Outdoor Big Sky

Big Sky Highlights

With Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park in Big Sky's back yard, there's no shortage of fishing, paddling, hiking, and camping spots.
Find Buffalo Horn Creek meeting the Gallatin River about 12 miles south of Big Sky. A 6.5-mile trail that's open to horses along the creek leads through wildflower meadows and wooded hills to Ramshorn Lake. Corrals, feed bunks, and hitching posts at the lake make it a favored backcountry campsite for stock parties.
Seeking more action and bigger fish, many serious anglers avoid the upper stretches of the Gallatin River, north of the Yellowstone National Park boundary. Though it's easy to wade in the upper Gallatin, prime fly-fishing begins where the West Fork enters at Big Sky, increasing the flow and cooling the main river.
Spanish Creek Road accesses the mountainous Lee Metcalf Wilderness from the Gallatin Valley north of Big Sky. From the horse-friendly Spanish Creek Campground at the end of the road, follow Trail 407 for ten miles to reach the scenic spatter of alpine ponds known as Spanish Lakes.
The Big Sky Ski area, located south of Bozeman, boasts 3,500 skiable acres and averages 400 inches of snowfall annually. Its vertical rise is 4,180'feet, and its longest run is 6.4 miles. The Gallatin National Forest also contains more than 80 miles of cross-country ski trails and 650 miles of marked snowmobile trails.

By Travel Expert: Brian Kevin

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