One Big, Happy Family

A fun-filled itinerary at Montana’s lesser-seen state parks.

Winter is the time for celebration and connection with the people you love most. As such, it has become a tradition for my family members from the flatlands to visit Montana during Christmas and New Year’s. And while I always look forward to seeing these Midwestern kin, we never seem to get up to all that much aside from drinking, eating, and shooting the breeze with one another. We’ve tried many times to find something to break this sedentary tradition of ours: venturing out onto the trails for cross-country skiing, heading up Hyalite to tromp around and watch the ice climbers, or driving through the Park to take in the scenery and watch wildlife. But time and again, someone is left unsatisfied.

This year, I’ve concocted a plan sure to satisfy the staunchest scrooges and most particular party-poopers in our otherwise merry bunch, and all we’d need to do is get out of the Bozone for a while. By now, you should know that I’m talking about state parks. But which ones? Well, those in our neighboring Region 4, of course: Giant Springs, First People’s Buffalo Jump, and the lakes: Black Sandy, Spring Meadow, and Ackley.

At Black Sandy State Park, we’ll lace up our skates and zip around the wild ice and perhaps enjoy a friendly game of stick & puck while taking in the picturesque views of the snow-blanketed landscape.

So as to not ruffle any feathers, I decided to keep the plan simple: celebrate Christmas as we always have, but then leave early the following morning, on what our friends to the north know as Boxing Day, to begin our crowd-pleasing weekend road-trip. Here’s how it will go:

Out first stop, on Friday morning, will be Black Sandy State Park. Situated on 43 acres directly upriver of Hauser Dam, and only an hour and 45 minutes from Bozeman, Black Sandy is one of the few public parks on Hauser Reservoir, thereby enabling regular folks to access this walleye- & trout-fishing haven. What’s more, it’s a beautiful spot (with ample parking, to boot), where the shores are dotted with black sand, hence the name. Here, we’ll lace up our skates and zip around the wild ice and perhaps enjoy a friendly game of stick & puck while taking in the picturesque views of the snow-blanketed landscape. Those of us less inclined toward skating—or perhaps enthralled with the idea of catching a Midwesterner’s favorite fare, walleye—will instead venture out onto the frozen lake with an auger & tackle for some ice fishing.

Assuming the skaters will have gotten their fill by mid-morning, we’ll return to shore, pack up our wares, and backtrack to Helena to unthaw and grab a quick bite. Once our bellies are full and the sensation has returned to our fingers, anyone interested in stretching their legs can come along for a walk around Spring Meadow Lake at Spring Meadow State Park. As one of Montana’s few urban state parks, Spring Meadow lets one get outside without making much of a day of it. Although more popular in the summer months for paddling and swimming, Spring Meadow can be enjoyed year-round. A self-guided, .8-mile nature trail circles the lake, and in the stillness of winter, it’s a path on which a man can find peace and serenity, just a short hop from the hustle & bustle of nearby downtown Helena. Because the diminutive waterbody freezes up quickly, it too could be an opportune location to skate or fish, but given everything still to come on our itinerary, I won’t let on to the rest of my clan.

Once we’ve gotten our steps in and allowed ample time to enjoy Spring Meadow’s spoils, we’ll once again pile into the rigs for a couple more hours on the highway. Sure, we’re putting in serious miles behind the windshield, but thankfully, the road ahead is one of Montana’s most beautiful: the stretch of I-15 from Helena to Great Falls, along the Missouri River.

Giant Springs is one of the largest freshwater springs in the country, renowned for its birdwatching and beauty.

If all goes according to plan (no road closures, no blown tires, no calls to AAA), we’ll arrive in Great Falls around 4:30pm—just in time for sunset at Giant Springs State Park on the banks of the Missouri. Although Giant Springs was already well-known by generations of Native Americans, the so-called “discovery” occurred in 1805 when the Corps of Discovery happened upon it during a scouting mission led by Meriwether Lewis. It’s one of the largest freshwater springs in the country, renowned for its birdwatching and beauty. Giant Springs is the site of the Roe River, which at only 106 feet long, is the shortest in the world. The 156 million gallons of water produced daily remain at a brisk (but temperate) 54 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, causing a fascinating steam effect during particularly cold spells.

After witnessing this phenomenon, we’ll return to town, belly up to the nearest bar, and gorge ourselves on fried food before checking in to whatever motel we can find. Come Saturday morning, we’ll return to Giant Springs to explore the rest of the park and fully appreciate it in its totality. Which might take a while, as it encompasses 14 total miles of shoreline on the Missouri, and over 30 miles of hiking and biking trails—from which we’ll take in all four of the Missouri’s waterfalls, those being the namesake of Great Falls.

In addition to the ample opportunities to appreciate the scenery, the Giant Springs trails are also marked with interpretive placards chronicling the Lewis & Clark expedition’s time in the region. And if all that isn’t enough to satisfy my family, there’s the Giant Springs Fish Hatchery, where we can check out the beefy trout in the show pond and throw some food pellets their way.

Next up is Great Falls’ other nearby offering: First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. The park is complete with a 6,000-square-foot visitor center & museum detailing the Indians’ use of the mile-long cliff to drive herds of bison to their ultimate demise. At the base of the cliff, nearly 18 feet of compressed bison remains are piled up in the soil, and the interpretive trails allow visitors to walk the grounds of what is possibly the largest bison jump in North America. It’s a great place to visit with family, especially in winter—the museum can entertain those less-suited to the cold or lacking in mobility, there are fewer guests on the whole, and you don’t have to worry about your non-Montana kin (or dogs, for that matter) having an accidental run-in with a rattler.

Figuring we’d spend the lion’s share of our afternoon at First Peoples Buffalo Jump, I haven’t planned any other activities for the day—realistically, everyone will be tired, so back at the motel, catching a late-night re-run of Home Alone or A Christmas Story should be satisfactory before hitting the hay.

On Sunday morning, I’ll give everyone a choice—head back to town, or come with me for one last hoorah: an all-day ice-fishing extravaganza at Ackley Lake State Park, an hour and a half southeast of Great Falls. Given our group dynamics, I’m willing to bet that half our party will be ready to get back to Bozeman, and the rest will tag along for the chance to catch some fish and witness the very landscape that inspired the likes of Charlie Russell. Ackley Lake is a true Montana treasure—situated on the plains, with the Snowy Mountains to the east and the Little Belts to the west. Here, we’ll get back to what we’re good at: sitting, drinking, and farcing. Then, once we’ve caught our fill or grown tired of the cold, we too will pack it up and make our way back to Bozeman—hopefully with a couple of tasty rainbows in tow for dinner that evening.

If all goes to plan, it’s sure to be one of the best Christmas visits to date—one that gets us out of our comfort zones and into the outdoors, connects us to one another, and shows my guests a side of Montana they’d otherwise never be privy to. Needless to say, I’m damn fortunate to live in a state with so many state parks and the countless opportunities they provide me and my family—and all of us living under the Big Sky—to get outside with the people we love.

For more info on these and other state parks in Montana, visit fwp.mt.gov/stateparks.