Giant Springs State Park

The water that pours out of Giant Springs has been on a long, slow journey. It falls as rain and snow on the Little Belt Mountains to the south, sinks into the Madison limestone aquifer, and travels underground for decades before surfacing here. By the time it reaches the spring it has been filtered to a remarkable clarity and cooled to a steady 54 degrees, which is why the pool never freezes and stays glass-clear through a Montana winter.

The sheer volume is the marvel. At around 150 million gallons a day, the spring is one of the largest freshwater springs in the United States, and standing at its edge you can see the sand and gravel dancing where the water boils up from below. It is a rare chance to look straight into the plumbing of a landscape.

The spring's overflow forms the Roe River, which runs only about 200 feet before it empties into the Missouri. In the late twentieth century a local effort, including schoolchildren, successfully petitioned Guinness World Records to recognize the Roe as the shortest river in the world, edging out a rival in Oregon. Guinness later retired the category, but the story stuck, and the tiny river is still a favorite oddity.

That gives the park a unique geographic distinction. Here the shortest river in the world empties into one of the longest, the Missouri, a few steps apart, a quirk of hydrology you can take in with a single glance.

The Corps of Discovery reached this stretch of the Missouri in June 1805 and camped near the great falls that gave Great Falls its name. Meriwether Lewis noted the large fountain of clear water bursting from the riverbank, one of the many discoveries he recorded during the grueling month-long portage the expedition made around the series of waterfalls here.

That history is close at hand. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center stands right beside the park on the bluff above the river, and the paved River's Edge Trail links the spring to the falls and overlooks, so you can walk the same river the expedition struggled to get around.

The park is the only Montana state park with a fish hatchery inside its boundaries. The Giant Springs hatchery raises trout in the cold spring water, and visitors can watch the fish in the raceways and ponds, a low-key hit with kids. The park also offers picnic grounds, a visitor center, and access to the River's Edge Trail for walking and biking along the Missouri.

Because the spring runs the same temperature year-round, the park is beautiful in every season, from summer picnics to a steaming pool on a snowy winter day. It is busiest in summer, when the trail, the picnic areas, and the interpretive center draw both locals and travelers passing through Great Falls.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.