The Missouri River is among the most well-loved trout streams in the world and home to 6,000 trout per mile. Writer Quinn Grover wanted to see the Mighty Mo just as it was awakening from its winter slumber. With his brother in tow, Grover descends upon Craig, MT (pop. 43) and finds the small town a perfect place to forget about the rest of the world. And the fishing? Losing count is a good thing.

“To get to Craig, MT from Idaho Falls, it takes five hours on Interstate 15, neck-and-neck with long-haul semi trucks, over a couple of minor mountain ranges, across the Continental Divide, through farm country, mining country and a nice cross section of Montana towns. There is a spot in Butte, MT—an old mining town that seems to be both dying and raging against that death at the same time—where a giant white sculpture of the Virgin Mary gazes down on the freeway from the top of a pine-tree ridge. And there is a spot north of Helena where the interstate follows a mountain creek so pretty and perfect that it looks a bit like a postcard—except for the diesels, the four lanes of interstate and the concrete divider.”

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