Montana's Best State Parks
Like other states, we feel as if all of our parks offer distinct experiences and resources. But, for your purposes, we'll focus on three--all of which are resource-based, where visitor experience concentrates on education, picnicking, and hiking. I've not selected one of our many wonderful water-based recreation sites.
Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park
The Caverns, Montana's first state park, is situated twenty minutes south
from Interstate 90 between Bozeman and Butte. The cave was discovered by area
ranchers in the late 1800s, but is located directly above the Jefferson River
and the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The two-hour cave tour offers
visitors a glimpse of one of the Northwest's most pristine and dramatic caves.
Guides introduce visitors to a full range of limestone cave features ranging
from dripstones to flowstones to columns--in cathedral dimensions and in
miniature. The Caverns ecosystem also supports a rare colony of Western
Big-Eared Bats. The park offers a spacious campground, three camping cabins,
weekend campfire programs, and picnicking and hiking opportunities. Open
seasonally.
Makoshika State Park
You'll find Makoshika State Park right outside Glendive, a far eastern
Montana community on Interstate 94. The park's dramatic badlands landscape is
comprised of hogback ridges, fluted hillsides, pinnacles, and caprocks that
ornament a network of buttes. The mineral-banded soft, sedimentary rocks are
decorated by contrasting pines and junipers. The entire park changes color and
character depending upon light and seasons. The park is rich in fossils from
several geologic ages. The park's name is a variant of a Lakota phrase meaning
land of bad spirits. Visitors to the park can bone up on history, prehistory,
and geology at a visitor center before traveling park roads and hiking park
trails. They can then spend the night in a newly renovated campground and try
out our parks system's only folf (frisbee/golf) course. Open year around.
Ulm Pishkun State Park
You'll find Ulm Pishkun State Park and its brand new visitor center south
and west of Great Falls, off Interstate 15. The park preserves one of the area's
largest buffalo jumps. Archaeological research and native oral traditions tell
visitors about the practice of buffalo jumping, the importance of buffalo
to Plains Indians, and some specifics about when and how prehistoric people
harvested buffalo for their many needs. The park and the jump sit at the edge of
two ecosystems: the Missouri River corridor and the Rocky Mountain Front. The
abundance of plants and animals in these overlapping zones attracted bison and
humans and now provide spectacular landscapes. The park offers outdoor hiking
trails and interpretive signage. Open seasonally.
Return to "Best of the Best State Parks"