The Madison Valley — Blue-Ribbon Trout, Bear Trap Canyon & Ennis

The Madison River is the fly angler's Madison — a fast, riffled, blue-ribbon trout stream that runs the length of a wide, big-sky valley about an hour southwest of Bozeman, framed by the Madison Range on the east and the Gravelly Range on the west. This two-day escape bases itself in the classic fishing town of Ennis and works the river and its wild canyon. Day one is spent on the water and in the rock: a morning wading or floating the famed riffle water of the upper Madison, then an afternoon hiking into the Bear Trap Canyon Wilderness, a rugged 1,500-foot-deep gorge where the river surges through boulder gardens and Class IV whitewater below Ennis Lake. The night is spent in Ennis, a walkable Western main street of fly shops and saloons. Day two shifts to Ennis Lake and the rolling foothills of the Gravelly Range on the valley's quiet west side — birdwatching, easy ridge walks, and long views back to the Madison Range — before the drive home. Wild trout, a canyon few outsiders know, and the endless sagebrush light of the Madison Valley define the trip.