State Park

Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park is Montana's first and best-known state park featuring one of the largest known limestone caverns in the Northwest.

Logan State Park is located in northwest Montana. The campground offers tent and trailer sites, restrooms and drinking water. With frontage on the north shore of Middle Thompson Lake, Logan is heavily forested with western larch, douglas-fir, and ponderosa pine.

The park offers a self-guided nature trail and several informal hiking trails, as well as horse trails and an archery range. There are three scenic overlooks that provide views from Flathead Lake to Big Mountain Ski Area. One of the overlook trails is designed for the mobility impaired.

Spectacular grey limestone cliffs and pink and white granite formations rise 1,200 feet above the canyon's narrow floor. Lost Creek Falls, in the northwest corner of the park, cascades over a 50-foot drop to provide one of the most scenic and popular spots in the park.

Situated on the edge of a broad valley carved by the Madison River, this high limestone cliff was used for 2,000 years (as recent as 200 years ago) by Native Americans.

Makoshika (Ma-ko-shi-ka) The name is a variant spelling of the Lakota phrase meaning bad land or bad spirits. Today the badlands of Makoshika are set aside for visitors to see and enjoy.

As its name implies, Medicine Rocks was a place of 'big medicine' where Indian hunting parties conjured up magical spirits. 'As fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen,' said one of its first tourists in the late 1800's, a young rancher named Teddy Roosevelt.

Within the boundaries of this scenic park the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin rivers merge to form the 2,300 mile Missouri River. The Missouri Headwaters area was a geographical focal point important to early Native Americans trappers, traders and settlers.

Located in the Bitterroot Mountains, Painted Rocks Reservoir offers boating, camping, and fishing in a scenic, western pine-forest setting. The park is 293 acres in size and is 4,700 feet in elevation.

This sod-roofed log cabin is representative of the thousands of simple frontier homes that provided shelter for hopeful pioneers who settled Montana. This small park is on 1 acre of land at an elevation of 4,806 feet. There is a golf course and museum located nearby in Three Forks.

First there was the land, the mountains and the rivers. Humans are but recent newcomers to this place now called Montana. However, when and how they arrived is still a mystery. Pictograph Cave State Park is a place to contemplate the origins of human habitation of Montana.

Floaters find this isolated cottonwood-covered Yellowstone River island an excellent spot to view wildlife, envision the Corps of Discovery's travel along the river, and hunt for moss agates. The site is a haven for waterfowl, bald eagles, and whitetail and mule deer.

Located on a branch of the Clearwater River, Placid Lake is known for its good trout fishing and smooth water. A number of facilities are provided for camping, picnicking, boating and swimming.

Site of the June 17, 1876, battle between the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians and General George Crook's cavalry and infantry. One of the largest Indian battles ever waged in the United States, it set the stage for the Indian victory eight days later when Lt. Col. George A.

A natural impoundment, Salmon Lake is one of the beautiful links in the chain of lakes on the Clearwater River and just south of Seeley Lake. Fishing, boating, and a variety of water sports are popular activities in this woodland setting of western larch, ponderosa pine, and Douglas-fir.

When mining was king in Montana, railroad tracks snaked through mountain ranges to reach small boom towns and haul ore to market. One such mining area lay in the Little Belt Mountains south of Great Falls.

Located on the western edge of Helena, this 30-acre spring fed man made lake is noted for its clarity and depth. Open to non-motorized boats only, the lake is popular for swimming, sunbathing, scuba diving, wildlife viewing, and fishing for trout, bass, and sunfish.

A mature, mixed pine forest makes this a cool and private park. Attractions include fishing, nature walks, bird watching and boating. A relaxing and comfortable place to camp. This park has been designated a primitive park and is 36 acres in size at an elevation of 2,473 feet.

The impounded Tongue River provides a 12-mile long reservoir set in the scenic red shale and juniper canyons and open prairies of southeastern Montana.