Montana's Lee Metcalf Wilderness offers 300 miles of trails

AVERY STENGELE University of Montana Honors College

An unusual federally designated wilderness, the Lee Metcalf Wilderness has four distinct units spread across the Madison Range and Spanish Peaks in Southwest Montana. Trails span 300 miles of the total 259,000 acres. Twenty-eight trailheads provide entrance to alpine and canyon hikes, camping, kayaking, hunting, fishing and whitewater rapids. The Forest Service manages the Monument Mountain, Spanish Peaks, and Taylor Hilgard Units throughout the Gallatin and Beaverhead-Deerlodge national forests. Bear Trap Canyon, the smallest unit, is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Numerous access points reach into this wild country from both the Madison and Gallatin valleys.

Lee Metcalf, Montana’s first native-born senator, spent decades c