The May Edit
Local Blog Charlotte Durham May 5, 2026
Local Blog Charlotte Durham May 5, 2026
May in Montana is one of my favorites! The snow is still coming off the peaks. The rivers are running high and fast. The days are getting long and the light in the evenings is something worth staying outside for. It is the month that reminds you why you live here! It truly is the best.
This month's edit covers what is worth doing right now, what to wear while doing it, where to go for dinner on the way back from Yellowstone, what is on the nightstand, and why you need to secure your July tickets. These are items, places, and activities that I personally love and am excited to share them with you.
What to Do This Month
Fly Fishing the Gallatin River · The Season Opens
The Gallatin River begins in the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park, flows north through the length of Gallatin Canyon, past Big Sky, and into the valley below before joining the Madison and Jefferson Rivers. More than seventy-five miles of wild trout water, running alongside Highway 191 for much of its length, accessible at pullouts and roadside wade-ins that make it one of the most approachable blue-ribbon fisheries in the American West.
In May the river is in full runoff, high, fast, and the particular shade of green that locals call Gallatin Green, which means the snowmelt is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. This is not the month for dry fly purists. It is the month for nymphs fished tight to the bank, for side channels and slow corners where the fish hold when the current is running hardest, for the kind of patience that spring fishing in Montana demands and rewards. My husband and I love to get out there and enjoy it!
Rainbow, brown, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout live in this river. Wild, not stocked. The salmon fly hatch, the most anticipated event of the Gallatin season, begins in late June as the water drops and clears, which means May is the quiet before. The canyon is less crowded. The fish are there. The scenery, as always, does not require any adjustment.
This is how the season starts here. Get out while it is still yours– we sure will be!
What to Wear
WYATT Outdoors · wyattoutdoors.com
I love these shirts so very much– and I have more sitting in my cart. WYATT is a Montana brand designed for women who, as they put it, prefer dirt roads to paved ones. The shirts are made in America, UPF 50+, moisture wicking, vented in the back, with a slightly tapered fit and pearl snaps that look considered rather than incidental. Soft enough to wear every day. Structured enough to go from the river to dinner without a second thought.
This is the perfect spring item for Montana. The days shift fast. Cold mornings, warm afternoons, a dinner reservation you did not want to change out of waders for. A WYATT shirt handles all of it. I’ll be pairing with my favorite pair of Lucchese boots.
Shop the full collection at https://wyattoutdoors.com/
Where to Eat
The Grill at Sage Lodge · On the Way To or From Yellowstone
If Yellowstone is on the calendar this month (and it should be) the park begins its phased spring opening April 17th and the crowds are not there yet. One of our favorite spots to stop is The Grill at Sage Lodge– the perfect dinner reservation. This spot holds meaning for us, as it was where we found out the gender of our first born daughter! It always feels special to go back here.
Sage Lodge sits along the Yellowstone River in Pray, Montana, about forty-five minutes north of the park's north entrance. The dining room has floor-to-ceiling windows that face the river and, in the evening, produce the kind of sunset that earns its reputation. This is not a view you plan around once and forget. It is the reason you go back.
The menu is Montana in the best sense– and I have some favorites that I always go back to. The cold smoked trout toast is the starter: housemade sourdough, fresh ricotta, fermented giardiniera, crispy capers. The cowboy ribeye is the main event, served with Willie's Whiskey peppercorn sauce, chimichurri, and roasted new potatoes. It is delicious– and the view is even better.
Reserve at https://sagelodge.com/restaurants-near-yellowstone/the-grill/
What to Read
Think Like a Horse · Grant Golliher
This is a most recent read for us– and I think it’s a read that’s worthwhile.
Grant Golliher is a horse whisperer and proprietor of the Diamond Cross Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he has spent nearly fifty years working with horses and watching what that work reveals about people. Think Like a Horse is the result: part guide to horsemanship, part philosophy of communication, empathy, trust, and what it takes to build a willing partnership with something that reads you more accurately than you read yourself.
Fortune 500 executives, professional coaches, and families from around the world travel to his ranch each year for what one CEO described as the most transformational experience he had ever encountered. The lessons Golliher draws from his horses on boundaries, on patience, on leading without force translate far beyond the barn. This is a book for anyone heading into the season with a horse, and equally for anyone who is not.
I love his perspective and think it’s insightful whether it’s for your relationship, how you lead your team, being a parent, etc.
What to Put on the Calendar
Big Sky PBR · July 16th through 18th · Big Sky Events Arena
One of the best weekends of the year! Three nights. Forty cowboys. The world's best bulls. An outdoor arena in the mountains at 7,000 feet. This is the Big Sky PBR, voted Event of the Year eleven consecutive times by PBR bull riders at the PBR World Finals, and it is without question one of the most memorable nights the summer offers anywhere in Montana.
What began in 2011 as a single-night event has grown into Big Sky's Biggest Week, a full calendar of community events, live music, the Big Sky Community Rodeo, and three nights of Challenger Series Professional Bull Riding that draws over 30,000 attendees from across the country. The after-party is included. The energy in that arena, under those mountains, on a July night in Big Sky, is something that stays with you forever!
Tickets sell out. They always do. Secure yours now!
https://www.bigskypbr.com/tickets/
Everything featured this month is linked on ShopMy. Charlotte Durham · Big Sky Sotheby's International Realty · charlottenco.com
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