Cowboy Troy's & a Hike Up Big Creek

The first time we walked into Cowboy Troy’s –a few years ago – it was kind of an afterthought. This time, it was both the plan and the perfect way to cap off a beautiful day in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley.

Cowboy Troy’s is a family-owned eatery that seems to measure about as long as the small town of Victor, Montana. It parallels Highway 93 about 15 feet off the busy roadway that bisects the small community. Turn to the left as you enter, and you find plenty of space to sit and watch pizzas cooking in a wood-fired oven. Turn to the right, and you enter the bar with an eye-catching “wallpaper,” of sorts. Practically the entire wall is covered with one dollar bills decorated with signatures, art work and dedications. They number into the hundreds.

She said: I definitely ordered the right thing from the menu. (Which makes me want to go back and see if there are more right things! Except my tastebuds were so happy, I’d probably order the same thing even if it was dinner the same day.) My first bite was a bite of chicken from the Sticky Thai Chicken Salad and my first thought was YUM. Each bite got progressively more delicious as I added chicken, lettuce, onion, tomato, and mandarin orange to each bite. The flavors were so delicious I almost didn’t bother adding on the Caribbean mango vinaigrette. But just  in case, I stuck my fork in the dressing which came on the side and gave it a little taste. WHAT?  I’ve never tasted anything like it. It was such a unique yummy flavor that I drizzled it all over my salad.  Just when you think it can’t get any better, a brick oven flat bread was hiding underneath the salad. It didn’t go to waste as I sopped up every last drop of the sticky Thai and the vinaigrette. 

It was so satisfying I didn’t need to order dessert. But when she said donut, raspberry cheesecake…well, it just sounded like a combination of flavors we couldn’t deny ourselves. It didn’t disappoint either. 

He said: Two words = FRENCH FRIES! I freely admit that I’m a burger guy. And yes, if bacon is involved, I’m in so I ordered the bacon cheese burger. But what we both remembered from our first trip to Cowboy Troy’s back in the day, was the fries! So, you better believe I went with the fries on the side of my burger. Or was that the burger on the fries of my side? I prefer thinly-cut, crispy, flavorful fries. Fat, “potatoey” steak fries? No thanks. And these fries met my expectations – again! And the burger was good as well. Not only was it juicy and flavorful but they came with your own bottles of catsup and mustard. That’s a good call – being able to administer how much of each on your burger and make adjustments as you go.

Oh, by the way…if you want to build a pre-meal appetite, like we did, check out one of the many hiking trails in the Bitterroot Valley. There are many to choose from but we headed up Big Creek Trail, about a 10-minute drive from our mid-afternoon lunch.

It’s always refreshing to hike in the mountains. The winding trail allowed good views of the mountains on both sides while always hearing the creek cascading down the canyon. Though huckleberry season is mostly passed, we found (and ate) a few along the way. While it didn’t take us long to enter the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, our goal wasn’t to cover vast distances on this day. Instead, our purpose was three-fold – hike, read and fish. 


Nice-sized trout for a little stream                                   Not sure how little guy got on the hook

As we hiked upstream, we kept an eye on the water for good places to fish. Every so often, I would thrash my way through the bushes to toss a few flies while Lori looked for a sun-filled spot to plop down and read a favorite book. In all, I caught 18 brook, cutthroat and rainbow trout. They weren’t lunkers but that’s okay. There were willing to chase my flies and I was willing to reel them in. What more could a wading flyfishing angler ask for?



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