Sometimes part of the thrill of visiting a new place is that, through some combination of luck and planning, you become one of the few who are actually allowed in.
I found this to be true during a somewhat impromptu trip to Tippet Rise Art Center, a 12,500-acre working cattle and sheep ranch in southern Montana that is also home to world-renowned outdoor sculptures and opens to guests for small classical music and theater performances each summer.
For years, I had been recruiting family members to join me in submitting their email addresses for the annual lottery (which Tippet Rise calls a “randomized drawing process”) in order to buy tickets to an event or make reservations to use the hiking and biking trails here, but none of us received the proverbial golden ticket/email.
Then, one day in August last year, I went to its website to dream of a visit someday and saw free tickets still available for one of the family concerts in early September. Could it be this easy after my years of effort to just click “book now?” It was! I quickly made plans with a friend for a road trip weekend through Wyoming to Montana’s big sky country.
Here are some tips for others who aspire to visit Tippet Rise, where you can see sculptures by artists Patrick Dougherty, Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, Wendy Red Star and many others, as well as attend concerts in a barn or outside in an architecturally distinct shell.
Getting there and where to stay
Tippet Rise is about a nine-hour drive from Denver. Or you could fly to Cody, Wyo., and drive 90 minutes to Tippet Rise. Cody is a gateway town to Yellowstone National Park, so if the stars align, you could add a few days of travel to see bison, geysers and more there.
It’s also an option to fly to Billings, Mont., and drive a little more than an hour, or fly to Bozeman, Mont., and drive two hours. Keep in mind that you can’t stay at Tippet Rise, so you need to choose a nearby town as your base.
We drove about eight hours from Denver to Red Lodge, Mont., and stayed at The Yodeler Motel, which was right on the main drag so we could easily walk to restaurants and coffee shops. In the morning, it was a gorgeous, hour-long drive through Montana’s gentle hills. We kept saying, “The sky really is bigger here!” and laughing at the wonder of it.
For our return, we drove back to Cody, Wyo., and stayed at the historic Irma Hotel right downtown. This meant our return drive was closer to seven hours, depending on traffic in Colorado.
Hiking and biking
Tippet Rise has 15 miles of trails to explore, once you’ve left the car behind in its parking lot. It’s like entering a state or national park with a gate and entrance station where someone is waiting to check your name off a list to verify that you have a reservation to be there and access its trails on a given day.
To (try to) get a reservation, go to the website, https://tippetrise.org, and sign up for its e-newsletter. The center will open on June 20 to visitors, and the registration process begins in early spring. The concert season is Aug. 15 through Sept. 14; by signing up for the e-newsletter you will be entered in their randomized drawing. Once you have a ticket for an event, you have access to the trails, too, so you will want to plan for a full day here.
(Clearly, it’s an option to stumble across some available tickets on the website, as I did.)
There is a small café on the property where you can get salads and sandwiches. We did, then took a ride on the shuttle van out to the Domo sculpture for a picnic, about 1.5 miles away. There are bathrooms at some of the shuttle stops, including this one. Once we had taken photos of this enormous sculpture created by the Ensamble Studio, we hiked along trails through the rolling hills to see more sculptures and mountain ranges in the distance.
It was a real “pinch me!” kind of day as we looped back for our shuttle ride before the concert.
What you can do at Tippet Rise
Hiking and biking are not required here. There are sculpture van tours that take you out and across the land with a knowledgeable guide.
Past events here included symphony and piano concerts, poetry readings, film screenings, Shakespeare performances and art workshops. There are also “geo-paleo” tours that include shuttle van service.
The prices for these events range from free to $10 per person.
Kids and pets
Pets are not allowed here since it is all open range for livestock.
The concert we went to was one for the family, which meant they had fun learning opportunities with musical instruments before the concert (what they called an “instrument petting zoo”). The setting was outside, and kids were allowed to move about, change seats or dance if they were inspired. If you don’t like kids talking and snacking and just being kids during a concert, pick a different event to enjoy here. Concerts are moved indoors if the weather isn’t cooperating, which frankly could be disappointing given how these structures were designed with an interplay between nature and music in mind.
You are welcome to bring your own food and drinks.
What to bring
Unless you stick to the main Cottonwood Campus, you will be exposed to the elements, so bring a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water. Wear comfortable shoes and a jacket to be prepared for a change in the weather conditions.
If you’re going to be biking, it’s required that you have a helmet, so bring your own.
Also, bring your spirit of adventure and prepare to be wowed at Tippet Rise. I’ll be signing up for its e-newsletter with fingers crossed for a return trip.