Looking forward to hitting the road and exploring Montana’s State Parks this summer? Keep these three tips in mind when you’re getting your travel planning underway. 

1. Plan Ahead: There are 20 State Parks across Montana that have campsites that can be reserved 6 months in advance.  These include Iconic parks like Flathead Lake,  Makoshika, Lewis & Clark Caverns and Bannack.

Insider tip: Step out of your comfort zone and reserve a Yurt, Tee Pee or Cabin to sleep in at any of the following parks:

• Beavertail Hill
• Missouri Headwaters
• Lewis & Clark Caverns
• Bannack
• Flathead Lake State Park-Big Arm
• Makoshika

2. Some of our parks are our Montana’s best kept secrets.  Here’s a few that you should put on your bucket list for 2019:

• Medicine Rocks – “As fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen,” said one of its first tourists in the late 1800s, a young rancher named Teddy Roosevelt.
• Sluice Boxes – Bring your camera to this rugged area of pristine beauty and see the remains of mines, a railroad, and historic cabins lining Belt Creek as it winds through a beautiful canyon carved in limestone.
• Lost Creek – View Lost Creek Falls, cascading over a 50-foot drop while scanning the cliffs above for bighorn sheep and mountain goats.
• Milltown – Rivers, trails and history converge at Montana’s newest state park, which opened in June of 2018.
• Thompson Chain of Lakes – Fishing, camping, wildlife viewing and boating draw visitors to this extensive park along a 20-mile string of lakes in northwest Montana.

3. Immerse yourself in Montana’s History at any of the seven State Parks that are designated as a National Historic Landmarks. These incredible State Parks tell the story of Montana in an incredible way.

• Travelers’ Rest  – See the only archaeologically verified campsite of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the nation. Centuries before Lewis and Clark, this site has long been known and used by Native peoples, notably the Salish.
• First People’s Buffalo Jump – See one of the largest buffalo jump sites in the country. Explore the visitor center and interpretive trails that tell the story of the people, the animals, and the landscape of the buffalo culture
• Chief Plenty Coups – Visit the log home and farmstead of Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow tribe whose bravery, leadership and vision helped bridge the gap between two cultures.
• Pictograph Cave – The Pictograph, Middle and Ghost caves were home to generations of prehistoric hunters. A loop trail allows visitors to view the rock paintings, known as pictographs, that are still visible in Pictograph Cave.
• Rosebud Battlefield – on the rolling prairie of eastern Montana preserves the site of the June 17, 1876 battle that was a harbinger to the Battle of Little Bighorn.
• Bannack – See the “Old West” come alive again at the site of Montana’s first major gold discovery in 1862 and Montana’s first territorial capital.
• Missouri Headwaters – Camp where Lewis and Clark stayed in 1805. This park encompasses the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers.