting up here. Neither of us was keen to explore further at that point and we took it as our queue to leave.

That one was a disappointment, but I suppose it was too good to be true (on paper). We headed to the next parcel, which is about 2 hours from here. Its the smallest property of them all, at only 10 acres, but it borders 2 sides with State Land and a recreation area known as Painted Rocks State Park.

We stopped off for a picnic lunch at the park before heading up to the land. It seemed perfect. The lake, the mountains, the trees, the solitude. It had everything, at least, the State Park did. Our directions were only about a mile from here, taking us down a perfectly maintained road and then an easy turn off into the woods for a short distance. It seemed like this is someone’s driveway and…yup sure enough, there are houses here. Not just one but a few. 2 of them seemed larger and well-kept and the others looked like hobo shacks. This is where we park, I guess?

An old crotchety lady came out of one of the homes and told us we couldn’t be here. We explained that there is land for sale and our directions lead us here. She did all she could to discourage us saying how small and unusable it is and that she wouldn’t bother. But we came all this way and needed to see it for ourselves.

She was right, though in the end. It was a bushwhacking nightmare trying to navigate up the steep incline that is the property. There were no boundary markers and vague instructions with one photo that was of no use. The only landmark were wasp nests in some of the smaller trees.

We walked for an hour to the semi-flat top of this massive hill, hoping to see a nice view at the very least. Sadly there was nothing but more forest, and not the pretty kind either. Its unusable land, just like the neighbor indicated. Even though this was a fail, we LOVE this area. Maybe Jamie can give us more listings nearby?

There was one more a bit further up the road, however there is already a cabin and shed and well and basically everything already built. The price is reflective of that, but we couldn’t help but indulge our curiosity.

The drive took us another hour into the true middle of nowhere. And when we pulled into the lot, we were blown away by it all. The land, the terrain, the beauty and the fact that we are really out here in the middle of nowhere yet very accessible. Even though its smaller than we wanted at only 25 acres, its all usable and really a perfect place.

The ONLY negative is that, despite being in the middle of nowhere, there is ONE neighbor. Only one, but their property borders this one, and their crap was strewn about everywhere. They were also incredibly loud with a generator roaring and chainsaws hacking away at something. Dogs were barking and a radio was blaring some crappy country music. Seriously! It was almost perfect. That was a disappointment for sure. Jake was ALMOST willing to overlook it, but for the price, it just wasn’t a fit.

Oh well, another one bites the dust. And even though we were disappointed, we were overall glad to have explored an area that previously wasn’t even on our radar.

At this point we needed a break from the hunt and opted to extend our stay in Victor for another 4 days. We spent loads of time just enjoying the area and learning all about Reyanne. She built this place with her, now late husband, over 40 years ago and continues to maintain it on her own. Its obviously a lot of hard work but she said it keeps her busy and she loves it.

About a week before we arrived, there was a mamma moose with a baby in the area. The baby got spooked and ended up stuck in one of the wired fences on Reyanne’s property. By the time Reyanne could investigate, the baby was already dead and she had to call Fish and Game to remove it. The mamma moose kept coming by daily, probably hoping to find her baby alive and well.

One morning, Jake went for a run and as he made his way back, the mamma moose spotted him. He stopped dead in his tracks and tried to assess how to get through her back to the cabin. He ended up going through a neighboring property, climbing under several fences in hopes to avoid her. She was clever enough to keep on him without issue and it wasn’t until he made it into Toni the Llama’s pen that the moose bolted. I guess llama’s scare the heck out of most wild animals including moose and bear.

Our time in Victor was wonderful and we were sad to go. Our host left us with a book, Undaunted Courage, as our exploration is very much like that of Louis and Clark; in fact many of the places we’ve already been have followed their exact same path, which is kind of amazing. We told her that we would be back next year to visit her and hopefully have a better vehicle for which to explore.

Potomac

The next region of exploration was never officially on our docket, yet was too good to pass. Potomac is an area that is about an hour east of Missoula, sort of out in the middle of nowhere but still accessible to the ‘big city.’ There are two large parcels of land available, one 96 acres and the other 132 acres, both available and bordering one another. That means, if we bought both, we could have over 200 acres to play with!

We had easy highway driving for most of the way, until the last 6 miles, when we turned down a gravel road. It was, for the most part, straight-forward. However as we got close, the roads veered off in several directions at various intersections and we managed to get lost (go figure).

Thankfully there was a young woman, probably early 30’s, hiking just ahead. She stopped to chat and we mentioned that we were looking for a particular property, from which she proceeded to inform us that we went one road too far. She was very friendly and we ended up chatting for almost 30 minutes before making our way back down on the correct road.

There was an access gate that was locked, but at least we know this is the property. It was our queue to get out and hoof it, so we did.

Now THIS is what I’m talking about. The land is absolutely WILD and completely isolated. It has some lovely views, too. The only problem is that its so massive and we aren’t 100% sure what is “on” and what is not. Maybe all of it, but we don’t have enough to go on. There are definitely usable spaces and I think there’s even a year-round spring, which means…WATER.

Walking the property was daunting and a bit nerve wracking. Without any protection, we were completely exposed to whatever wild animals lived here. There was clear sign of elk, deer, bear and coyote. We didn’t spend too much time, but had a really good feeling about this place. Jake called the listing agent, Mark, whom we have chatted to before, to inquire about the details. He informed us that he is out of town until next week, but would be happy to accompany us out here to walk the property and give us all the deets.

Eureka

With five days to kill, we decided to continue exploring the land up north from here. That includes Plains, Thompson Falls, Kalispell, Whitefish, Trego and Eureka.

The first stop was Plains and Thompson Falls. There were a handful of properties that showed promise, and so we made a day of it and drove out west, before going further north. We followed the mighty Clark Fork river the entire way, which was so beautiful. Montana seems to have beauty in spades which is why we love it so much.

We setup a base camp in Big Fork for a few days to explore Kalispell and Whitefish. Whitefish is like Aspen, Colorado, or any other yuppie town you could imagine. Its very cute, but way too crowded. It could definitely be a good home-base city if we decided to move this far north.

Our final destination lay almost near the US-Canada border, in a town of Eureka. Town may be a stretch as it has a population of less than a few thousand and loads of open space. There were 3 properties up here that piqued our interest, however we only had very rudimentary information on 2 of those. Jake called the realtor, Jamie, to see if she could get us some more details on the properties, however she refused to give us anything unless we sign a broker agreement with her (basically stating that she would be the broker we work with). The problem is that we have no way to do this, not to mention that all we need is a bit of info, that would probably take her less than 2 minutes to attain. In all she refused and so we decided to call the listing agent on the properties and eventually got a hold of someone who gave us the info we required.

Was that so hard? 😉

The first piece of land was absolutely beautiful, remote and on a big sloping hill. The road was a tad overgrown so we had to get out and walk the lot.

It was lovely, though much of it was not usable due to the steep incline. Still, we were excited by this area!

The next parcel took us to a gorgeous overlook of the Kookanusa River and the Canadian Rockies. It was smaller, at only 35 acres, but it is border on 3 sides with National Forest. I also believe that there is only ONE other “neighbor” up here, and the land already has underground fiber (so a phone / internet connection) a new road and cleared spaces for building.

This was it! Both of us were in love with this piece of land. It had an amazing vibe, the cleared spaces were done just right for what we’d want to do. The largest part was in the back of the property and the area up front would be perfect for a B&B. It was remote yet accessible. It would be easy to setup our main facility in the back as it was south-facing, and the front would be closest to the road, so people could easily get up here. The ONLY downfall is that there is no water. It could cost 15,000 to have a well dug. But that isn’t a deal-breaker, as the price may be negotiable.

We were so excited about this but we couldn’t make a decision yet. We needed to learn more about the area and at least sleep on it. I found a free camp sight nearby that was nestled in some trees and right on a creek. Other than the cows, it was all to ourselves.

We came back the next day, after exploring Eureka. It didn’t take long as the entire town is on one short section of road. We had breakfast at a local diner, which was super yummy. Back at the property, I had to do some work and actually setup my computer station and managed to get some things done while Jake walked the land again. We also took some time to explore the lake as well as the tower at the top of the mountain, from which our power could be linked easily.

So now what do we do? Back in this predicament; do we make an offer or do we wait?

Its so hard to make this call because we don’t really know these areas. We THINK we do, but first, and even second impressions may not be enough to make this huge of a decision. Not to mention that, in truth, the property is still above our price-range and we would be sinking ourselves into debt to buy them. However, it would be worth it if we get what we want, right?

Jake and I had to ponder this. Not to mention that we are still interested in that huge Potomac property that we’re scheduled to see with Mark tomorrow. We opted to wait until we see that again, before we make any decision.

The next morning was slow-going. We had to drive 3 hours back to Potomac from Big Fork, which was made slow due to the raging wildfires in Montana. I guess it spread all the way from Canada, but it was kind of crazy. We took a back road, which was billowing in smoke like a thick fog. It was hard to breath or see much, causing traffic to move at a snails pace.

Thankfully we got through it okay and only a few minutes late to our meeting with Mark. We decided to link up at a gas station just off of a main highway. Mark said we could hop in his truck and he would take us the rest of the way up to the property. It gave us a chance to get to know him and learn more about the area. Mark is absolutely charming and obviously very successful. He has lived in Montana his entire life and it shows in his knowledge of the area.

I was amazed how fast we got back to the land, a truck makes a huge difference. He pulled out the listing details and we parked at the gate from which we continued on foot. There were some random cows meandering down the road. I guess they come with the land, haha….FREE COWS! We walked for over an hour and barely scratched the surface of this land. There is SO MUCH here and its overwhelming to say the least.

At this point, we were both torn. How do we decide between this property and the one in Eureka? And there are still so many areas around here that still need exploring. Its impossible to make this decision. We need more time in Montana to know if this is truly the place that we want to call home.

We took our leave from Montana with a plan to come back next year, and stick around for a few months. We can test the waters and see if we could live here. And maybe in that time, acquire a new vehicle that is more appropriate for back-country exploring. This should give us time to get our financial ducks in a row as well.

Until then, onward!