Glacier National Park, Montana. All photography is ours.
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Montana National Parks
Montana’s National Parks are some of America’s favorites, and the Treasure State lives up to its nickname. Come #FindYourPark in Montana.
National parks guide · Updated October 2026
Every NPS site in Montana
8
National Park Service sites in Montana
There are eight National Park Service sites in Montana: two national historic sites, two national parks, a national battlefield, a national recreation area, a national monument, and a national historical park. Tap any of them to jump to its details.
At a glance
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Big Hole National Battlefield
Big Hole National Battlefield honors the Nez Perce tribe and U.S. soldiers who fought here in early August of 1877. Tensions rose when the Nez Perce reservation was reduced by 90%, and the United States began evicting them from their native lands. The battle was part of the Nez Perce Flight of 1877 which forced the tribe to flee 1,170 miles across four states.
Visitors exploring the site should start at the Visitor Center near Wisdom, Montana. Big Hole was established first as a National Monument in 1910 and then re-designated a National Battlefield in 1963. The surrounding trails are part of the National Historic Trails system.
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area includes 120,000 acres of protected areas along the Bighorn River in southern Montana and northern Wyoming. Popular activities include boating, camping, fishing, and hiking. The park has several Visitor Centers to explore including the Bighorn Canyon Visitor Center in Lovell, Wyoming, the Afterbay Contact Station in Fort Smith, Montana, the Yellowtail Dam Visitor Center in Montana, and the Crooked Creek Contact Station near the south entrance of the park.
The Yellowtail Dam was constructed in the 1960s, creating the 71-mile Bighorn Lake. Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area was designated in 1966 and today sees around 200,000 annual visitors.
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site
In 1828, Kenneth McKenzie of John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company built Fort Union at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. The American Fur Company was one of the most successful and enduring fur trading enterprises on the northern plains, and the fort stayed in business until 1867. In 1966, the Fort was finally transferred to the National Park Service where archeological excavations began at the site. Today, the Fort has been rebuilt to its 1851 appearance at the height of the buffalo robe trade.
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site offers guests living history presentations throughout the year, as well as an annual fur trade rendezvous featuring period arts, crafts, and music. It typically occurs on the third weekend in June.
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is a favorite among visitors for its rugged beauty, lakes, wildlife, and glaciers. Situated along the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains, Glacier offers visitors 700 miles of trails that lead to sparkling alpine lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, and wildflower-covered meadows. Glacier National Park will satisfy casual visitors and backpackers alike with its gorgeous landscapes and beauty.
Glacier is divided into several areas – Goat Haunt in the north which shares a border with Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park, St. Mary, Two Medicine, Many Glacier, and Apgar, near Park Headquarters in West Glacier. Each offers its own adventure and beauty. Several day hikes and overlooks are available from Going-to-the-Sun Road – the main road through the park – and a drive up to Logan Pass is recommended for some amazing views.
Also known as the Crown of the Continent, Glacier has the distinction of being part of the first International Peace Park with Waterton Lakes (1932), a U.N. Biosphere Reserve (1976), and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Together with Waterton Lakes, the park was certified as an International Dark Sky Park in 2017 by DarkSky International.
Glacier was designated a U.S. National Park in 1910, and because of its immense popularity, Glacier is very busy in summer. To manage crowds on its popular Going-to-the-Sun Road, the park limits parking at Logan Pass to 3 hours instead of requiring vehicle reservations, so be sure to plan ahead. Tickets are required to ride the express shuttle to Logan Pass, and you can reserve them in advance. Find the details on the park’s Logan Pass shuttle page.
Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site
The Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge was once the headquarters of a cattle empire encompassing 10 million acres and commemorates the frontier cattle era of the 1860s through the 1890s. Today, guests can tour some of the stables, barns, and a bunkhouse to see how cowboys from that era lived and worked. Several trails are available for hiking and wildlife viewing and provide scenic views of the range.
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
The Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred in June of 1876 in south-central Montana and saw about 700 soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry squaring off with a much larger force of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors in what would be one of the final armed efforts to preserve their way of life. After gold was found in the Black Hills, which the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie had promised to the Lakota, the U.S. ordered the free-roaming bands onto reservations. When they refused, the army was sent in, led in this battle by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. Custer’s forces were overwhelmed and defeated, with Custer himself losing his life. Although it was a victory for the tribes, the moment was short-lived as the United States ramped up military action to overtake the Black Hills once and for all.
Visitors to the park today can visit several battlefields, memorials, and the Custer National Cemetery. Guided tours are available, as well as self-guided tours like the 4.5-mile Tour Road to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield which includes several interpretive stops along the route. Deep Ravine Trail also has memorials throughout the Battlefield. The original Visitor Center is being replaced, so check in at the temporary visitor contact station.
The battlefield began as a national cemetery in 1879 and was transferred from the U.S. Department of War to the National Park Service in 1940. It became Custer Battlefield National Monument in 1946 and was renamed Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in 1991.
Nez Perce National Historical Park
The Nez Perce (pronounced nez PURSE) National Historical Park highlights the Native Nez Perce peoples of the inland Pacific Northwest. Lewis and Clark’s expedition spent weeks with the Nez Perce in 1805 and 1806. The Park consists of 38 sites, which together tell the story of these Native Americans.
The main Visitor Center and Park Headquarters are located in Spalding, Idaho. Other popular sites and activities include finding petroglyphs in Buffalo Eddy in Washington, visiting Canoe Camp in Orofino, ID to see how canoes were carved out, and several historic battlefields. Nez Perce National Historical Park includes sites in four states – Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
Yellowstone National Park
Signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park became America’s first National Park and also the first in the world. The park is enormous, covering 3,468 square miles, which offers visitors a variety of ways to enjoy the scenery. Yellowstone’s most popular features are its geysers, the most famous being Old Faithful. Yellowstone is situated on the Yellowstone Caldera – America’s largest super-volcano – which is responsible for the geothermal activity in the park.
Besides viewing the geysers, other popular activities in Yellowstone include hiking, backpacking, camping, cross-country skiing, biking, horseback riding, fishing, boating, and wildlife viewing. Yellowstone’s 1995 reintroduction of the gray wolf is one of the park’s best-known successes. Other popular wildlife include bison, black bears, bighorn sheep, elk, grizzly bears, mule deer, pronghorn, and many more.
Yellowstone National Park was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1978 and was among America’s first, along with Mesa Verde. It is also designated as a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations. Yellowstone is a busy park – one of America’s busiest – and receives more than 4 million visitors annually, so plan accordingly. Yellowstone has ten Visitor Centers scattered throughout the park to explore, and it shares borders with Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
Partners of the Park Service
NPS-affiliated sites in Montana
These sites aren’t run by the National Park Service, but they’re part of the NPS family through national trails and heritage areas.
Flathead Wild and Scenic River
The Flathead River runs along the western and southern borders of Glacier National Park and is made up of three distinct sections – the North, Middle, and South Forks. Two hundred and nineteen miles of these forks have been designated as wild and scenic, and extend from the Canadian border south to the confluence of the Hungry Horse Reservoir. The Flathead is known for its beauty, as well as recreation, and it includes parts of the Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness areas along with Glacier National Park. Rafting, fishing, and camping are all popular things to do here, and the rafting is particularly good for families.
The river was designated in 1976 and is co-managed by the National Park Service at Glacier National Park and the U.S. Forest Service at Flathead National Forest.
As you can see, this is a fun one to enjoy with a guided rafting tour and is an easy thing to add during a visit to Glacier National Park. You can read more about rafting and tips on visiting Glacier here.
Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail
During the last Ice Age between 15,000 and 18,000 years ago, scientists believe up to forty torrential floods moved from Montana down through Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail marks the various sites and remnants of these great Ice Age floods. Dry Falls in Washington is particularly impressive. These former falls are now just a 400-foot cliff that’s 3.5 miles wide – four times larger than today’s Niagara Falls. For a list of state parks and places to visit along the Trail, click here.
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail
The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail marks the historic journey by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark along 4,900 miles of wilderness from Pennsylvania all the way to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon. The Trail connects 16 states – Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon – and includes museums, landmarks, exhibits, and Visitor Centers along the route. For a complete list of markers and things to see and do, click here.
Good to know
Montana national parks questions
Montana has two national parks: Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. It also has six other National Park Service sites.
There are eight NPS sites in Montana: two national historic sites, two national parks, a national battlefield, a national recreation area, a national monument, and a national historical park. Three more NPS-affiliated sites, like Flathead Wild and Scenic River, round out the list.
So far we’ve visited Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Flathead Wild and Scenic River.
Keep exploring
National parks in nearby states
There’s more to explore in these nearby states.
