Flathead Lake State Park

Located in northwest Montana, Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. It covers 197 square miles, has 188 miles of shoreline and is 371 feet deep with water so clear you can see the bottom in most places. And if that’s not enough, the Mission mountains are to the east and the Salish Mountains to the west.

Flathead Lake State Park has established several units around this incredible lake, each offering it’s own set of activities. We pass several of these units; but spend most of our time in the Wayfarers Unit.

Wayfarers Unit

Located on the northeast shore of Flathead Lake in Bigfork, Montana, this state park unit is close to the continental divide trail and the larger town of Kalispell making it a very popular place to visit.

Campground

Despite being only having 30 campsites, the campground is very busy. Sites are close together, noisy during the week and surprisingly quiet on the weekend. Which is the complete opposite of any other campground we’ve been in. It’s bad when the only peace and quiet we get in the first few days here, is the two hours we are doing laundry in the local Bigfork laundromat.

In addition, they advertise having showers; but what they don’t tell you is that you have to buy tokens to make them work, at a rate of $3 for 6 minutes.

What will make this campground memorable for us, is the two other Ember campers that showed up while we were here. That’s the same number of Embers we saw the entire previous summer. It was great to spend time chatting with them.

Trails

The park trails weave throughout the park; but the highlight is the rock cliffs along the shoreline that provide a spectacular view of the northern section of the lake.

Exploring nearby Bigfork, MT

To explore nearby Bigfork, Montana we decide to take the bikes from camp. Luckily, when planning our route, we find a pedestrian/bike gate in the blocked road just off the park’s main road. This allows us to avoid a large hill climb, as well as the very busy main road just outside the campground. Which of course makes our ride not only safer; but much more enjoyable.

Sliter Memorial Park

Our first stop is Slitter Memorial Park which has some beautifully made statues memorializing the men and women who founded Big Fork, as well as the soldiers from the town who have died in service to our country.

It also provides excellent views of the Swan River and the bridge that crosses it.

Big Fork Dam

Also accessible from the park is Big Fork Dam/Hydroelectric project. Built in 1902, this Project remains essentially unchanged since the 1930’s, and provides a working model for early 20th century hydroelectric operations.

Big Fork Nature Trail

Next, we head through town to the Bigfork Nature Trail. This is a multi-use trail catering to everyone from walkers to bikers. It’s a beautiful 2 mile (one-way) trail along the Swan River that provides views of the river, some rapids, and has several places to sit and relax.

Along the trail I catch site of this incredible fellow from the corner of my eye. Two other groups come upon us as we’re standing there, so we signal for quiet and point to the prize.

We’re able to watch him for several minutes until someone tries to get too close and scares him away. But, even that provides an incredible picture.

Historic Downtown

Once we complete the trail (both directions) and have lunch, we head to the downtown area to take a look around.

Bigfork Harbor

Which then leads us to the Bigfork Harbor.

Wild Horse Island State Park

The largest island on Flathead Lake at ~2,164 acres in size, Wild Horse Island has been a Montana State Park since 1977. It can only be reached by boat and the main draw is trying to catch sight of wildlife.

Shuttle Ride to Wild Horse Island

To get to the island, we catch a Pontoon boat from Big Arm, MT for the 30 min ride to Skeeko Bay. The service we chose gives us three hours on the island to walk the trails and see whatever we can.

Trails

As we leave Skeeko Bay, we head up one of the two interconnecting loop trails toward Johnson Barn. The two trails total about 3.7 miles, and there’s one 0.3 mile spur trail that goes up to an overlook. Unfortunately, the overlook trail is closed for rehabilitation, so we don’t have an opportunity to go up high to look for the few horse that remain on the island.

However, the highest point on the main trails does provide some pretty good views of the island and back toward the mainland.

Wildlife

The three main attractions on this island are of course the wild horses the island is named for, bighorn sheep, and bald eagles. We’re fortunate to see two out of three as well as an Osprey.

The Bald Eagle was only visible from the boat on the way back to the mainland and didn’t provide good pictures. So given the incredible picture we got yesterday I won’t even bother to include it.

Unfortunately, we did not see the wild horses. But, the boat captains both directions did say they’ve been hanging out on other side of island, so it was unlikely.

Next stop… Glacier National Park – Going-to-the-Sun Road (East Side)