Montana State Parks :: Tower Rock

Tower Rock

STATE PARK

Visit this landmark 424-foot high rock formation noted in the journal of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and known to many Native American tribes centuries before.

HOURS & LOCATION

SEASON AND HOURS
Park
Open daily all year
Day use only

LOCATION
2325 Old US Highway 91
Cascade, MT 59421
Latitude/Longitude: (47.189 / -111.810)

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MT State Parks Guide

MEET THE PARK MANAGER
Photo of Richard Hopkins, Tower Rock State Park Manager

Richard Hopkins is Park Manager for First Peoples Buffalo Jump and Tower Rock State Parks. He began with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in 2004 after a 36-year career with the Bureau of Land Management. He served in various positions in Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming, including range conservation, reclamation, and tribal coordination, in addition to working in Washington, DC. in mineral leasing. Richard was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas and grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, graduating from Colorado State University with a degree in Range Science.

CONTACT

CONTACT INFO
Mailing Address:
Tower Rock State Park
c/o First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park
342 Ulm-Vaughn Rd.
Great Falls, MT 59405

Phone: 406-866-2217 c/o First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park
Email: rhopkins@mt.gov

Tower Rock

STATE PARK

Tower Rock was a landmark for native tribes, the Corps of Discovery, fur trappers, traders and many more that followed in their footsteps.

The 400-foot high igneous rock formation lies in a 140-acre site along the stretch of the Missouri River. Now a state park, visitors can learn about the geology and history of the site with five interpretive panels located at the trail head. The trail to the base of the saddle is maintained for a quarter-mile.

Tower Rock State Park is a day use only park.

Many Native American tribes used the rock as a landmark when they were entering and leaving the rich buffalo grounds of today's north central Montana.

Captain Meriwether Lewis noted in his journal "an Indian road enters the mountain at the same place with the river on the Stard side and continues along it's border under the steep clifts." Lewis also wrote, "At this place there is a large rock of 400 feet high wich stands immediately in the gap which the Missouri makes on it's passage from the mountains... This rock I called the tower. It may be ascended with some difficulty nearly to it's summit and from it there is a most pleasing view of the country we are now about to leave. From it I saw that evening immense herds of buffaloe in the plains below." Meriwether Lewis, July 16, 1805

Activities Available