Early season Montana backpacking

My girlfriend & I quit our jobs in Green Bay, WI, backpacked the northwest for 2 months, and settled down in Missoula in September. We're looking forward to a solid backpacking season, although we will unfortunately have to work. To anyone riding the fence about cashing in your chips, quitting work, and chasing a dream- do it now and don't look back. It's the best thing we ever did. Anyway, I am looking for some early season hiking spots in Montana. It would be nice to get out of the snow for awhile and hike some drier country. It seems like there is much less public land to backpack in the lower, drier valleys. Any ideas? I would love to ramble around some wide open spaces for a weekend, without getting shot at by a rancher.

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