I did a van tour at Tippet Rise on Sunday, June 18th. The tour drives you around the park to 6 monumental sculptures. You can walk up close and around the artwork. The driver, Bill, is a sculptor and he gave us a fine talk on each piece as we drove around.

Tippet Rise is near Absarokee or Fishtail (a tiny hamlet) and is a working ranch as well as an art center. They have summer concerts and allow a limited number of hikers and bikers starting in June through early September. They are only open Friday-Sunday, so spots fill up fast in April. This year, they opened a few more spots on a week-to-week basis, so this is how I got my reservation.

I was going to hike only, but the weather report said scattered showers or even thunderstorms, so I changed to the van tour. As it turned out, the rain held and though it was cloudy, we had only a piddle or two of rain during the tour. At the last sculpture, I walked back to the campus about 3.4 miles over rolling hills and meadow. It was lovely. This area is quite stunning, and I had a great day. The sun even came out as I was walking back! I encountered a flock of sheep on the way back and two sheep dogs.

Highlights included Patrick Dougherty’s Daydreams and Cursive Takes a Holiday, Domo by Ensemble Studio, Ai Weiwei’s Iron Tree, and works by Mark di Suvero. It’s wonderful to see these monumental works in the spectacular setting of Tippet Rise. Well worth a visit.