Western Montana

On a trip to Glacier National Park, my boyfriend and I took a quick side trip up the winding mountain road to Hungry Horse Dam, just outside of Hungry Horse Montana. I checked before we left home only to find out that the dam was not offering tours for the season yet, but I still wanted to go. Tours are from June to September and the tour office is open from 8am to 3pm. Although I was disappointed about the tour, I still found the scenery and the dam fascinating. Once we reached the parking lot at the visitor’s center we were treated to a view of the south fork of the Flathead river and reservoir along with 564 foot tall dam.

I got out of the truck to take photos of the dam and the surrounding mountains, which some of the mountains were covered with burned trees from an apparent forest fire. I walked out on to the two car lane wide dam and was welcomed with gusts of wind. I decided to get back in the truck and take a drive over the dam instead of walking in the wind. We stopped half way across the dam to read a plaque that was attached to a building, stating that the dam was finished in1953.

Once we drove to the other side of the dam we saw a beautiful waterfall that several people were admiring. There was a Forest Service road that continued up the mountain with some hiking trails according to the tour guide book I had on the area. Jewel Basin Hiking area is near the reservoir, along with the Great Bear and the Bob Marshall wilderness areas. We returned back over the dam and descended down the road back to Hungry Horse, a interesting named town with a story of a bad winter in the early 1900’s, when two horses that were used for logging purposes went missing, only to be found about a month later, hungry and disheveled. The name stuck and wooden cutouts of “hungry horses” can be found all around the town.

Directions to Hungry Horse Dam: Heading east on highway 2 towards Glacier National Park from the town of Hungry Horse. Turn right onto W Side Road and travel up the road for about 4 miles.