Gold Creek

While it's fairly well-known that you can easily pay $5 and grab a tree-cutting permit from the Lolo or Bitterrot national forests in Montana if you want a Christmas tree, it's less well-known that for free you can forgo the permit and pick your own on Plum Creek lands. Plum Creek lands dot the landscape of Western Montana; among the easiest to reach are the parcels in Gold Creek. This low-elevation spot does not have an abundance of alpine trees, but you can find the likes of Douglas firs without too much trouble. Years of Christmas tree cutting have left the forest home to a lot of tall trees