SILVER GATE, MONTANA

 

“America’s Serengeti” “America’s Swiss Alps”

Silver Gate is ideally positioned as a gateway to both Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley, America’s Serengeti, and the Absarorka/Beartooth Wilderness area. Situated at an elevation of 7,438 feet, Silver Gate is a small, rustic, alpine town nestled amidst the willow-banked Soda Butte Creek, a conifer forest and meadows carpeted with wildflowers. The forest climbs up from the valley floor to towering snow-covered mountain peaks some 2,500 feet above.

Yellowstone National Park’s North East Entrance is a mere mile to the west with the unsurpassed wildlife viewing in the Lamar Valley only a few minutes’ drive. The spectacular Beartooth Scenic Highway, designated as an All American Road, begins right in town and climbs to a pair of 11,000 foot plus summits in the Absarorka/Beartooth Wilderness area. The Beartooth Plateau is a unique environment of snow capped peaks, waterfalls, pristine lakes, wildflowers and one of the rarest high alpine tundra systems in the world.

Silver Gate was established on September 8th, 1932 by J.J. White and J.J. Taylor who hoped to take advantage of the future (1936) opening of the Beartooth Highway connecting Red Lodge, MT with Yellowstone Park. They named Silver Gate for “the silver haze which seemed to shine over the mountains and [because it] was to be a gate to Yellowstone park,”1 White and Taylor envisioned Silver Gate as an tourist destination to “America’s Swiss Alps” and set out covenants requiring all structures be built from logs, forever preserving its alpine atmosphere.

Today, Silver Gate’s Main Street (U.S. Hwy 212) doesn’t have a stop sign, traffic light or corporate logos to spoil its 1/4 mile length. Around ten hardy people make up the year round population until summertime sees the return of the “summer home” folk that swell the population by as many as 50 more, making for a secluded, quiet and peaceful place to relax.

Silver Gate businesses promote nature oriented activities including hiking, climbing, biking, fishing and wildlife watching. Families can take hikes from their cabin doors to places like Silver Falls, Bridal Falls, and the Bannock Indian Trail or walk the kids to the local park, explore or fish in the creek right in town. Hikers and bikers can choose from a seemingly endless network of trails and forest roads, while climbers can pick from a large selection of summit and wall climbs. Serious fishermen have a long list of local blue ribbon trout streams and pristine alpine lakes to choose from. Just remember to look both ways for the moose and grizzly bears, no kidding!

Children should always be supervised in this wilderness environment!