As hiker traffic on the Continental Divide Trail continues to increase, Pintler's Portal Hostel sees its biggest July yet

Sam Cavender of Traverse City, Michigan, was three weeks into his hike on the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) when, on Thursday, July 24 he walked roughly 14 miles out of his way to get to Anaconda.

“It does cut off some miles to the trail, but there is a hostel here that I did want to check out,” Cavender said. According to Cavender, “you don’t find many hostels” on the CDT.

Cavender was referring to Pintler’s Portal Hostel, where hiker traffic has increased by roughly 30% since 2022. July is always their busiest month, and this season was no exception.

Steve and Marsha Hill, who cut the ribbon on Pintler’s Portal in the summer of 2021, ascribe some credit for the growth to the hiker magazine Halfway Anywhere, which published survey results in 2022 listing Anaconda as the hikers’ favorite resupply point along the CDT.

“There’s hiking, rock climbing, ice climbing, foraging, geocaching, bikes, mountain bikes – the list is endless,” Marsha Hill said.

The Hill family first discovered hostels during a trip to New Zealand two decades ago.

“There would be this little tiny sign on top of the door, and it said ‘Hostel.’ And we were kind of intrigued by that,” Marsha Hill said.

Their daughter, Vanessa, later stayed at hostels around the world.

“And honestly, as a mom from Idaho who had never really been anywhere, that would have kind of freaked me out,” Marsha Hill said. “Except one: I know Vanessa. And two: we’ve seen hostels.”

Marsha Hill said their model of cheap, short-term communal living spaces varies from European hostels. When they renovated the building – a 7,360-square foot edifice constructed by the Anaconda Freemasons in 1981 – the Hills divided the large central hall into eight-bunk rooms, four-bunk rooms, and private accommodations.

“We’re not in Europe, and so we worked really hard to try to dial that down into private spaces so people would find it more appealing,” Marsha Hill said.

Almost all of the hostel’s downstairs floor is a dining and lounging area, with a semi-connected conference room on one end and a kitchen on the other. Steve Hill said the hostel’s open communal spaces are a reflection of Anaconda’s “noticeably kind” residents.

“The hikers make that comment too,” Hill said. “They like the community.”

In addition to its proximity to CDT, Pintler’s Portal Hostel host Julie Kinka said that Anaconda stands out from the state’s more frequently visited western towns.

“In Anaconda you’re able to experience an incredible amount of remote Montana, but you’re not on the tourist track,” Kinka said.

Now, they’ve gained a reputation in the hostel community.

“If people hosteled before, they find us,” Kinka said.

The Hill couple left Idaho for Montana in 2017. At the time, they were planning to semi-retire from long careers as business owners.

“When we moved here and saw these hikers walking through town, it was just kind of a germ of an idea. We just threw it out there flippantly: ‘this would be a cool place to have a hostel,’” Marsha Hill said.

The Hills said it took some time to get the neighbors acclimated to the new establishment. But over time, the couple became involved in some of Anaconda’s local groups, including the Anaconda Trail Society, Upper Clark Fork River Basin Advisory Council and Anaconda Saddle Club. In addition, the hostel also hosts the Anaconda Annual Gear Swap, Recreation Expo. Local Gear Swap, an annual fundraiser for the Anaconda Trail Society and assorted community gatherings like cooking classes and cribbage contests.

The Hill couple said they made a place in the community while they found a niche in the tourism industry.

In addition to summer hikers, the hostel attracts large groups that rent out the entire building for work retreats and family reunions. In 2022, four groups booked the space. That more than quadrupled by 2025.

Kinka sees Anaconda as the least crowded, developed destination between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

“The fastest route, if you just Google it, will take you along the interstate highway,” she said. Kinka said the stop in Anaconda adds “an extra 45 minutes” to the roughly six-hour drive.

“You’re in Yellowstone for a week, and you’re in traffic-lines with people looking at mule deer and elk, and you are waiting in line at Mammoth Hot Springs, and you pay $20 a plate for food,” Kinka said. “It’s an incredible place and experience. But Anaconda: we have trails and views that can rival some of the places in our national parks, but where you can be the only one there for the morning.”

Kinka said the town has “a slower pace” and can provide “all the amenities.”

“You can sit and reset and have some experiences that you weren’t expecting,” she said.