About Natural Bridge Falls
Natural Bridge Falls on the Boulder River was probably the most impressive of the natural bridge features that we’ve seen so far.
Indeed, we’ve seen several natural bridge formations and features before.
However, as you can see in the photo above, in this instance, the river would appear, then disappear, then re-emerge towards the bottom of a precipitous cliff after dropping about 100ft or so.
Then, the Boulder River would put on another disappearing act further downstream as it would flow through more tunnels.
It was hard to believe that there was even another natural bridge spanning the “dry” part of the Boulder River before it collapsed back in 1988.
In fact, it was said that this place got its name as a result of the existence of that bridge!
This was also one of the more family friendly excursions so we got to fully experience this place in such a way that our six-year-old daughter was all into it.
Natural Bridge Falls Experience
Our visit happened to occur at a time when the Boulder River was in its typical low Summer flow.
I’ve seen signage here with photographs showing the Boulder River in a more swollen state, where the overflow of the river would rush over the normally dry parts of the watercourse.
Then, it would plunge over the lip of the cliff and rejoin the rest of the Boulder River that was emerging from the bottom of the cliff.
It would essentially be a much larger version of what we saw at Running Eagle Falls in Glacier National Park, where a waterfall would fall on top of a waterfall!
Yet even without that surely awesome display of raw power and unusual natural beauty, this place was still quite a beautiful spot and well worth the detour.
Overall, we spent a good 90 minutes away from the car to fully experience this place, which we’ll get into below.
This was plenty of time for a visit since we really took our time here.
We probably explored as much as we could of this special place with the exception of making the steep scramble down to the bottom of the canyon and waterfall.
Natural Bridge Falls Trail Description – the hike to the frontal overlook
Our walk began from a well-signed and fairly spacious (and busy) parking lot (see directions below).
Shortly after following a paved path that went by a restroom facility, then encountered a fork.
To the left, the paved path continued towards a series of lookouts and looked to be wheelchair accessible.
To the right, the paved path descended towards a bridge spanning the Boulder River.
We first started off by going right.
Beyond the river, there was a more primitive trail that followed the Boulder River downstream.
It eventually ending up at the overlook yielding the view you see pictured at the top of this page.
That hike was about a quarter-mile beyond the footbridge (or a half-mile round trip), and it involved a short descent along the way.
We noticed some people actually hiking beyond the overlook, and apparently there was a steep scrambling path that descended a gully and ultimately reached the bottom.
That was where one would be more face-to-face with the Natural Bridge Falls and the Boulder River itself.
There were also some berries along the trail to the distant-but-frontal overlook (including huckleberries).
So that got Julie and Tahia to spend even more time looking for them and picking them.
It was also a reminder that this was grizzly country as they tend to fatten up on such berries while preparing for the long winter.
Natural Bridge Falls Trail Description – enjoying the interpretive overlooks
Back on the more developed paths to the left of the fork, there were initially interpretive lookouts with signage explaining how this area was once under the sea.
There were also social trails that descended from the overlooks and onto the dry portions of the riverbed.
From these informal scrambles, it was possible to peer right at some upper waterfalls before the Boulder River disappeared into the tunnel underfoot.
By the way, standing here was inherently dangerous as the tunnel could collapse without warning at any time.
Further along the paved path, there were yet more overlooks examining the Natural Bridge Falls.
Then, there were a couple more viewpoints overlooking the deep canyon below as well as the disappearance of the Boulder River again further downstream.
It turned out that all this infrastructure on this side of the Boulder River was probably done in order to get a closer look at that natural bridge that had since collapsed in 1988.
I suspected that the bridge was near where the Boulder River started to disappear at the head of the tunnel as I had seen evidence of large rock pieces strewn about there.
Authorities
Natural Bridge Falls resides in the Custer Gallatin National Forest near Big Timber in Sweet Grass County, Montana. It is administered by the USDA Forest Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
Natural Bridge Falls was a bit of a ways southwest of the town of Big Timber.
Since we were based in Bozeman, we’ll describe the driving directions from there, even though we recognize that there were many closer towns.
From Bozeman, we’d take the I-90 going east for about 60 miles to the exit 367 for US 191 towards Big Timber and Harlowton.
Once we got off the off-ramp, we’d then turn left onto the US191 and veer right to continue on the highway (which was actually a surface road called the I-90 Frontage Rd).
Next, we’d follow this road into the town of Big Timber before turning right onto McLeod St (about a mile after getting onto Frontage Rd).
Then, we followed the low-speed-limit surface street through town before curving beneath the I-90 then continuing on for the next 25 miles or so.
The road became Route 298 and passing through the town of McLeod en route, but it eventually reached the Natural Bridge Falls parking lot on the left.
This drive took us a little over 90 minutes covering about 87 miles.
Finally, for some geographic context, Bozeman was about 44 miles (about an hour drive) north of Big Sky, 89 miles (under 2 hours drive) north of West Yellowstone, 26 miles (30 minutes drive) west of Livingston, 78 miles (under 90 minutes drive) northwest of Gardiner, 98 miles (over 90 minutes drive) southeast of Helena, 203 miles (about 3 hours drive) east of Missoula, and 324 miles (over 5 hours drive) southeast of Whitefish.
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Back and forth sweep revealing the falls through a natural tunnel, people swimming in the plunge pool, and people around the base of the falls
Sweep showing the front of the upper drop disappearing into an underground river
Profile view looking down at the waterfall spilling out of Natural Bridge, then walked towards most distant overlook
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