A swinging bridge, turquoise water, and a 90-foot plunge in Montana’s forgotten northwest corner

It’s the river’s color that gets you

The Kootenai River runs turquoise and emerald through the far northwest corner of Montana, and then it drops.

Kootenai Falls sits in Lincoln County between Libby and Troy, where the river plunges about 90 feet in less than a mile over rock that formed 1.5 billion years ago. The trail is easy.

Parking is free. A swinging bridge hangs over the canyon downstream.

And the geology under your feet is older than almost anything you’ve ever touched.

The water crashes down in a giant stair-step

Before the river hits the main falls, it funnels through a stretch called China Rapids.

The current picks up speed, and then the water drops over layered rock in a stair-step pattern, with the tallest single drop standing about 30 feet high.

The whole sequence covers less than a mile, but the force of it is constant.

This is the largest undammed waterfall in Montana and one of the biggest in the country by flow rate. No dam, no diversion, just raw river.

The Kootenai Tribe saved this place from a dam

For the Kootenai Tribe, these falls are the center of the world, a place of deep spiritual connection that has guided their people for thousands of years.

In 1978, electric cooperatives applied to build a dam and hydroelectric plant right here. The tribe, conservation groups and the State of Montana fought that proposal for nearly a decade.

In 1987, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied the license unanimously. The river kept running.

Treat this ground with the respect it deserves when you visit.

A swinging bridge that took 80 years to get right

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the first footbridge downstream from the falls in 1937 so Forest Service crews could reach fires on the north side of the river. A flood wiped it out in 1948.

A replacement went up in the 1950s on concrete towers, and crews repaired it in 1968, 1993 and 2016. By 2018, the Forest Service decided to start fresh.

The current bridge opened in 2019, built about 15 feet upstream of the old one for roughly $500,000 to $600,000.

The trail splits and both directions pay off

You start at a large parking area right off U.S. Highway 2 that holds over 30 cars plus RVs. A pedestrian overpass takes you across active BNSF railroad tracks, and then the trail forks.

Go right, and you reach the falls overlook in about a third of a mile. Go left, and you hit the swinging bridge in about half a mile.

Walking both, and you cover roughly 1.5 miles round-trip.

The terrain stays easy, but sections near the river put you on rocks and exposed tree roots with no guardrails.

Look upstream from the bridge for the full cascade

The swinging bridge gives you a view of the falls and the river canyon that you can’t get from anywhere else. Face upstream, and you see the full cascade pouring over layered rock.

Turn downstream, and the river churns through a narrow gorge with towering cliffs and thick conifers on both sides. The bridge does sway under your feet.

On the far side, short trails run along the riverbank to more viewpoints.

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes consulted on the 2019 bridge project because of the area’s cultural significance.

These rocks still hold raindrop prints from 1.5 billion years ago

The rock under the falls belongs to the Belt Supergroup, deposited about 1.5 billion years ago when shallow seas and lakes covered much of western Montana.

Look closely at the surfaces and you can still see mud cracks, ripple marks and raindrop impressions pressed into stone before complex life even existed.

Slight folds in those ancient layers created the stair-step shape of the waterfall itself. You can spot the same folded rock in the canyon walls and in road cuts along Highway 2.

Fossilized algae sit right at the base of the bridge

Near the base of the swinging bridge, you can walk right up to fossilized stromatolites.

These mound-shaped structures formed when ancient blue-green algae grew in shallow water, layer by layer, hundreds of millions of years ago. They look like sliced cabbage, cream and dark bands stacked tight.

Stromatolites rank among the oldest types of fossils found on Earth, and most people pass them without a second look. At Kootenai Falls, they sit in plain sight along the trail.

Bighorn sheep graze the cliffs in winter

The 172-acre Kootenai Falls Wildlife Management Area stretches along three miles of the river.

Bighorn sheep, white-tailed deer and mule deer move through the area year-round, but you see them most from fall through spring when they come down to lower ground. Black bears show up in autumn.

Bald eagles live here all year, and osprey arrive with the warmer months. Moose and elk pass through now and then.

Bobcats and mountain lions are around, but you probably won’t see them.

The national forest around you is three times the size of Rhode Island

Kootenai Falls sits inside the Kootenai National Forest, which covers over 2.2 million acres across northwest Montana and northeast Idaho.

The forest takes in parts of the Whitefish Range, Purcell Mountains, Bitterroot Range, Salish Mountains and Cabinet Mountains. The Cabinet Mountains Wilderness alone holds over 93,000 acres of glacier-carved peaks.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail passes through on its way from Glacier National Park to the Pacific Ocean. More than 1,200 miles of trails run through the forest if you want to keep going.

An explorer once hugged the cliff 300 feet above this river

In the early 1800s, Canadian explorer David Thompson traveled into the Kootenai River region, using the river as his route. When he hit the falls, there was no bridge and no trail along the water.

He and his men portaged their gear on a path 300 feet above the river.

Thompson wrote that the trail was so steep and narrow that one slip meant falling to the water with no way to stop. He followed the cairns the Kootenai people had built long before he arrived.

You walk that same corridor today, just a lot more safely.

Ancient cedars and a 90-mile lake sit less than an hour away

About 29 miles south of Troy, the Ross Creek Cedar Grove Scenic Area protects 100 acres of ancient western red cedars. Some of these trees reach 8 feet across and 175 feet tall, and many have stood for over 500 years.

A paved 0.9-mile loop trail winds through the grove.

To the north, Lake Koocanusa stretches 90 miles behind Libby Dam with camping, boating and views along the Lake Koocanusa Scenic Byway.

Glacier National Park sits about 2.5 hours east, making this a natural stop on a bigger Montana trip.

No fee, no ticket, just show up and walk in

You don’t pay a cent to visit Kootenai Falls. Parking is free, and the trailhead has restrooms and a seasonal snack shop that typically runs from May through September.

Picnic tables and barbecue spots sit near the parking lot if you want to eat before or after. Dogs can come along on a leash, though the overpass stairs give some dogs trouble.

Wear sturdy shoes because the rocks near the river get slippery. Swimming near the falls is not allowed due to dangerous currents.

Hit the trails at Kootenai Falls in Montana

You can find Kootenai Falls right off U.S. Highway 2 at milepost 21, between Libby and Troy in northwest Montana.

The U.S. Forest Service manages the site through the Kootenai National Forest, and there is no admission fee at any time of year.

The round-trip walk to the falls runs about 0.8 miles, or you can extend it to 1.5 miles to see both the falls and the swinging bridge.

Seasonal restrooms, a picnic area and a concession stand operate at the trailhead during warmer months.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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