OUR EUREKA, MONTANA GLAMPING TRIP ESSENTIALS
It's so soul-filling, you'll want to make it an annual trip!
Entrance to Tobacco River Ranch / Goats at the owner's main house
GLAMPING
Tobacco River Ranch Glamping is on 400 acres of ranch land, forest, river, trails, natural beauty, wildlife, unobstructed mountain views and star-filled nights! North of Whitefish, Eureka is a small town, but what you're coming to the Tobacco River for is the disconnect and refresh! It stays light late so you have plenty of time for chillaxing to bookend your daytime adventures!
Community Kitchen at sunset
Watch our videos in reels on our Insta account to see photos and video of the July trip we took.
Tobacco River Ranch Glamping have lovingly restored old logger cabins, look out cabins and forest service cabins; built new structures and renovated Airstreams. They each have character, with frontier art and other well appointed details, including outdoor chairs and fire pits and amazing views! The cabins stay warm on cool nights, with plenty of extra blankets–if you're like us and you like to sleep with the windows open!
Ranch Hand and A-Frame Cabins
We stayed in the Ranch Hand cabin, which was perfectly clean when we arrived and filled with super duper cute art, vintage trunk for storage, table and chairs, lantern and other decorative and useful objects. It has a deck that looks out to the Tobacco River with 2 Adirondack chairs for lazy gazing.
There is a gorgeous community kitchen within a short walk from the cabin with bathroom and shower and very proper appliances–stove, fridge, espresso machine. This top area has two other cabin accommodations, the Logger Cabin and soon to be finished restored Forest Service Cabin.
The brand new A-frame is right on the Tobacco River. That section of glamping also features the Angler cabin and two renovated AirStream cabins. There's also a small kitchen in a dedicated trailer and a porta-potty bathroom.
You can book the entire property for a group or family vacation. If you do this, there is a sleeping loft in the community kitchen for guest use as well. You can also rent the property for weddings!!
Note that the cabins don't have bathrooms or electricity–Nikki has outfitted them with lanterns and there's beautiful moonlight for an outdoor pee at night. ;)
Poet and/the Bench with Tobacco River Ranch
GETTING THERE
We flew from Oakland to Glacier Park International Airport (Kalispell) on Allegiant Air. We were told by Tobacco River Ranch and a few friends how great this airline is. Did some research, and found that in more recent years they've elevated their planes. They only fly at certain times of the year, into small airports, and only on certain days and with limited flights each day. We were able to fly direct to Kalispell (vs the other airlines which had stops). Allegiant has very inexpensive prices and as you add bundles, it goes up from there–it depends on your needs and what you care about most.
One challenge to be aware of is rental car availability and pricing, which has been impacted by Covid supply chain.
PACKING
This is an opportunity to get casual and dip into nature. Literally, so bring a bathing suit! Check the weather and bring layers. It was cool at night and hot in the day. Chance for rain never happened. But if you have a waterproof or rain jacket, you might pack it! Hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing... all the gear depending on your vibe. Also, think about a small bag for essentials that you'll use at the community kitchen bathroom/shower, including flip flops to shower in. You might pack or buy bear spray if you'll be adventuring along the way.
SHOPPING PREP
We shopped in Whitefish, at the recommended The Farmer’s Stand. This super cute place is for your specialty food items and small farm fresh fruits and veggies. They had plenty of gluten free products, cacao (sip some while gazing at the river!), excellent olive oils and vinegars, and other healthy treats; we also got the most delicious trout sandwich there for our drive to Eureka. In the same complex, is a Super 1 grocery store with a large organic section and other necessities. We bought alcohol (Tequila of course) at Whitefish Liquor Store.
Nikki brings eggs from her chickens to the community kitchen so you don't need to buy them... Wow, they were sooo tasty!
Tobacco River Ranch Community Kitchen, includes farm fresh eggs
EATING IN & OUT
There's a charm to making food in the community kitchen and either eating there, taking it to your cabin or down to the river. Making meals with your peeps while in nature is just sublime! If you want to check out the dining scene, we didn't seek out options for eating in the small village of Eureka. We did however get some bites in Whitefish: the Wich House for eat-in outside or take out (OMG their smoked beets!) and Jalisco Cantina for fresh, creative and satisfying Mexican food.
EXPLORING
There are so many low to high octane adventure options from Kalispell to Eureka and in Glacier. Check out:
- Glacier National Park
- Flathead Lake
- Lake McDonald
- Kootenai Falls and Swinging Bridge at the Libby Dam area (about and hour 15 away from Tobacco River Ranch Glamping)
- Rails to Trails biking/walking (you can start at Tobacco River Ranch Glamping)
- Bring your passport and check out places in Canada, which is an hour drive north of Eureka. We were told Fernie is pretty cute but we never made it.
Kootenai Falls
Check out the other activities that Tobacco River Ranch recommends on their website (eg rock climbing, golf, etc). And shhhh! Ask Nikki about the secret waterfall!
Secret Waterfall & Tobacco River
Visit Tobacco River Ranch Glamping website
Peruse their Instagram for more inspiration!
Take an adventure with someone fun!
Enjoy,
Bonnie & Jeffrey
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hello@poetandthebench.com | 415.569.4383 | 11 Throckmorton Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941