U.S. Highway 191 climbs a steep grade out of the Missouri River bottoms north of the bridge at the James Kipp Recreation Area. As it gains the upper extent of the river breaks, a far-reaching, high plains landscape sprawls toward Canada 125 miles to the north. The Little Rockies rise directly ahead, and a rough, rolling prairie flows off to the east. From here, you will experience the vastness of the prairie, seeing firsthand why Montana received the nickname of "Big Sky Country."

Continuing north, you head through historic landscape, once the domain of the nomadic Plains tribes, toward the...