River Town of the Smokejumpers RoadyGoat
Missoula is a college town with a river running through it, literally. The Clark Fork River cuts straight through downtown, kayakers surf an engineered standing wave called Brennan's Wave, and the fly-fishing here is so iconic that Norman Maclean's 'A River Runs Through It' is set just up the road near the Blackfoot. The University of Montana sits at the base of Mount Sentinel, where a giant concrete 'M' marks a switchback trail above campus. And out by the airport is something most cities don't have: the Aerial Fire Depot, home base of the Missoula smokejumpers, who parachute into remote wildfires across the West. It's one of the country's busiest smokejumper bases, with a visitor center where you can stand among the gear. Mountains on every side, trout in the water, and firefighters who jump out of planes, that's Missoula.