16 Best Things To Do In Great Falls, Montana

Great Falls grew up where the Missouri River drops over five waterfalls, and the river is still the reason to come. A spring-fed state park sits on its bank, and a trail runs almost 60 miles along both sides.

1. Giant Springs State Park

Start at Giant Springs State Park, northeast of downtown, where the spring pushes out about 156 million gallons a day at a steady 54 degrees. You can watch it well up from the railing before it drains into the Missouri as the Roe River, which Guinness once listed as the world's shortest river.

Kids will want the state fish hatchery inside the park, where the show pond holds big trout that visitors can feed.

2. River's Edge Trail

From downtown, the River's Edge Trail heads out along the Missouri to Giant Springs and the falls beyond. The route mixes paved path and single-track past reservoirs and the dams.

3. Black Eagle Falls and Rainbow Falls

Black Eagle Falls, nearest the city limits, is a 26-foot drop and the first of the five Missouri falls to be dammed, in 1890. From the top you look out on the meeting of the Missouri and Sun rivers, while Black Eagle Memorial Island Park below puts you at the foot of the falls.

Rainbow Falls, which Meriwether Lewis judged at about fifty feet, is a short way downstream. Rainbow Dam went up above it in 1910 without drowning it, so you can still watch the water come over from Giant Springs Road.

4. Ryan Dam and Ryan Island Park

This is the Great Falls of the Missouri, the waterfall the city is named for. With Ryan Dam on top, the drop now stands at 148 feet.

A suspension bridge crosses the river below the powerhouse to Ryan Island Park, a picnic island with a shelter, restrooms and the old Ryan Dam clubhouse. It's open from Mother's Day through Labor Day, daylight to dark.

5. C.M. Russell Museum

Charles M. Russell painted cowboys, Native life and Montana landscapes, and the C.M. Russell Museum is built around his Great Falls house and the log cabin studio where he worked, which together are a National Historic Landmark. The collection runs to more than 3,000 pieces of Western art, nearly 1,000 of them by Russell.

Adult admission is $20, and active military families and kids five and under get in free. From October through April the museum is open Thursday to Monday only, so check the day before you drive over.

6. Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art

The Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art shows contemporary work inside a sandstone school completed in 1896, with a sculpture garden on the grounds. The building served as Central High School for 34 years.

The galleries charge no admission and stay open until 9 p.m. on Tuesdays.

7. The History Museum

The History Museum, run by the Cascade County Historical Society, is free and open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus second Saturday afternoons.

The museum also runs the Terra Cotta Quest, a scavenger hunt that sends you around downtown looking for the terra cotta facades on the old commercial blocks.

8. Malmstrom Air Force Base Museum and Air Park

The Malmstrom museum tells the story of the missile base on the east side of town. Outside stand a B-25J Mitchell, a KC-97G Stratotanker and a Minuteman III missile; inside are Minuteman launch consoles and a SAGE computer.

Getting in takes planning, because the museum sits inside the base perimeter. Visitors without a Defense Department ID check in first at the Visitor Control Center by the 2nd Avenue North gate and need a REAL ID or another accepted card. Call the museum at 406-731-2705 to confirm it's open that day.

9. Gibson Park

Gibson Park, on Park Drive North, is the downtown park for a picnic and a slow loop. Its pond keeps ducks, geese and swans. The flower gardens have a rock archway, and the park also holds the historic Vinegar Jones Cabin and a bandshell for summer concerts.

10. Electric City Water Park

For families visiting in summer, the city's Electric City Water Park sits by the river on River Drive South and runs from early June through Labor Day. Older kids head for the Power Tower slides. Younger ones get what the state tourism site calls the largest children's water play structure in Montana, and life jackets are lent free.

11. Great Falls Voyagers

The Great Falls Voyagers play Pioneer League baseball in summer. In 1950 the team's general manager, Nick Mariana, spotted bright lights over the ballpark, and the club took its nickname from that UFO sighting. The park itself has hosted pro ball since 1948. Home dates are on the team's game calendar.

12. Sip 'n Dip Lounge

The Sip 'n Dip is the tiki lounge at the O'Haire Motor Inn downtown. Its draw is the live mermaids the motor inn advertises. It's a bar, so it suits a grown-ups' night out; call ahead if the mermaids are the reason you're going.

13. Roadhouse Diner

The Roadhouse Diner on 15th Street North is a burger place with local sourcing. The beef comes from McCafferty Ranch in nearby Belt, the buns from Great Harvest Bread in town, and the fries are hand-cut and double-fried. Vegetarians get a house-made black bean burger. It keeps short hours, Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., so plan lunch around it.

14. First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park

Hunters once drove bison off a mile-long sandstone cliff here, leaving up to 18 feet of compacted remains below it. First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park tells that story in a visitor center with buffalo culture exhibits and a storytelling circle, then sends you outside onto an interpretive trail that passes a protected prairie dog town.

To get there, leave I-15 at exit 270, 10 miles south of Great Falls, and drive about 3.5 miles on the county road.

15. Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a shallow marsh ringed by native prairie 12 miles north of town. Waterfowl and shorebirds peak in spring and fall migration.

• The Prairie Marsh Wildlife Drive is a self-guided route of about nine miles you can do from the car.
• For sharp-tailed grouse on the lek, come first thing in the morning.
• The refuge is open sunrise to sunset year-round, but call ahead in winter to check the drive is open.
• Dogs must be leashed and kept on the drive.

16. Sluice Boxes State Park

South of Great Falls in the Little Belt Mountains, Sluice Boxes State Park follows Belt Creek through a cliff-walled canyon on an abandoned railroad bed. The full hike runs 7.5 miles and is realistic only from mid-July through September, because with the rail bridges gone you have to wade the creek.

The Riceville Bridge trailhead, the park's one developed access point, is 15 miles south of Belt on US 89.