Helena, Montana

After three weeks north of the border, we arrived back in the states. Our first stop on our, now southerly, journey was Helena Montana. So what the “helena” is there to do there!

About the only thing we have ever heard about Helena is that it always seems to be highlighted on the winter weather report as the coldest spot the US. Well, fortunately this was the beginning of September and things were actually on the warm side. We surprisingly found Helena to be a charming “right sized” city with a lot of history.

Lewis and Clark discovered, what is now present day Helena, in 1805 as part of their westward expedition. Moving upstream on the Missouri River they came to a section of the river with 1200 foot limestone cliffs and beauty like they had never seen. They encamped there and called the canyon Gates of the Mountains. We commemorated Lewis and Clark’s early expedition through a boat tour of the canyon. It was a beautiful tour and the captain was very informative. We cruised by the spot that is known to be were Lewis and Clark camped. We saw Bighorn Sheep climbing on the cliffs. We heard the tragic story where 13 heroic men lost their lives fighting a fire. It was an amazing tour that should be on the top of anyone’s list when visiting Helena.

The downtown area of Helena has a lot of history as well. If you like visiting historic churches you will love the Cathedral of Saint Helena. This ornate 1914 cathedral was inspired by the Votive Church in Vienna and it is magnificent. As Shannon stated, it is “the biggest and prettiest that we have seen so far”.

Helena became famous around 1864 when gold was discovered there which created many wealthy people. An example of this early wealth can be witnessed in a tour of the original Governor’s Mansion at 304 North Ewing Street. Our timing was bad, as the mansion was closed for tours the day we went to visit it, but were able to see it from the outside and walk the grounds. Pretty spectacular nonetheless.

We mixed up our visit with a great hike on the 1906 Trail to the peak of Mount Helena. It was only about a 3 mile hike out and back but with an elevation change of over 1,000 feet it was a fairly steep hike. However, the trail was very well maintained so us humans and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed it. The views along the way were amazing and the vista at the top was incredible.

It was a short but very rewarding stop in Helena. We love mixing things up with a bit of nature and local culture and this was the perfect combination. Our memories of Helena now go well beyond “30 below zero”.

Check out our pictures from Helena.