MONTANA – Tally Lake

ENJOY THE LIFE NEW EPISODE!

Join us on our road trip to “Big Sky Country!! Our first stop is the Famous Tally Lake Campground near Whitefish, Montana and then it’s on to Glacier Park. If you like outdoor activities this is the place to be, Hiking, Kayaking, Mountain Biking, Montana has it all. Tune in for the next episode of Enjoy the Life and watch the full adventure. Go to our youtube channel and subscribe!!!

Welcome to Montana, where you feel like you’re on top of the world, join us on our adventures as we explore big sky country, with it’s endless beauty and nonstop excitement

Our First stop, Tally Lake, where we’ll share our camping tips and plant-base cooking skills, come experience this natural paradise and find out why they call it the last best place.

We preparing for our road trip to montana.

Margarita is preparing some homemade food for the road, veggie chili, some fresh cooked bread and plenty of kombucha. Let hit the road get the gear, get the gear, we like to have as much home cooked food as possible so Margarita was preparing enough food to keep us on the road for a couple weeks.

We kind of over did it but it’s better to have to much than not enough.

WE MADE plant based CHILI, potatoe salad, taco meat, humus, falafel, soy ceviche and plenty of refried beans. we packed up and ready to go,lets do this.

 I’m super excited because we on our way to my childhood stomping grounds

Tally Lake Montana, a beautiful lake and campground,I was born in great falls Montana and as a young boy this is the place where `i first fell in love with nature, so I’ve aLWAYS WANTED to return and share this place with Margarita.

Montana has been under a mandatory 2 week quarantine but they just lifted that restriction so we decided it was a perfect time to go before all the crowds show up. traveling during cover-19 is definitely interesting, truck stops and hotels but it’s totally doable as long as you use caution and wear a mask and wash your hands.

we decided to camp a night in zion national park, at the watchman campground,

as the suns goes down it really gorgeous and great for star gazing.  we only stayed one night, next time we want to stay at least 3 nightS because zion is a magical place.

we spent a night in Idaho Falls, the next morning we hit the road, the farther north

we drove the more beautiful it gets and when we drove into Montana something changes, it the angle of the sun or something, I don’t know what but the Sky gets really big and bright, I guess that why they call it big sky country.

we drove through Missoula, past flathead lake, stopped in kailspell to pick up some supplies and we finally made to whitefish and the dirt road that leads to tally lake. wow, it’s so natural and pristine and beautiful and great and incredible, we were so excited to be here.

I can’t believe it, we’re on our way to my favorite camping spot ever, the place I’ve dreamed about many times and where I first leaned about camping and nature.  I’ve always wondered if it still existed and if it’s changed much.

once you arrive to the dirt road it’s 5.3 miles until you reach the campground. the road is a bit bumpy but not bad. this is the place to get away from paved roads and cell phones. – there is no cell phone coverage here, when you finally see the lake poke out through the trees the deep blue and brown colors glissen und the afternoon sun.  It’s the second deepest lake in montana at 445ft deep. the water that feeds into the lake comes from star meadows wetlands which gives the water that dark tint and it’s much warmer that most lakes.  the water is surrounded by douglas fir and ponderosa pine and it’s a really popular spot for bird watch with an incredible assortment of birds

as we drove into the campground it really hadn’t changed much and it brought back so many wonderful memories.  When I was 5 years old our family along with 3 other families in your neighborhood would come to Tally Lake every summer.  I remember roasting marsh mellows by the fire. exploring the different trails, snipe hunting, swimming in the lake, water skiing, tubing down the river. This place was my paradise and I see it hasn’t changed a bit.  

the first thing we did was walk down to the beach by the lake and take in the view . still the same incredible tally lake. the l;local groundhog community was still there, and thriving.  the groundhogs are always poking there heads out to check you out as they talk back and forth to each other.

There’s also a family of bunnies that live by the lake that are still there.  it’s such a magical place and they have worked hard to keep it preserved.


the sun is going down so we need to set up camp and get the fire going and have some dinner. The camps sites are nice and big and not to close together with plenty of trees for shade.  after we set up camp it’s time to relax and feel natures energy revitalize our bodies.  After driving for 3 day we felt exhausted and it was time to rest. It was great to sit by an open campfire with it’s hypnotizing flames.

The next morning Margi was up early making the fire, she’s a good women.

For this vegan fresh toast we start with a quarter cup of just egg, quarter cup of almond milk a tablespoon of brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon and a few drops of vanilla

We’re also having Margaritas favorite Mexican hot coco, with abuelita coco, real Mexican hot chocolate, we also cooked up some soy sausage, and a little maple syrup.

We have another video about all our camping recipes in more detail and we’ll leave a link in the description.

Now it’s time to get out and explore the different trails and hiking around tally lake.

There’s a bunch of cool trails all around the lake

It rains a lot here that why everything is so green. The trail were really nice and there was some good bird watching. The hikes are all mapped out and well marked.

The next day we were up early and it was time for some kayaking. We couldn’t wait to explore this incredible lake. Kayaking is such a fun activity. You feel so free on the open water.  Margarita loves kayaking, she was so excited to get on the water.  she was Like a little kid with a smile from ear to ear. as We paddled around and and explored the lake we felt so refreshed energized. it was awesome. When the wind stopped blowing, it became really still and the water was like glass, crystal clear very peaceful and relaxing. After we we’re done chillin, we decided to see if we could paddle to the opposite end of the lake,  Margarita got an early lead on me so I had to paddle by butt off to catch up but by the time I sought up to her we were both kinda tired and we decide to head back home. We almost made it all the way across lake. Wow that was really nice we can’t wait to do it again After breakfast we decided to drive into town and rent some mountain bikes and do some mountain biking It’s about a 25 minute drive back into the town of white fish. We rented 2 mountain bikes here at glacier cyclery.  The had the best prices in town and great customer service.

He was right it was time to shred.  So we made out way to lion mountain.  it felt so good to be on a mountain bike again.  Many years ago I used to ride all the time and I was really looking forward to sharing this amazing sport with Margarita.  It’s  her first time on a Mountain bike, so it was important to find some beginner trails that aren’t too challenging. It’s a 2 mile ride from the town of white fish to the lion mountain trails. It doesn’t seem far at first but it’s all up hill so I was a bit worried that Margarita wasn’t going to make it.  She’s not used to the up hill rides so it was a bit of a shock to her system but she didn’t give up and we finally made it to the trailhead. by the time we arrived she was tired and she wanted to quit but after resting a bit she decided to charge forward.  Lion mountain has some great single track trails, and they have to trails marked from beginner to advanced. It’s great for first timers. We kept it in low gear and grinded up the hill.  It wasn’t to crowded and the forest is really nice.  Margarita learned quickly and was starting to tear it up. This is soo much fun.  She had some trouble on the tight corners but she adapted. Once we made to the top there was a great view of the Vally and surrounding mountains. Now it’s time for for the ride back to town , a nice and easy downhill

Whitefish is a great town with plenty of cool shops.  There’s not many vegan restaurants but we did find some good plant based options here at jersey boys pizza and our other favorite place was monists coffee traders they have great coffee and tee and a nice gift shop.  Later that night we made some delicious plant based beyond meat cheese-burgers with pineapple. Make sure you watch our video explaining how we cooked all of our plant based meal and more detail. There’s a link in the description below.

Wow we’re really enjoying our stay here at tally lake.  It’s just a super nice place to chill and relax and if you’re looking for adventurer it’s easy to find any where you look. It’s really a family friendly place and it gets extremely crowed during the months of July and august.  We were there in June when it’s still a bit rainy and chilly, we definitely had our rainy days and chilly nights, but there are very few people and it’s really quiet. You can just sit and listen while the birds sing and wind blows through the ponderosa pine.  This has been a great experience revisiting my childhood playground where I first learned of natures magical wonders,.and it was nice to see it was continuing to spark the imaginations of new generations. 

In the next episode hop over to glacier park and take a hike up to avalanche lake to witness the wonder and make new friends.  Glacier park is incredible, so don’t miss it and if you liked this video please hit that subscribe button and ring the bell to be notified of all our new videos.