Big Sky Day Drive

Our day drive to Big Sky, Montana and our hike at Ousel Falls took us East on 84 and South on 191. As we drove down Highway 84, we followed the Madison River. We visited in July and at this time of year the river is full of lazy tubers, kayakers and fishermen. After the turn onto 191, we followed the Gallatin River and enjoyed watching the rapids and the white water rafters and kayakers. We could easily imagine jumping in on one of these adventures.

Big Sky itself is a beautiful valley in the middle of the mountains. This ski resort town is beautiful in the summer and I can only imagine how fun it would be to ski here in the winter.

Ousel Falls is right on the outskirts of Big Sky. This is a moderate .8 mile hike in and .8 out. Be sure to grab the interpretive guide available at the trail head or you can access it here http://gallatinrivertaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1809_Ousel_InterpretiveBrochure_WEB.pdf

I was tempted to rate this trail as easy since the path is dirt with gravel and almost no climbing except for a few stairs to get down to the falls but it is fairly steep with multiple up-and-down portions and switchbacks. There are plenty of opportunities to stop and rest at benches or picnic tables and read the interpretive brochure and learn about the falls and the river.

The falls themselves are beautiful and well worth the effort to get there.