Glacier National Park and the Flathead
51 waterfalls · Glacier County, Flathead County, Lake County
Glacier National Park holds Montana's richest waterfall country. On the east side, in Glacier County, Virginia Falls and Baring Falls lie on trails near St. Mary Lake, Redrock Falls sits in the Many Glacier valley, and Running Eagle Falls in the Two Medicine area is reached by an easy trail with a stream crossing. Bird Woman Falls can be seen across the valley from the Going-to-the-Sun Road. West of the Continental Divide, McDonald Falls lies along McDonald Creek in Flathead County above Lake McDonald. The park's colorful layered rock and glacier-fed streams give these falls a distinctive look, and many are close to the road.
Start with: Virginia Falls, McDonald Falls, Redrock Falls, Running Eagle Falls, Baring Falls
Southwest Montana: Gallatin, Absaroka and Beartooth
29 waterfalls · Gallatin County, Park County, Carbon County, Madison County, Sweet Grass County, Stillwater County, Beaverhead County, Jefferson County
The ranges around Bozeman and the Yellowstone country of southern Montana form the state's second major cluster. South of Bozeman, Hyalite Canyon holds several falls, including Grotto Falls on an easy forest trail and Palisade Falls, which pours over a wall of columnar basalt. Champagne Falls and Silken Skein Falls lie in the same drainage. Ousel Falls, near Big Sky, is reached by a popular trail from the town. Farther east, Park and Carbon counties include the Absaroka and Beartooth mountains around Livingston and Red Lodge, where high granite plateaus shed meltwater into steep canyons with falls that are often reached only by longer hikes.
Start with: Ousel Falls, Grotto Falls, Palisade Falls, Palisades Falls, Woodbine Falls
Northwest Montana and the Bitterroot
30 waterfalls · Lincoln County, Sanders County, Mineral County, Missoula County, Ravalli County, Powell County, Lewis and Clark County
Northwest Montana's waterfalls tend to be larger rivers dropping through rocky gorges in thick conifer forest. Kootenai Falls, between Libby and Troy, is a wide, powerful series of cascades on the Kootenai River, with a swinging footbridge across the river nearby. Yaak Falls sits along the Yaak River near the Canadian border, a short stop from the road. To the south, the Bitterroot Valley's Skalkaho Falls drops right beside the Skalkaho Highway, a mountain road east of Hamilton. Around Seeley Lake and Lincoln, the Swan and Blackfoot country holds smaller falls in glacier-scoured valleys within the national forests.
Start with: Kootenai Falls, Skalkaho Falls, Yaak Falls, Morrell Falls, Graves Creek Falls
Rocky Mountain Front and the Missouri
10 waterfalls · Cascade County, Teton County, Fergus County
Where the Rockies give way to the plains, Montana's falls change character. The Missouri River at Great Falls once descended a series of five falls that forced the Lewis and Clark expedition into a long overland portage in 1805; most have since been altered or submerged by hydroelectric dams, though Black Eagle Falls and others remain visible from riverside parks and overlooks. Teton County, along the Rocky Mountain Front west of Choteau, has falls on streams that leave the mountains abruptly. Fergus County in central Montana adds an isolated example in one of the island ranges rising from the prairie.
Start with: Big Falls, Memorial Falls, Rainbow Falls, Black Eagle Falls, Crooked Falls
