Tower Rock

Photo: Robstutz 

Drive along Interstate 15 southwest of Great Falls, Montana and you’ll cross the Missouri River just as you skirt along the base of Tower Rock.

It was in mid-July 1805 when Meriwether Lewis and three other advance-party men entered “the point where the river enters the Rocky Mountains.” After months of traveling through the high, rolling plains, they faced, as Lewis described, “this rock I called the tower.”

Standing about 425 feet above the river, the site has long been a sacred place to the Blackfeet people, and multiple tribes used it as a landmark for passing into and out of the mountains.

Tower Rock State Park is a 140-acre day-use facility that includes hiking trails and interpretive wayside exhibits that teach about geology and history of the area. The igneous rock formation is a High Potential Historic Site of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.