Darby is a beautiful western town located in southwestern Montana on the Continental Divide near the Montana/Idaho border. Founded in 1888, Darby began as a mining and trapping town, but current industries are logging, agriculture, and cattle ranching. With a population around 720, Darby is the antithesis of bustle.
Nestled between the Bitterroot and Sapphire Mountains, Darby is a picturesque travel destination. The Bitterroot Range has stunning glacier carved rugged peaks. Trapper Peak, near Darby, is the highest in the range with an elevation of 10,157 feet.
The 1.6 million acre Bitterroot National Forest is home to mountain goats, mule deer, bighorn sheep, black bear, mountain lions, elk, wolves and moose.
I first visited Darby in 2011. At that time, my partner was a private chef for a family in Salt Lake City. They own a beautiful 6,300 acre ranch in Sula, Montana, 19 miles south of Darby on Highway 93.
For two summers, the family provided her with a small house down the road from their ranch so she could cook for them and their guests. I am a grade school teacher with summers off, so my son and I put the cats in the car and drove to Sula, Montana each summer to join her.
The first leg of our journey was from Berkeley, California to Stanley, Idaho. Along the way, we stopped in Shoshone to explore ice caves. In Stanley, we rafted through class 3 and 4 rapids on the Salmon River.
The highlights of our summers in the Bitterroot Valley were Logger Days, the rodeo, the water slide at the town pool in Hamilton, and shooting off fireworks in the driveway on the Fourth of July. Logger Days is a two day logging competition held each July in Darby. Events range from pole climbing to log rolling. One year, while we were at the rodeo, lightning struck a power pole injuring a cowboy and two spectators. Luckily, none of the injuries were serious.
My partner is one of those folks who is happiest when she searching for some kind of treasure; agates, sand dollars and sea glass on the beach, and crystals and sapphires in Montana. When she had time off work, she took us on day trips in search of these. An hour’s drive east from Darby, Gem Mountain offers visitors a chance to mine for sapphires. Using screens, we washed buckets of mine tailings in search of sapphires.
She also took us crystal hunting in Lolo National Forest, sixty miles north of Darby. Armed with mosquito repellent, picks and hand shovels we spent hours in the dirt. This is what she uncovered over the course of one summer. She has a knack for this. The crystals I found were much smaller.
If you love nature and like the slow pace of western country life, you just may fall in love with Darby.
Photo Credits
Darby, Montana (header) via wikimedia East Fork Bitterroot River via wikimedia
Trapper Peak, Bitterroot Mountains by Forest Service Big Horn Sheep via wikimedia
