Montana Tacomas

Lived in AK a couple of years myself....this is definitely going to be a big change for you!

You always get stuck in the crappiest places .

 

you realize that the going to the sun road in glacier is still closed right? some of the park is accessible but not all of it.
near island park is an area called big springs - very cool, no fishing there but its worth checking out. also take the time to drive on the mesa falls scenic byway. lots of camping available in both of those areas.
if the water levels stay where they are right now you're going to be very disappointed in the fishing. everything is a flooded murky mess. and good luck finding cell service - once you leave town coverage gets pretty spotty. maybe if you stay at the KOA's in town you'll be OK
as you leave ID check out the Madison River starting at quake lake and go all the way up to ennis, norris and along hwy 84 to the blacks station fishing access. there's a dirt road (madison road) that continues north from there and there are more fishing sites along the way. you may have cell service in some of this area. also between quake lake and hebgen lake there is a fishing access - monster fish back there.

if you travel up hwy 191 from west yellowstone to belgrade/bozeman there's lots of fishing and campgrounds along the way as the road follows the gallatin river. pay attention to where you stop though as some of the road/river cut through yellowstone park and you need a special permit to fish in the park.
you may be able to reach red mountain south of butte. the driveable road ends at the tree line and you can hike up to the peak if you want. lots of other roads back there to explore, that's where i learned to drive . i'm not 100% sure if the roads are open clear through or not - there was a lot of snow up there last I checked - but if they are open you should be able to drive from butte to interstate 15. and some idiots got caught in an avalanche while trying to ski on red mountain over memorial day weekend so you know the snowpack is still high.
i grew up in butte and live in bozo now and know my way around pretty well, if theres any other info you want just ask.

nothing that I know of

youve never seen hyalite in the summer huh? unless you plan on making reservations for a campsite you're out of luck. and sitting in a camp listening to the other campers' kids crying, dogs barking and generators running non stop is not exactly my idea of a camping trip. i have lived here for 8 years and have spent 1 night up there. never again. its a nightmare! in fact, i haven't been up in hyalite canyon in over a year - way too crowded and the people do not know how to drive up there

 

this is what the gallatin looks like right now, definitely not fishable!

http://youtu.be/kB-gpIF-dCU

 

I know the big hole pretty well too...pretty much grew up camping in the big hole and wise river valleys every summer. i drove the whole loop from dillon to jackson to wisdom to wise river, camped up wise and then home through divide and butte over memorial day. the whole river was pretty high. lots of rafters and a few of them were fishing but no one on the banks was fishing. lots of snow left to melt up there before things calm down. my folks are up there now...if/when they come back to civilization i'll get a fishing update from dad for ya.

 

This was the highlands (area of red mountain) last summer

 

Got some snow in the forecast...hope you NW MT folks didn't put your snow shovels away just yet!
http://www.kbzk.com/news/heavy-june-snow-on-the-way-for-some-on-rocky-mountain-front/

 

I was laughing