In southern Montana, at the foot the storied Beartooth and Absoroka mountain ranges, a verdant river valley catches snowmelt from the high peaks, creating a handful of cold, productive trout rivers that eventually find their way into the fabled Yellowstone. But here, away from the chaos of the Yellowstone National Park gateway region to the west, wild trout swim largely unmolested, and wise anglers are discovering this unique and underutilized swath of wild Montana, where anglers can catch a variety of wild trout.

The Blanda River, in northwestern Iceland, differs starkly from most of its Icelandic counterparts. Most rivers on the island nation flow through relatively sterile landscapes on often short, punctuated runs. By contrast, the Blanda is one of the longest rivers in the country, flowing for over 75 miles from its origin at the Hofsjökull glacier to where it meets the North Atlantic Ocean at Húnaflói Bay near the town of Blönduós.