montana blackfeet itineraries

Okii! (Blackfeet for Hello!) VISIONS leaders welcome you at Glacier Park International Airport before a two-hour drive along the edge of Glacier National Park. By the time you arrive at the ranch, you already have a sense of where you are.

Homebase is the Yellow Bird Woman Sanctuary, a conservation ranch on the Blackfeet Nation. Settle in, look up at Montana’s impossibly big sky, and get oriented for the adventures ahead.

After breakfast, break into groups for carpentry training and hands-on community service.

When worksites wrap, explore the reservation town of Browning, Blackfeet Community College, and local landmarks in a scavenger hunt. That evening, watch 100 Years, a documentary about Elouise Cobell, one of the most remarkable Indigenous Americans of our era. She took the U.S. government to the Supreme Court and won. She also founded the conservation ranch you’re now calling home.

During the first week, you choose your project each day: carpentry projects, trail work, caring for foster puppies, serving meals at the Child Nutrition program, and more. One day a week you’re on homebase crew, keeping the camp running for everyone else.

Worksites wrap around 2 pm and afternoons open up: swimming in mountain lakes, short hikes, the Museum of the Plains Indians, working with local artisans on traditional crafts like buckskin satchels. The 17-day session also includes horseback riding near Glacier Park.

Spend a day with Glacier Volunteers doing citizen science and conservation work inside one of the most stunning landscapes in North America. After lunch, explore the Park’s most iconic sites before settling into a campsite for dinner.

After dark, look up. Thousands of stars and the glowing band of Makoiyohsokoyi, the Blackfeet word for the Milky Way or “wolf’s trail,” stretch across the sky. 

The excursion is beginner-friendly, with hikes led by leaders.

Back at the worksites, you can feel the progress. Return to a project you’ve made your own, or rotate and see more of the community’s needs up close.

Afternoons and evenings stay packed: outdoor activities, the Blackfeet Trading Post, beading, hanging out, and cultural events with Blackfeet community members who open their lives to you in a way that’s rare anywhere.

One of the worksite options for several days includes setting up ceremonial grounds and teepee lodges. 

Teens in the 15-day session help set up and attend a Sundance, one of the Plains Indians’ most sacred ceremonies. It is a deep honor to be part of this ceremony, where dancers fast for three days, drummers keep the beat, and old friends come together.  

The 17-day session attends Akao’katsin, known as Circle Camp, when several hundred Blackfeet people gather to renew their connections to the world. This multi-day celebration includes Indian naming ceremonies, dancing, drumming and storytelling. 

“I loved interacting with the Blackfeet community and listening to people’s stories. I tried so many new things I normally would never have done. The program gave me a sense of what I want to do in life.” — Nicholas Maguire

North American Indian Days is something most people never get to see. Tribal members from across the country come together in full regalia for Indian relays, dancing and drumming rooted in centuries of tradition. Visit local friends camped in teepees, hit the carnival, browse the artisan markets.

It’s a full-on celebration and you’re part of it.

The final evening on the reservation is reserved for dinner at the ranch. A chance to look back at what you built, thank the local hosts who shared their community with you, and sit with the fact that the service projects and the meals served — they stay. 

We say goodbye to the Yellow Bird Woman Sanctuary, named for Elouise Cobell, whose fight for justice and connection made this place possible, and head out for an adventure ropes course and swimming. We end the day with pizza, ice cream and camping.

Leaders see you off at the airport. You have built things that will outlast this season, and been trusted with ceremonies, stories, and places most visitors never reach.