Lakes

West Glacier, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Apgar Village

Glacier's west-side hub at the foot of Lake McDonald, open even in winter

From $25

Columbia Falls, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Bowman Lake and Polebridge

Glacier's remote North Fork: gravel roads, an off-grid village and a 7-mile mountain lake

From $25

Glasgow, Missouri River Country & Fort Peck Lake

Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge

About 1.1 million acres of Missouri River breaks around Fort Peck Lake, free to enter

Free

Ennis, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Earthquake Lake

A lake made by a 1959 landslide, with drowned trees and trout water below the slide

Free

Bigfork, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Jewel Basin Hiking Area

Foot-only high country above Bigfork: 27 lakes and 35 miles of trail

Free

Whitefish, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Whitefish Lake State Park

Small lakeside campground and boat launch on Whitefish Lake, with trains rolling past

From $4

Hamilton, Missoula & the Bitterroot Valley

Lake Como

Bitterroot reservoir under the mountains, with a 7.9-mile shoreline loop and a beach

From $5

West Glacier, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Lake McDonald

Glacier's largest lake: 10 miles long, 472 feet deep, with a 1914 lodge

From $25

St. Mary, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Saint Mary Lake and Wild Goose Island

Glacier's east-side lake and the tiny island from the opening of The Shining

From $25

Dillon, Helena, Butte & Southwest Montana

Clark Canyon Reservoir and Camp Fortunate

Trout reservoir over the site where Sacagawea met her brother in August 1805

Free

West Yellowstone, Yellowstone Gateways & the Beartooths

Earthquake Lake Visitor Center

Overlook on the 1959 slide that killed 28 and dammed the Madison River into a lake

Free

Polson, Glacier National Park & the Flathead Valley

Flathead Lake

About 191 square miles of clear water: the West's largest natural freshwater lake

From $4