State & National Parks of Montana: Hiking, Wildlife & More

Medicine Rocks State Park is a state park and recreation area named for a series of tall sandstone pillars with eerie undulations, holes, and tunnels in them known as the ‘Medicine Rocks.’

The Montana park is 330 acres and 3,379 feet in elevation and features numerous examples of Native American rock art.

Considered a sacred holy place by Plains Indians, tribes once came here in search of food and medicinal plants to use in their vision quests.

The site boasts chained and isolated arches, and caves and spires reaching 80 feet high and 200 feet across, along with thousands of ancient tribal petroglyphs, inscriptions of elk, cattle brands, and military mentions, a famous profile of a woman with a flower beside a bird, and signatures of cowpunchers.

Medicine Rocks State Park is open year-round, and there are 12 camping sites and a museum located nearby in Ekalaka.

1141 MT-7, Ekalaka, MT 59324, Phone: 406-377-6256

Pictograph Cave State Park is a 23-acre state park and reserve with three caves featuring pictographs that are over 2,000 years old.

Located five miles south of Billings in Montana, the park was excavated in 1937, and the pictographs were discovered, along with more than 30,000 artifacts and over 20,000 animal remains, ranging from large mammalian species to reptiles, amphibians, and birds.

The deepest of the three caves, Pictograph Cave spans 160 feet wide and 45 feet deep and still has visible pictographs that document the story of the Native Americans of the area for thousands of years thought to be between 200 and 2,100 years old.

The site was designated a National Historic Landmark and featured paved trails to the caves, with interpretative and informative displays detailing the prehistoric paintings, natural features, and fauna and flora found in the area.

3401 Coburn Rd, Billings, MT 59101

Pirogue Island State Park is a state park and public recreation area on the Yellowstone River with more than 2.5 miles of designated hiking trails.

Located just north of Miles City, the 269-acre state park has no formal development but offers excellent hiking with interpretive signs along the trails within the park.

The park is situated on an isolated, cottonwood-covered Yellowstone River island that is home to a wealth of wildlife and a wide variety of bird species including belted kingfishers, bald eagles, passerines, shorebirds, and waterfowl.

Activities in the park include boating, fishing, picnicking, bird-watching, wildlife viewing, and seasonal hunting.

Miles City, MT 59301, Phone: 406-377-6256

Sluice Boxes State Park is a state park and public recreation area in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana with spectacular landscapes of towering cliffs, dramatic ledges, and deep canyons.

Located 12 miles south of Belt on the Kings Hill Scenic Byway, the park consists of eight miles of the Belt Creek Canyon, which features the remains of the area's mining and railroading days.

The Barker mines and the Montana Central Railroad are just a part of the rich history of Sluice Boxes State Park.

Activities in the park include hiking, backcountry camping, picnicking, fishing, bird and wildlife watching, photography, and swimming.

38 Evans Riceville Rd, Belt, MT 59412, Phone: 406-454-5840

Tongue River Reservoir State Park is a state park and public recreation area on the western shore of the 12-mile-long Tongue River Reservoir a few miles north of Decker. Surrounded by the vast open prairies and densely forested canyons of southeastern Montana, the 642-acre park boasts breathtaking landscapes and offers an array of outdoor and recreational activities, ranging from boating, fishing, and swimming to camping, hiking, and wildlife viewing.. The park also offers camping with electrical hookups, and there is a golf course, and two museums are located nearby in Sheridan.

Decker, MT 59025, Phone: 406-757-2298

Located at a historic and contemporary crossroads that was once a stopping point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Travelers' Rest State Park and National Historic Landmark take visitors back to a time of exploration. Located about one mile south of Lolo, the park is at the core of a campsite that was once used by the Corps of Discovery in the early 1800s and gives visitors the chance to walk in the footsteps of the two great pioneers, Lewis and Clark. Native Americans used the area as a campsite and trail junction for centuries, and today, storytellers bring their history alive as part of the programming at Travelers' Rest State Park. Travelers' Rest State Park and National Historic Landmark is home to a wealth of birds and wildlife and provides excellent hiking within the park boundaries. The park has a Visitor's Center and Museum which features exhibits of Native American handcrafts, Lewis & Clark Expedition replicas, a frontier Main Street, and Salish culture.

6717 US-12, Lolo, MT 59847

Wild Horse Island is the largest island in the vast Flathead Lake, the biggest freshwater lake in Montana. The island was used by the Salish-Kootenai for centuries to pasture their horses and protect them from being stolen. The 2,164 acre-island was part of the Flathead Indian Reservation from 1872 to 1904 when unsuccessful attempts were made for agricultural development. Today, the island's scenic shoreline offers a wealth of activities ranging from boating, fishing, bird-watching, wildlife watching, sail boating, and swimming. The park is home to a range of birds and wildlife including bighorn sheep, wild horses, mule deer, bald eagles, songbirds, falcons, and waterfowl.

490 North Meridian Road, Kalispell, MT 59901, Phone: 406-752-5501

Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area straddles the border between Wyoming and Montana and has four historic ranches within its boundaries, namely the L Slash Heart Ranch, the Mason-Lovell Ranch, the Cedarvale Ranch, and the Ewing-Snell Ranch. Established by an act of Congress in 1966, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is home to the Yellowtail Dam, which harnesses the waters of the Bighorn River and offers a range of outdoor activities such as boating, fishing, kayaking, swimming, bird and wildlife viewing. The park is also home to nearly one-quarter of the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range and provides excellent hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding.

Fort Smith, MT 59035, Phone: 406-666-2412

The Big Hole National Battlefield is a 1,010.61-acre park is located 10 miles west of Wisdom and commemorates the Battle of the Big Hole, where the Nez Perce fought a five-month conflict of delaying action on the site against the 7th Infantry Regiment of the United States in 1877, during their failed attempt to escape to Canada. Big Hole National Battlefield is a memorial to the people who fought and died in the battle and visitors can take a step back in time at the Visitor’s Center which overlooks the battlefield and features a 26-minute video program and a gallery of photographs, quotations and personal belongings of some of the battle participants. Self-guiding trails lead to points of interest on the Battlefield, the Howitzer Capture site, the Siege Area, and the Nez Perce Camp. Ranger-conducted programs are offered in summer, along with year-round introductory presentations and exhibits.

16425 Highway 43 West, Wisdom, MT 59761, Phone: 406-689-3155

Glacier National Park is a vast national park that rests on the United States-Canada border, encompassing over 1 million acres, two mountain ranges, over 130 lakes, and thousands of plant and animals species. This natural wonderland is at the center of what is referred to as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem" and is an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise, with a range of recreational activities to enjoy, from hiking, biking, mountain climbing, and wildlife watching. The Park is home to the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road, an engineering marvel that spans 50 miles through the park's wild interior, and boasting some of the most spectacular sights and views in Montana. Other unique locations to explore in the Park include the Goat Haunt, Two Medicine, and Many Glacier, where visitors can discover Native American history, historical homesteading sites, and soak up spectacular natural landscapes. Glacier National Park is open every day of the year.

West Glacier, MT, Phone: 406-888-7800