Wayfarers Unit - Flathead Lake State Park
Park
63 acres1.7 mi of trail
Lupine LoopCampground SpurHarry Horn Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Photo: Katie Brady from Missoula, Montana, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0BOutdoors
Outdoors in Bigfork
11% of Bigfork’s land is conserved: 2,197 acres
The biggest trail networks: Wayfarers Unit - Flathead Lake State Park (1.7 mi). 158 acres are parks and preserves, 28 per 1,000 residents. 18% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns · #29 of 42 in Montana. What drives it
Conserved land
11%
2,197 acres · of 31.3 sq mi of land
Trails
15 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
158 ac
28 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
18%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
6.4 mi
6.4 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
3
1 beach · 4 boat launches
What kind of outdoors town is Bigfork?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bigfork have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bigfork is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #29 of 42 in Montana. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bigfork’s overall grade.
Conserved land11% of the land · typical MT town 10% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (15 mi) · MT 0.7 · U.S. 0.4BPark land28 acres of park per 1,000 residents (158 acres) · MT 14 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home18% of residents within a half mile of a park · MT 91% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 62%
LessMore
Montana towns of 2,500+ (42)Ahead of 32%
Montana towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 10%; the U.S., 4%), so Bigfork’s 11% is ahead of 56% of Montana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 37% of them.
Water is 16% of Bigfork’s area (6 of 37 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 9%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is Wayfarers Unit - Flathead Lake State Park, with 1.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Carlyle Johnson Park
Managed by Flathead County Parks
12 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it
2,197 conserved acres
11% of Bigfork’s land. Water is left out: Bigfork has 31.3 square miles of land and 6.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Bigfork’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits1,594 ac
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service662 ac
State fish & wildlife147 ac
U.S. Forest Service124 ac
Unknown Easement · 1,442 acResource Management Area · 662 acRanch Easement · 153 acState Park · 135 acNational Forest · 124 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,594 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 12 of 23 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flathead County Waterfowl Production Area Resource Management Area | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 662 | Restricted |
| Flathead National Forest National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 124 | Open |
| Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks State Park | State fish & wildlife | 71 | Open |
| Flathead Lake/Wayfarers State Park State Park | State fish & wildlife | 64 | Open |
| Echo Lake Fishing Access Site State Recreation Area | State fish & wildlife | 5 | Open |
| Sportsmans Bridge Fishing Access Site State Recreation Area | State fish & wildlife | 5 | Open |
| Bigfork Fishing Access Site State Recreation Area | State fish & wildlife | 2 | Open |
Things to do
11 places to go in Bigfork
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Bigfork
Long Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Bigfork
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Boat launches in Bigfork
Kearney Rapids Boat Launch
DirectionsPlus 3 boat launches without a name on the map.
Fishing spots in Bigfork
Kearney Rapids Boat Launch
DirectionsSouth Shore River and Reservior Acess
DirectionsPicnic areas in Bigfork
1 picnic area without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Campgrounds in Bigfork
Wayfarers State Park CampgroundFee · In Wayfarers Unit - Flathead Lake State Park
DirectionsTrails & water
6 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 2.3 mi
Lupine Loop0.9 mi
Campground Spur0.3 mi
Harry Horn Trail0.3 mi
Little Jewel0.2 mi
Pistol Trail0.2 mi
Little Jewel Loop0.2 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
6.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
6.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Tennis
3Baseball
3Soccer
1Pickleball
1Equestrian
1Basketball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Bigfork: May and July to September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.8 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.0 | 15.7 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 8.4 |
| High (°F) | 31 | 36 | 45 | 55 | 65 | 71 | 82 | 81 | 70 | 55 | 40 | 31 |
| Rain (in) | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
August is the driest month (1.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 3.2 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Bigfork →
Questions about parks and trails in Bigfork
Where can I hike in Bigfork?
The longest trail networks: Wayfarers Unit - Flathead Lake State Park, 1.7 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Bigfork is conserved land?
11% of its land, against a typical 10% for a Montana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Bigfork’s trails?
Wayfarers Unit - Flathead Lake State Park and Carlyle Johnson Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Bigfork?
6.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 6.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Bigfork?
88,346 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bigfork or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 990 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Bigfork have?
Ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #29 of 42 in Montana. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Bigfork neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →