Most boots come with a style number. Ours come with a place. Every pair of Rockies Rebels boots is named after a trail, a lake or a mountain near our home in Bozeman, Montana — the wild, high-country places we hike, fish and lose track of time in. It’s our way of carrying a little of Montana with every step, wherever in the world our boots end up. Here’s the story behind the names.
Why we name our boots after Montana
Rockies Rebels was born in Montana, and the landscape is in everything we make. Rather than reach for a catalogue code, we name each design after somewhere that means something to us — the trails we return to season after season. When you pull on a pair, you aren’t just wearing exotic leather designed in Montana and handmade in Italy; you’re wearing Drinking Horse at golden hour, or the still green water of an alpine lake. Naming them this way keeps the boots personal, and keeps us close to the country that started it all.
But if I’m honest, the real reason is personal. Every one of these places holds a memory for me — a hike with my family, a long, laughing day on the trail with friends, an afternoon spent watching our dogs splash through a creek. When I name a boot Drinking Horse or Emerald Lake, I’m really naming it after a moment I love. That’s the personal touch I try to bring to everything I write here: these aren’t just boots, they’re little pieces of a life lived outdoors in Montana, with the people — and the dogs — who make it home.
Just outside town: Drinking Horse & the Bridger foothills
Drinking Horse Mountain is the after-work hike — a short, switchbacked climb in the Bridger foothills just east of Bozeman, with a footbridge over the East Gallatin River and a view that opens across the whole valley. It’s one of the first trails locals send you up, so it felt right to give its name to some of our most-loved styles, like the Drinking Horse in red alligator and a whole family of Drinking Horse pythons. Nearby Hidden Lake lends its name to some of our signature silhouettes for both women and men.
Into Hyalite: Grotto Falls, Emerald Lake & Cliff Creek
Drive up into Hyalite Canyon and the world turns to pine, granite and rushing water. Grotto Falls is the beloved, easy walk to a tumbling waterfall; Emerald Lake sits higher up, a green alpine jewel ringed by peaks; Cliff Creek runs cold and clear through the timber. These are the names on some of our most colourful boots — the Grotto Falls green stingray (and if that pearled leather catches your eye, read why shagreen is the rarest western leather), the turquoise Emerald Lake ‘Bluebird’ lizard, and more — fitting, because Hyalite is where Montana shows off.
Deeper into the range: Bear Canyon, Bangtail, Garnet & Big Creek
Some names come from farther out — Bear Canyon east of town, the Bangtail Divide with its ridgeline singletrack, the Garnet Mountain lookout above the Gallatin, and Big Creek deeper in the mountains. These are longer days and bigger country, and we save their names for boots with a little more drama, like the Bangtail black alligator, the Garnet Mountain ember-red eel, and the Big Creek Trail driftwood python.
Named for the wild things, too
Not every name is a trail. A few honour the creatures that share this country — Bald Eagle, Grosbeak, Buffalo Horn — because Montana’s wildlife is as much a part of the place as its peaks. It’s the same instinct behind our one-of-a-kind Maddox, hand-painted with a Montana brook trout.
A boot that carries a place
There’s a reason this matters to us beyond romance. We love this landscape, and we want to help keep it wild — which is why we support the Gallatin Valley Land Trust and the trails that connect our community to the mountains. Every boot that leaves our hands carries the name of a place worth protecting.
Find your trail. Explore The Femme Frontier for women and The Heritage Trail for men. New to our exotic leathers? Start with our guide to exotic boot leathers.