Paul Ranch Montana

09/19/2025

When the Blackfeet and Flathead nations gathered for the Going-to-the-Sun Road dedication in 1933, it marked more than just the opening of a road. It was a moment where Indigenous communities, whose ancestral lands these have always been, witnessed another transformation of their sacred landscape.

This rare archival photograph captures the complexity of that day - celebration mixed with the weight of history. The traditional regalia worn by tribal members stands in powerful contrast to the automobiles that would soon bring millions through these mountains.

Our documentary honors these voices and perspectives, ensuring that the full story of the Going-to-the-Sun Road includes those who knew these lands long before any road was imagined.

Join the journey! Follow our page for behind-the-scenes footage and film updates! Visit journeytothesunfilm.com to learn more.

08/01/2025

07/07/2025

Plan ahead...

The Many Glacier Day Hiker Shuttle is a temporary solution for day hikers to access Many Glacier Valley during the Swiftcurrent Construction Project.

07/04/2025

🏔️🏔️🏔️ we are happiest surrounded by mountains.

07/04/2025

Happy Independence Day Everyone! Stay Safe!

06/25/2025

05/30/2025

05/30/2025

Circa 1924, deep in the Bitterroot Mountains straddling the Montana-Idaho border, Peter Parsons was captured in a rare photograph—his lean frame silhouetted against a wilderness still largely untouched by modernity. Born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1885, Parsons immigrated to the United States in 1903 during a wave of Scandinavian settlement that reshaped much of the Upper Midwest. But unlike most who planted roots in Minnesota or Wisconsin, Parsons ventured westward, trading farmland for the frontier. By the early 1910s, he had joined the Great Northern Railway’s cartographic division, charting difficult terrain from the Cascades to the Sierra Nevadas, his journals brimming with sketches and Algonquin loanwords.

Parsons’ renown peaked during the 1919–1923 expeditions across Glacier National Park, shortly after it was designated a national park in 1910. Inspired by John Muir and the writings of Fridtjof Nansen, he mapped forgotten indigenous trails, some of which had last been walked by Blackfeet scouts or Hudson’s Bay Company trappers in the 1830s. His collaboration with University of Montana botanist Eloise Cartwright resulted in the discovery of Primula parsonii, a rare alpine flower named in his honor. Yet his fame never extended to newspapers or radio; instead, his legacy lived in footnotes, local lore, and the archives of Missoula’s Historical Society, where his maps and photographs—many glass-plate negatives—still reside.

The 1924 photograph, likely taken near Lolo Pass, marks the end of Parsons’ wilderness years. By 1926, after a bout of malaria contracted during a detour to the Rio Grande Valley, he settled in Yakima, Washington, where he lectured at the state college and mentored younger naturalists. Though often omitted from mainstream histories of American exploration, Peter Parsons remains a ghostly figure wandering through the backwoods of American memory—an immigrant whose compass pointed not to conquest, but to communion with the land.

05/26/2025

05/26/2025

Morning coffee Zen. Still have a few openings for 2025 & now taking reservations for 2026. The Ranch fills up early so book early! www.paulranch.com

05/26/2025

Take a moment to remember the fallen this Memorial Day❤️

05/24/2025

Coffee's on at the Ranch. Stop by & have a cup!