Fall 2023 Adventure Journal

Turn over a new leaf

Savoring the subtle shift to autumn

We may not notice it in the ides of September when we’re still savoring a few last flings with summer. But as we saunter past the autumn equinox toward October, there’s no denying it. Temperatures begin to drop. Adventures start to require more layers. We begin to crave richer, heartier flavors on our plates and in our stomachs.

In other words, it’s time to make the most of our days in the sun before it slips behind the mountains and succumbs to winter.

On the Ranch, fall is one of the most visually rewarding seasons of the year. The colors are so sharp, you could (and should!) plan an entire visit around capturing the perfect shots. Fall color photography is such a popular activity in Montana, we dedicated a whole story in this issue to tips from one of our favorite cameramen, Dan Goldberg.

It’s also an incredible season for meals. Beyond the enormous Thanksgiving feast that we host each year, we embrace harvest season with fierce passion and invite chefs from all over the country to reap its rewards. One of the most unique food-themed events this fall is Nashtana, in which we host Nashville music megastars and chefs right here in Montana.

Much of the fall food bounty comes from that timeless Montana pastime, hunting. From the opening day frenzy to deep winter stalking, local outdoors buffs embrace the privilege to hunt for their supper. The Ranch’s own Sunny Jin, recently named General Manager of Food and Beverage, is one of the area's many avid hunters, and for this issue he invited a writer along for the trek.

Fall in Montana is fleeting—which is exactly what makes it so special. We hope to have the chance to share it with you soon.

The Lipson Family

FALL IN MONTANA IS A SEASON OF TRANSITIONS. IT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR, AND YET IT FEELS NEW EACH AND EVERY TIME.

SHOOTING THE BREEZE

Clay shooting is more fun with Beretta shotguns

By Alyssa Onisick

A DEER SPOTTED OUT IN THE FIELD, an eagle soaring through the skyline and snow-capped mountains in the distance. Guests know a visit to the sporting clays range means eyeing more than just targets. Especially in the colder months, with hot cocoa in hand and a fire blazing in the background, clay shooting at The Resort is an elevated experience.

And the beauty isn’t only beyond the course; the firearms themselves are a sight to behold. Thanks to the Paws Up Shooting Club’s newest partnership with the Beretta Range Program, the club exclusively shoots Beretta shotguns.

The Beretta Silver Pigeons are double-barreled, over/ under shotguns that feature beautiful craftsmanship, are hand-carved and have the reliable and robust mechanisms you’d expect from the Italian gun manufacturer.

"They’re almost an art piece in a sense, and it’s cool to see guests look at them and say, ‘Wow this is beautiful...and I never thought I’d say that about a gun!’" Assistant Activities Manager Caleb Melzer-Roush says.

While the Shooting Club has been using Beretta shotguns since 2016, the Beretta Range Program partnership began earlier this year. "When you get these stamps of approval from century-old industries, it’s a bit of polish on top of everything," Melzer-Roush says of the partnership.

But most important: the Beretta shotguns are as safe as they are beautiful. Participation in the Beretta Range Program allows for priority servicing to ensure they’re always working to the best of their ability. That’s no small feat for the volume of shooting seen at Paws Up, which included 100,000 shotgun shells in 2022. And when it’s time for an upgrade, The Resort gets priority access to new firearms.

"It makes the shooting experience much more elevated when you’re holding a firearm with little-to-no wear on it. It feels like a new shotgun in your hand every time," Melzer-Roush says.

If it happens to be your first time shooting any shotgun, you’ll still feel right at home on the sporting clay courses. In the fall, winter and spring, guests can experience the two-hour, five-stand course. Each stand has seven different presentations, or targets, to shoot at.

"My favorite thing is taking a brand-new shooter out there and teaching them these new things. That's the whole point of coming out to Montana to learn how to shoot," Melzer-Roush says. "Hopefully we’re helping these folks become better shooters and safer shooters in the long run."

And don’t be turned off by the Montana winter weather: guests can rely on outdoor heaters, cozy fires and an endless supply of hot chocolate on the five-stand course. The warmer months offer guests the opportunity to explore the 10-station walking course, where each station has two presentations. While challenging, the course offers guests the chance to improve their shooting skills.

A bit unconventional perhaps, but there’s generally no score keeping on the course—that is, unless a family or group is particularly competitive. Those guests relish the challenge of trying to hit all 10 stands.

But for Melzer-Roush and his team at the Shooting Club, the key to a good day of clay shooting is simple: "If they’re breaking clays and having fun, we’re doing something right."

Harvest the perfect shots come fall

By Greg Eiden

When fall descends on Paws Up, a wondrous transformation begins. Innumerable larch trees put on a show other conifers can’t match, dropping golden needles onto local pathways and trails. Cottonwoods compete with aspens for "brightest colors." Elk, chilly air evident with every exhale, bugle for new mates. It’s all viewable through the incredibly warm light of fall. To help you capture these lovely moments, and others, we asked professional photographer Dan Goldberg, a Paws Up regular, for a few tips.

TIP #1

RISE AND SHINE: POP THOSE AUTUMNAL COLORS

"Shoot early. Get up and go for a walk in the woods. Besides getting great light, you’ll see things late-risers miss, like horses through the fog or a herd of elk walking up the hillside. You’ll have lovely, contrast-y light for an hour or two after sunrise. And before sunrise, the blue hour really makes the yellow pop off the trees and everything else goes blue. Check out the colorful cottonwoods and aspens at the end of Sunset Hill Road."

TIP #2

SUNSET YIELDS SPECTACULAR LANDSCAPE SHOTS

"Choose the 15–30 minutes right at sunset for those lovely landscape shots. The view behind Pomp is amazing at that time. You may see bison below beautiful clouds—use a long lens to shoot the bison. They’ll be in focus and the background will go soft. A 200–400mm is perfect!"

TIP #3

ADD DRAMA THROUGH SELECTIVE FOCUS

"Shoot with a wide-open or close-to-open aperture, so whatever you’re focusing on—like a twig of golden larch needles against a backdrop of green firs—it is the most dominant thing in the shot."

TIP #4

THIS IS MONTANA—MAKE HORSES YOUR SUBJECT

"Try shooting horses wide and tight. I will shoot with a 35mm to get a wide shot for horses as part of a landscape and then switch to a 90 macro or an 85mm to get a portrait or close-up. Simplicity can be beautiful— just a saddle, the reins, even the top of a cowboy hat."

TIP #5

PLAY THE ANGLES—SHOOT FROM ON HIGH

"For expansive shots, try a higher angle. Maybe from on the hill above the Morris Ranch House. Or from Lookout Rock—it’s difficult to shoot there, but the views over the Blackfoot River are amazing!"

TIP #6

LONGER EXPOSURES ON THE RIVER, OR UNDER THE STARS

"Head to the Blackfoot River early with a tripod and experiment with low-angle shots to see the rushing water pass close to the camera. You will love the results. Then shoot long exposures so the river is blurry but the rocks are sharp. Play with the shutter speed until you get it right. Later, night mode on your iPhone does a great job with the Milky Way. You will see things your eye misses. It’s mind-blowing!"

TIP #7

CLOSE-UPS OF NATURE’S SMALLER WONDERS

"A macro lens is great for shooting close-ups of some of the forest’s smaller wonders. Get up close and look at the details, the colors, the texture, the drops of dew or the frost on a yellow leaf or a fascinating pine cone. Besides making for unusual shots, it can be very relaxing."

"Simplicity can be beautiful..."

WELCOME TO NASHTANA

BRINGING THE BEST OF MUSIC CITY

TO THE RESORT

By Alyssa Onisick

Creating intimate and unique dining opportunities and one-of-a-kind experiences for guests at Paws

Up is nothing new to Director of Special Events

Scott Schaefer, who has been working at The Resort for nine years. But never has he seen an inaugural event be as successful as last year’s Nashtana, which brought the best of Music City’s music and food scenes to Greenough.

"What we’ve always been doing is embracing the food world and embracing the music world. And for these things, all roads point to Nashville," Schaefer says. So, he planned a weekend full of top Tennessee talent. The intimate performances, tales of Music City and dining experiences were unlike any other, and he expects the event to keep growing.

"It’s a celebration of the things Nashville is known best for, and some of the things we ourselves have been pursuing that resonate with our guests: good food and good music," he says.

This year’s event, taking place September 15–17, will highlight the work of singer-songwriter Jessi Alexander, producer-songwriter Jon Randall and Executive Chef Ben Norton.

Alexander is known for No. 1 hits like Blake Shelton’s "Mine Would Be You" and "Drink on It," as well as "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. Jon Randall—a Grammy-, CMA- and ACM award–winning producer and songwriter who has worked with Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert, will join guests again this year. Guests at last year’s showcase night in Tank were regaled with colorful accounts of the tunesmiths’ adventures, hanging on every word.

"What was fascinating and fully engaging for our guests was them telling the stories behind the music. They’re hearing these songs on the radio, and now they’re meeting the people responsible for writing them," Schaefer explains. That night, Tank was the most crowded he’s ever seen in his nine years at The Resort.

This year, Alexander and Randall will do another showcase night at Tank, with plenty of banter and storytelling, and also hold a more typical concertlike performance at the chuck wagon.

Norton, of the Nashville restaurant Husk, will help guests explore authentic Southern food. At Husk, which sits a few blocks off Historic Broadway in Downtown Nashville, Norton and his team are focused on reinterpreting the bounty of the area, and use only ingredients that come from the South. While plans are still being finalized, the insider access is sure to be as fun as last year’s live fire cooking demonstrations with barbecue legend Peg Leg Porker.

While Nashtana is a new event, the idea of bridging the gap between renowned chefs and Resort guests is nothing new: Many guests are familiar with Top Chef winner Brooke Williamson, who has hosted a number of intimate cooking demonstrations and tastings at Paws Up.

"The idea for Nashtana just kind of riffed off of things we were already doing, but defined them a little more because we’re specializing in one city," Schaefer says. "Nashville has a lot of buzz right now, and it steered the kind of music we wanted to use and gave us focus and a target."

Purveyors of

EXCELLENCE

HARVEST SEASON ON THE BLACKFOOT IS SO GOOD, YOU CAN TASTE IT.

By Wendy Altschuler

Chef Brandon Cunningham, the sedulous executive chef at the green o’s Social Haus, hails from the Pacific Northwest where foraging is ubiquitous, especially for someone who loves to cook. While Montana can sometimes be more austere, especially in the fall months leading up to winter, rowan berries, elderberries, wildflowers and some mushrooms may be harvested.

The chef’s fall tasting menu, a splendiferous and intentional eight-course feast, includes ingredients sourced from the Western Montana Growers Cooperative, a farmer-owned coalition of growers that produce local fruits, vegetables, milk, cheeses, lentils, meats, eggs and even honey. "Anything that is small-scale and artisanal—they have access to it," he says.

The Missoula Farmers’ Market is also a utilized resource. Other high-end items are flown in from Japan, like Hokkaido wagyu, which is served with a searing hot black rock sourced from the nearby Blackfoot River.

Once the weather begins to shift in western Montana and fall appears on the horizon, the menu incorporates more hearty ingredients like root vegetables for dishes that heat up the belly. "We want to create that warm-to-the-bone feeling," Cunningham says.

Remarkably, the dishes change frequently and diners can expect to be delighted by something new each day and night. With just two words per course, like Pork & Coffee, dual ingredients remain the star of the show and guests are left with something rather clandestine to unravel throughout the experience. If ingredients can connect a soul to a sense of place, then the evergreen trees and natural beauty that surround the Social Haus will surely be the palate cleanser.

FALL FLAVOR, DEFINED

As the weather cools, night skies are making their dramatic return to the Ranch. Toothsome fall flavor profiles during the harvest months usually include earthy vegetables, hearty beans, belly-warming stews and soups and likely sips of bourbon. Cunningham is ready to strike when the mercury drops with his inventive Squash & Maple autumn recipe.

"I love this dish for many reasons," says Cunningham. "It’s sweet, salty, creamy, a bit spicy and, above all, there's bacon whipped cream on top! This soup was inspired by a warm latte found at any coffee shop and serves great out of an oversized coffee mug to boot." For a comforting fall recipe, scan here.

"We’re finding creative ways to accent dishes with strongly flavored herbs or flowers," says Cunningham. "If you know what to look for, there’s plenty out there."

On the Hunt

Tagging along with Sunny Jin on an autumn hunting adventure

By Nancy DePalma

Before this late fall trip to Montana, I’d seen a gun up close exactly twice, and held one just once. The first time was at a shooting range, a third date after I shared that I secretly harbored a dream of being a CIA agent. He called my bluff and suddenly, there I was, facing a paper target trying to steady my shaking hand. It was much heavier than I expected, literally and figuratively, knowing that I held so much power in my hands.

The second time I saw a gun up close was in England on assignment. I’d been invited to tag along on a trip in the Cotswolds with a Michelin-starred chef as he hunted muntjac deer for his restaurant.

The third time I saw a gun is how this story begins, in Montana, in early November.

The month before my arrival, I join a video chat with General Manager of Food and Beverage Sunny Jin and Paws Up photographer Stuart Thurlkill. We talk through the specifics of the upcoming trip—what we need and what we’ll be doing. I learn we’ll be hunting elk, but Jin and Thurlkill, who hunt together often, banter about bear and bobcat. I know I'm in for an adventure, way outside my comfort zone. "Are you ready to get elbow deep in an elk?" says Jin. "You’re going to have the full experience, and then we’ll send you home with steaks." I'm more at home hunting for finds at the flea market, so I gulp, wondering how I'll fare on this rugged adventure.

Two days before I arrive in Montana, a cold front blows in and delivers an unseasonably early several feet of snow. I’m undaunted as I settle in to my luxurious accommodations at The Resort, snuggling up with a chunky knit blanket while getting lost in the view. It’s a winter wonderland and I feel as if I’m inside a snow globe. Tomorrow, I’ll be trekking through this scene, but right now I’m quite happy watching from indoors.

The next morning my alarm buzzes at 4:30AM. I drowsily pull on one layer, then another, adding an extra one after Thurlkill’s text advising of single-digit temperatures. There’s not a star in the sky lighting my path to the car, and the only sound is my boots crunching in the snow. It’s cold and I’m tired, but I arrive at Tank to find Jin full of energy despite the early wake-up call. "Are you ready?" he says with a huge grin. His enthusiasm is infectious and I’m immediately caught up. "Of course I am," I say, convincing myself as much as him.

Sunny Jin is a force to be reckoned with. He’s worked in some of the most revered restaurants in the world, including El Bulli and The French Laundry. Now, as General Manager of Food and Beverage at The Resort at Paws Up, he oversees multiple restaurants and food outlets. If you’re eating or drinking at The Resort, Jin is behind it.

Fiercely talented in the kitchen, he’s also a passionate outdoorsman. Trim and fit, he has the energy and ebullient spirit of a teenager and he’s happiest when fishing the Blackfoot River or hunting the backwoods of Montana. He’s equally calm and intense, the kind of person who can work a 15-hour day in the kitchen, then head out to hike a mountain—in record time. He’s not easy to keep up with, as Thurlkill and I soon learn.

"We’re not going far," he says. "It’s right across from The Resort." We park the trucks and I see a long gravel path with no end in sight. "It’s about a mile in and then we’ll start walking into the hills," Sunny says, before reminding me to put on my blaze-orange vest and tossing me a can of bear spray. "We’re probably going to hike around 10–12 miles today," he casually adds.

Jin is nothing if not prepared. He pulls on his hat, slings his rifle over his shoulder and we start making our way down the path. "I came by last night and saw elk tracks leading over there," he points. We are only a few steps in when I start peppering him with questions. How are we going to get the elk back to the truck? I wonder. "On our backs," he says, nonplussed. "It may take a few trips."

The three of us spend the next few hours trudging through feet of snow, weaving amongst towering pine trees and hiking up hills. We watch the sun rise and walk in silence, so as to not alert any animals of our presence. We walk in a straight line, with Jin leading the charge as he effortlessly scrambles up the hills, and me bringing up the rear. We may be on the hunt, but somehow I’ve never felt more at peace. I’m keenly aware of every footstep, every rustle of my snow pants. A bird flies overhead and the feathery swish of its wings has never sounded so melodic.

Then, suddenly Jin stops, putting his finger to his lips to quiet Thurlkill and me. I stop in my tracks. Does he see something? I hear nothing but my own breath. He sees more tracks. "They’re near," he whispers. I scan the woods, my eyes playing tricks on me. He looks around again. "Let’s keep moving."

We keep going, dutifully following Jin as he skillfully guides us through the woods. Focused, he thinks like the elk, anticipating their every move. The snow makes things more difficult. "They can hear us," he says. We find more tracks but no herd. In fact, we only spot one animal: another hunter. He walks up to us, nods his head and keeps walking. No words are shared.

Heading downhill, we turn the corner and exhaustion sets in. We’ve been walking in the cold for hours. It feels miles away from where we’ve started and we’ve seen nothing except for a few prints in the snow. We stop to regroup, and as Jin leans against a tree, he asks if we’re ready to pack it in. Inexperienced, I express frustration, and then he shares a statistic with me: "You can only expect to come back with something around ten percent of the time." I’m surprised, assuming that most hunters fill the beds of their pickups after each adventure. Jin smiles in his inimitable way, and then I suddenly understand. It’s not about the trophy; it’s about the time spent in nature and the thrill of the hunt.

The next morning, Jin rose early—this time by himself—to hike higher and deeper into the woods in search of the herd. He still owes me a box of steaks.

Explorer David Thompson

The man who put Montana on the map

By Greg Eiden

AS THE 18TH CENTURY DREW TO A CLOSE, VAST SWATHS OF NORTH AMERICA’S WEST REMAINED UNCHARTED. SURE, CAPTAIN JAMES COOK HAD EXPLORED PACIFIC OCEAN SHORELINES. AND THOMAS JEFFERSON WAS SENDING A CORPS OF DISCOVERY TO FIND AN OVERLAND ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC.

BUT ONE MAN’S INDOMITABLE SPIRIT AND THIRST FOR EXPLORATION WAS UNMATCHED. HIS NAME WAS DAVID THOMPSON.

At an early age in England, Thompson showed a knack for navigation and geography. The British Canadian lad caught the eye of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who offered him an apprenticeship. Imagine, at age 16, being outfitted with the barest necessities—a handkerchief, shoes, shirts, coat, gun, gunpowder and little more—and then sent off to explore the Canadian wilderness with a motley crew of trappers.

Undaunted, Thompson spent the next few years learning to trade with native tribes. (He later married a Cree woman who helped him better understand various languages and customs.)

Looking to expand his mapmaking skills, he joined the competing North West Company. For them, he set off to properly chart the northwest Rocky Mountain area of North America. One of his groundbreaking maps depicted the entire length of the mighty Columbia River.

In 1808, Thompson traversed the Kootenai River and dropped into northwestern Idaho and Montana. He was so relentless in his travels that it seemed he only paused to establish a series of fur trading posts along the way.

Among them was the first trading posts in Salish territory in what is today’s Montana: Saleesh House on the Clark Fork River. While it was known for its leaky mud and grass roof, it was the perfect spot for actively trading beaver pelts for various goods with the locals.

His surveyor’s habit of looking up to the heavens fascinated the Salish people. They dubbed him Koo-Koo-Sint, "he who looks at stars."

The name seems particularly apt when you consider Thompson’s own words:

"My instruments for practical astronomy were a brass Sextant...and other requisite instruments, which I was in constant practice of using in clear weather for observations of the Sun, Moon, Planets and Stars to determine the positions of the Rivers, Lakes, Mountains and other parts of the countries I surveyed from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean."

Over 28 years, Thompson covered 55,000 miles on foot, horseback, snowshoe and canoe. Along the way, he overcame a badly broken leg, negative-40-degree temperatures and near starvation that once drove him to poach a wolf kill so he could survive on bison bone marrow.

The boy with a flair for geography had become one of North America’s greatest explorers. He mapped some 2,500,000 square miles of northwest Montana, Idaho, Washington and Alberta wilderness.

David Thompson’s myriad accomplishments led to his name appearing on places like the Thompson River, Thompson Falls and the Thompson Chain of Lakes in Montana.

But perhaps most important to his legacy of loving the wild is a conservation easement of 142,000 acres established along his entire route into Montana, from the Kootenai River to the Clark Fork River. This beautiful stretch of wilderness habit is now preserved for wildlife and native plants.

It was one final tribute to the man who quite literally put northwest Montana on the map.

Battering rams: 300 lbs. of furious sheep

In all of David Thompson's explorations, one of the more intriguing areas he visited sits alongside the Clark Fork River. Today, it's called the Koo-Koo-Sint Bighorn Sheep Viewing Area, a nod to his Salish name. Here, on chilly fall mornings, as frost clings to the sage and native grasses, bighorn sheep ewes and their progeny graze openly. A rather gregarious species, it’s not unusual to see 50–100 sheep gathered together.

But as October fades into November, it’s the mighty rams that put on a big show.

Weighing in at nearly 300 pounds, the big boys butt heads. Literally. Talk about a migraine: two muscular rams charge each other at 20 mph, colliding with a ferociousness that can be heard a mile away.

Out to impress the ladies, such jousting can go on all day. Rams with similar-size horns seem to pair off and challenge each other, raring up for more epic collisions in the Clark Fork River Valley. Their mating season show plays on and off throughout November.

Location: Koo-Koo-Sint Bighorn Sheep

Viewing Area, about 6 miles northeast of Thompson Falls MT on Hwy 200

FALL INTO FUN at Paws Up

SEPTEMBER 15–17

NASHTANA

Nashville + Montana = Nashtana.

One of the country’s great hubs for food and music is heading to Montana, and we’ve got your front-row tickets. Spend a weekend soaking in top Tennessee talent—both edible and audible.

SEPTEMBER 20

WILDERNESS WORKSHOP: WILDFLOWER WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP

Watch your talents bloom.

Artist Michelle Nowels will guide participants to find their own magic while painting plants or flowers that are native to Montana or creatively filling in borders or stamps highlighting outdoor adventures.

SEPTEMBER 21–24

MONTANA MASTER CHEFS®

Carolina cuisine meets Montana hospitality.

Fall harvest season means it’s time for the Ranch to host some of the country’s brightest culinary stars. This year, join North Carolina chefs and Montana musicians for a truly special weekend.

SEPTEMBER 1–3

FISH AND FEAST

Hook, line and sinker, get here for this one.

It’s time to reel in one of the most delicious fly-fishing excursions Paws Up can offer. Pull on your waders and meet a crew of fly-fishing experts in the river, then pull up a chair for spectacular seafood and other gourmet delights.

SEPTEMBER 6

WILDERNESS WORKSHOP: MONTANA MAJESTY PAINTING

When it comes to art classes, Montana is our classroom.

With artist Ashley Mitchell, you might find yourself painting Montana’s state bird or flower or making cowboy and cowgirl portraits, with Paws Up providing the perfect inspiration.

SEPTEMBER 7–10

COWGIRL FALL EVENT

Ladies, it’s your rodeo.

Pack your best boots and get ready to meet the Cowgirl Hall of Famers. Indulge in riding, fly-fishing, cattle driving and, of course, gourmet meals with real horsewomen of the West.

OCTOBER 13–15

FRIENDS OF JAMES BEARD WEEKEND

Star-quality chefs, starry Montana skies.

Foodies, this one’s for you. When Paws Up welcomes a trio of the country’s top chefs into our kitchen, the plates are as pretty as the scenery and the flavors are impeccable.

NOVEMBER 3–5

OPUS ONE WINE WEEKEND

Napa’s best heads to the Ranch.

If you’ve had Opus One, then you know: it’s simply one of the best vintners in the country’s winemaking mecca. Join Opus One winemaker Michael Silacci for a paired-wine weekend worth savoring.

NOVEMBER 23

A THANKSGIVING WEEKEND GETAWAY TO REMEMBER

Giving thanks in Big Sky country.

Enjoy a feast for all five senses at Paws Up’s annual Thanksgiving celebration. Catering to the whole family, there’s a horn-of-plenty of activity to go around— with special guest, BBQ legend Chef Sam Huff.

For a full schedule of upcoming events and workshops at Paws Up, visit pawsup.com/events.

The best way to beat winter is to join it. And The Resort at Paws Up® takes everything we love about winter to the next level. Here, in the wilds of Montana, amongst the snow-covered pines, every luxury feels a little more luxurious, every adventure more adventurous and every inspired cocktail by the fire that much more satisfying. The breathtaking beauty of winter is here. All that it’s missing is you.

866-815-7129 I Greenough, Montana I www.pawsup.com