• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hiking around Flathead Lake

Welcome to Montana

  • Places to Hike
  • Places to Camp
  • Trailheads
  • Get Social

Mike

The Flathead Lake Vacation Guide

The Flathead Lake Vacation Guide includes annual events, lodging, trail heads for hiking, private campgrounds and information about every State Park around Flathead Lake. Find out more….

The Guide contains more than 70 pages of information including links to activities, local business listings, , public campgrounds, hiking trails, fishing access sites and just about any other information you want when you vacation on Flathead Lake.

The Flathead Lake Vacation Guide is easy to use. The Guide contains information about each community, complete with business listings and public access points.  The Guide also contains many of the Trail Heads along Glacier View road, as well as the Jewel Basin outside of Bigfork Montana.

Communities on Flathead Lake

Communities included in the Guide include the population centers such as Bigfork, Lakeside and Polson, as well as the smaller communities like Woods Bay, Finely Point or Big Arm. All of the Montana State Parks are listed in this vacation guide. Including Yellow Bay, Flathead Lake Trail and Finley Point State Park. The guide contains many photographs as well as information you will want during your vacation.

The guide costs $6.99 and is an instant download to your computer or mobile device. Of course the Guide comes with a money back guarantee. It’s like having all of the local information right on your phone.

Golf on Flathead Lake. Flathead Lake Vacation Guide

The Flathead Lake Vacation Guide

the Guide contains every public access point around The Lake. It also contains most every private campground as well. So if you are looking for public or private campgrounds around our Lake, this vacation guide has the information you will need to plan your Montana vacation.

Purchase your guide, either for your phone on in you hand.

Filed Under: Hiking, Tourism Tagged With: camping, fishing, flathead lake, hiking, vacation guide

Elk Ridge Trail #301

The Elk Ridge trail, also known as Mollman Lakes trail, is 10.5 miles long and climbs about 3,100 feet.  This trail has two trailheads, one off of Forest Service Rd #903 and one off of Forest Service Rd #9591 which is open from 12/1-10/14.  This upper trail head cuts about 0.2 miles off of the route.  The trail follows closed roads for 2.7 miles before turning into the woods.  This trail leads up a closed road bed (#10291), the trail turns right at a T intersection in a large grassy area where two roads meet.  After turning right the trail leaves the old road to the left less than 1/10 of a mile after the intersection.  This trail is not regularly maintained past 5.4 miles, please be sure you are comfortable traveling cross country and have a map and compass if you continue past this point.

Click Here for the NFS Trail Map and Directions

Mountain biking is not allowed in the wilderness.  Biking is allowed to the wilderness boundary approximately 4  miles from the lower trailhead.  This is a gentle bike ride on old forest roads.

Filed Under: Trail Heads, Trails

Hikes around Flathead Lake

Going for a hike… Don’t forget Mike, The Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide.

If you are hiking in the mountains around Flathead Lake, you are in the Mission mountain Range.  The Mission Mountain Range is not only Grizzly Bear habitat but the west side of it resides in Indian Country.  With that said, when hiking in the Missions on the Flathead Indian Reservation, be sure to have bear spray and a tribal recreation permit. Once you have those two items enjoy your trails.  Be aware the Mission Mountain Range is a Wilderness Area.  This designation imposes additional regulations on mechanized operation.

If you are on US Highway 35 heading North, around Bear Dance Trail Head and the Flathead Lake Trail you are no longer on the reservation. North or South have bear spray and know how to use it.

Mission Mountains Wilderness

Hikes around Flathead LakeThe Mission mountain Wilderness will offer you impressive mountain views, and lakes.  You can expect wild landscapes with an ample amount of solitude.

There is an good trail system leading to the more popular lakes. The Mission Mountain range  has something for every type of recreationalist. A simple day hike might be Glacier Lake, or, if your feeling lucky, grab your bear spray and head out to Mollman Lakes.

The Mission Mountains Wilderness is bordered by the Salish- Kootenai tribal wilderness; please contact 406-675-2700 for information regarding access and use.

Recreation areas with activity Day Hiking:

  • Cedar Lake Trail #738
  • Ek Ridge Trail #301

Purchase The Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide.

Don’t need the hiking guide, just some basic trail information, do not fret.  Mike has included some beginner to medium hikes on this website.  Depending on were you as staying there is most likely a trail head near you. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you on the trail.

Other Trails


Glacier Creek Trail #690
Hemlock Feeder Trail #695
Hemlock Lake Trail #607
Hemlock Peak Trail #515
Jocko Trail #34
Piper Lake Trail #119
Turquoise Lake Trail #708

Backpacking
Recreation areas and trails.

Cedar Lake Trail #738
Elk Ridge Trail #301
Hemlock Lake Trail #607
Hemlock Peak Trail #515
Jocko Trail #34
Piper Lake Trail #119
Turquoise Lake Trail #708

Filed Under: Hiking, Mission Mountain Wilderness

Cedar Lake Trail #738

The Cedar Lake Trail is 7.0 miles long. It begins at end of Road #10381 (seasonally open from 6/15-3/31) and ends at the junction with the Piper Creek trail #119 which continues to Piper Lake. The whole trail from portal to portal is 13 miles and climbs up to 6880 feet in elevation. Most of this trail is in Wilderness and so is open for the following uses: hiking and horseback riding.

Click Here for Flathead National Forest Trail Map and Directions

Filed Under: Trail Heads, Trails

Another Hiking Video from Go Hike With Mike

Thank you for enjoying this hiking video with Mike. Hope to see you on the trail soon.

Please enjoy this Hiking Video:

See you on the Trail

Flathead Lake HikingThe Go Hike with Mike Trail Guide contains information about camping & hiking around Flathead Lake.   Mike has been hiking, wandering, hunting and spending time in these woods for more then 20 years.  The Go Hike with Mike Trail Guide contains most every trail head around Flathead Lake.  The guide includes trails as far north as Polebridge.  It also contains the Hungry Horse recreation area, the Swan Front and Swan Valley to the east.  To the north the guide contains trail head and campground information around Tally Lake.

Don’t need the hiking guide, just some basic trail information, do not fret.  Mike has included some beginner to medium hikes on this website.  Depending on were you as staying there is most likely a trail head near you. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you on the trail.

190 pages packed with trailheads, camping spots, and local information around Flathead Lake.

PURCHASE THE GO HIKE WITH MIKE TRAIL GUIDE

Public and Private campgrounds and lodging around Flathead Lake. Also includes public and private campgrounds in all ranger districts around Flathead Lake.

Filed Under: Hiking, Videos Tagged With: flathead lake, go hike with mike, hiking videos

Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide

The Flathead Lake Trail Guide.

See you on the Trail.

If you have ben looing to hike around Flathead Lake you need to get to know Mike. The Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide post just about every trail.  Maybe you might stumble upon one not in the guide, but it is unlikely.

The guide is all about camping & hiking around Flathead Lake.

Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide
Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide

Mike has been hiking, wandering, hunting and spending time in these woods for more then 20 years.  The guide includes trails as far north as Polebridge, and the  Hungry Horse recreation area, and east to the Swan Front and Swan Valley.  To the north the guide contains trail head and campground information in and around Tally Lake.

Hiking Around Flathead Lake

The trail guide is focused on trails, camping and being in the woods.  Mike’s Flathead Lake Trail Guide breaks the area in five easy to use sections.  North of Flathead lake, including The Talley Lake area and due north to Polebridge. East of Flathead Lake, including the Swan Front, Swan Valley, and on into the Hungry Horse recreation area.   The guide contains most every trail Mike has hiked in the last 20 years or plans to hike in the next 20 years.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR COPY.

Don’t need the hiking guide, just some basic trail information, do not fret.  Mike has included some beginner to medium hikes on this website.  Depending on were you as staying there is most likely a trail head near you. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you on the trail.

Follow Mike on Instagram or subscribe to his YouTube Channel

#gohikewithmike

Filed Under: Flathead Lake, Hiking, Tourism Tagged With: go hike with mike, hiking, trails

The Flathead Indian Reservation

Welcome to the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Let’s take a moment to consider the history that took place to allow you to enjoy all of the recreational and hiking opportunities Flathead Lake has to offer.

The southern half of Montana’s Flathead Lake resides on the Flathead Indian Reservation.  This is Indian Country. The Hellgate Treaty of 1855 set this land aside for the Salish, Kootenai and Pend Oreille Tribes.

Flathead Lake Montana
Montana's Flathead Lake
Flathead Lake Montana
Montana's Flathead Lake

Charlo, or Charlot, was the son of Victor, and his successor as chief of the Salish bands. The Treaty of 1855, negotiated by Isaac Stevens, had guaranteed that Victor and his people could stay in the Bitterroot Valley. In 1872, however, President U.S. Grant ordered the Salish, then led by Chief Charlo, to move north to the Flathead Reservation. Two sub-chiefs, Arlee and Joseph Nine Pipes, complied, but Charlo refused, and stayed resolutely, but “illegally,” on his native lands.

In 1876, the government of Montana Territory proposed a tax on Indians’ property. Charlo’s bitter but eloquent response resonates with his deep sadness and disillusionment.

Chief Charlo’s Answer

Since our forefathers first beheld [the white man], more than seven times ten winters have snowed and melted. Most of them like those snows have dissolved away. Their spirits went whither they came; his, they say, go there too. Do they meet and see us here? Can he blush before his Maker, or is he forever dead? Is his prayer his promise—a trust of the wind? Is it a sound without sense? Is it a thing whose life is a foul thing?…

What is he? Who sent him here? We were happy when he first came; since then we often saw him, always heard him and of him. We first thought he came from the light, but he comes like the dusk of the evening now, not like the dawn of the morning. He comes like a day that has passed, and night enters our future with him.…

Had Heaven’s Chief burnt him with some mark to refuse him, we might have refused him. No, we did not refuse him in his weakness; in his poverty we fed, we cherished him—yes, befriended him, and showed the fords and defiles of our lands. Yet we did think his face was concealed with hair, and that he often smiled like a rabbit in his own beard. A long-tailed, skulking thing, fond of flat lands, and soft grass and woods.

To confirm, his purpose; to make the trees and stones and his own people hear him, he whispers soldiers, lock houses and iron chains.…He, the cause of our ruin, is his own snake, which he says stole on his mother in her own country to lie to her. He says his story is that man was rejected and cast off. Why did we not reject him forever? He says one of his virgins had a son nailed to death on two cross sticks to save him. Were all of them dead then when that young man died, we would be all safe now and our country our own. . . .

…His meanness ropes his charity, his avarice wives his envy, his race breeds to extort. Did he speak at all like a friend? . . .

He is cold, and stealth and envy are with him, and fit him as do his hands and feet. We owe him nothing; he owes us more than he will pay, yet he says there is a God.…

His laws never gave us a blade nor a tree, nor a duck, nor a grouse, nor a trout. No; like the wolverine that steals your cache, how often does he come? You know he comes as long as he lives, and takes more and more, and dirties what he leaves.”

In 1891, after 20 more years of impoverishment and near-starvation, Charlo agreed to move his band of 157 people to the Flathead Reservation. They walked the seventy-five miles from their ancestral homeland in the Bitterroot Valley to the Jocko Valley at the southern end of the reservation.

 

 

Filed Under: Flathead Lake Tagged With: cskt, flathead lake, indians

Jewel Basin Hiking – Birch Lake Trail

The Birch Lake trail is 0.8 miles long.

It begins at Jct. Alpine Trail. #7 In Sec. 32 and ends at Jct. Alpine Trail. #7 In Sec. 5. The trail is open for hiking, no motorized traffic. The Birch Lake Trail is in the Jewel Basin Hiking area. Special regulations are in place.

Closest Towns: Bigfork, MT

Birch Lake Trail

Directions: From Bigfork, take Hwy 35 north to Hwy 83. Head east on Hwy 83 to the junction of the Echo Lake Road. Head north on Echo Lake Road about 3 miles to junction with the Jewel Basin Road (No. 5392). Follow this road approximalty 7 miles to the trailhead. CAUTION: The last 5 miles are steep. Use headlights for safety. Caution advised for low clearance vehicles. Trailers not recommended.

Birch Lake Trail
Hiking the Birch Lake Trail

 

Jewel Basin Hiking Area Regulations Pursuant to 36 CFR 261

For more contact: Flathead National Forest

Hungry Horse — Glacier View Ranger District: (406) 387-3800

Swan Lake Ranger District: (406) 837-7500

Special Regulations

Fires: There are no open fires allowed within 500 feet of the shores of the following lakes: Twin, Picnic, Birch, and Crater Lakes. This is for the purposes of sanitation and resource protection.

Dogs: Dogs must be on a leash and under physical restrictive control at all times while in Jewel Basin and all trails leading into it. This is for wildlife, resource, and visitor protection.

Party Size: Group sizes are limited to 12 persons in order to protect resources and minimize disruption to other visitors.

Food Storage: Jewel Basin is in Bear Country and as such proper storage regulations must be followed including storing attractants in a bear resistant manner when you are not at camp with your food and other attractants.

General Regulations

Camping: Allowed anywhere in Jewel Basin. Campsites are dispersed and we ask that you minimize your impact.

Campfires: Fires are allowed in the Jewel basin where not otherwise restricted. Please minimize fire impact by using a fire blanket or pan and consider not building a fire ring.

Stay Limit: The stay limit is 14 days within any 30 day period. Waste Disposal: Please use one of the outhouses or use the cathole method to bury human waste.

Garbage Service: There is no garbage service. Please pack out anything you bring with you.

Travel Management

The Jewel Basin is a hiker only area. As such, stock, motorized, and mechanized use is prohibited within the Jewel Basin Hiking Area boundary.

Filed Under: Hiking, Jewel Basin

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 6
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Purchase Your Copy

GoHikeWithMike Trail Guide Download.

Go Hike With Mike Trailguide in Paperback from Amazon

Hiking Around Flathead Lake

  • Bigfork
  • Cabinet Mountains
  • Flathead
  • Flathead Lake
  • Flathead River
  • Gear
  • Hiking
  • Holland Lake
  • Hungry Horse
  • Jewel Basin
  • Mission Mountain Wilderness
  • Mountain Top Views
  • Permits
  • Places to Camp
  • Places to Hike
  • Swan Front Trails
  • Tourism
  • Trail Heads
  • Trails
  • Videos
  • Videos
  • Yellow Bay

Trailheads

Go Hike With Mike

Permits

Recreation Permits

Equipment

Hiking Equipment

Looking for the Vacation Guide?

Montana's Flathead Lake Vacation Guide

Purchase the Flathead Lake Vacation Guide

on You Tube

Subscribe to Mike’s YouTube Channel.

Now in Paperback from Amazon


Flathead Lake Vacation Guide in Paperback
Flathead Lake Vacation Guide in Paperback
The Ultimate Flathead Lake Vacation Guide: Montana's Flathead Lake Paperback


The Go Hike With Mike Trailguide
The Go Hike With Mike Trailguide
The Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide in Paperback

Footer

On The Trail:

Go Hike With Mike Website: GoHike WithMike.com

Go Hike With Mike Email: trails@gohikewithmike.com

Go Hike With Mike Social: #GoHikeWithMike

Hiking on Flathead Lake

Bigfork camping cskt family fun fishing flathead flathead lake flathead river gear Glacier National Park go hike with mike hiking hiking videos Hungry Horse indians mission mountains montana pablo permits refuge Swan Front tourism trail guide trail heads trails vacation guide video videos wildlife yellow bay

Another Hiking Video from Go Hike With Mike

https://youtu.be/CyHdRucBpvE

Flathead Lake Trail Guide

The Go Hike with Mike trail guide contains most every trail head in the Flathead and Kootenai Forest as well as the Mission Mountain Tribal Wilderness.  Click here to purchase your copy.

Follow Mike on Instagram or subscribe to his YouTube Channel

#gohikewithmike

  • Camping Around Flathead Lake
  • Flathead Lake Trails and Camping
  • The Go Hike With Mike Trail Guide

Go Hike with Mike

Go Hike With Mike Website: GoHike WithMike.com
Go Hike With Mike Email: trails@gohikewithmike.com
Go Hike With Mike Social: #GoHikeWithMike
Go Hike With Mike GoHikeWithMike Trailguide Download.

Go Hike With Mike Go Hike With Mike Trailguide in Paperback from Amazon