Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest

Helena-Lewis and Clark is a big, two-part Montana forest -- close to three million acres split between a scatter of 'island' mountain ranges across central and north-central Montana and the wild, wall-like Rocky Mountain Front to the north. It protects a major east-side chunk of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (the fabled 'Bob'), the Missouri River canyon that the Lewis and Clark expedition named the Gates of the Mountains, and some of the most storied grizzly country in the lower 48. Bonus: the Little Belt Mountains here are the only known source of the rare, cornflower-blue Yogo sapphire.

The place

Helena-Lewis and Clark sprawls across central and north-central Montana in two very different halves. Much of it is a scatter of separate 'island' mountain ranges -- the Big Belts, Little Belts, Elkhorns, Castles, Crazies, Highwoods and Snowies -- rising out of ranchland and old gold country, with the state capital of Helena set among them. Farther north it climbs the Rocky Mountain Front, that dramatic line where the Great Plains run straight into the mountains, and reaches into the vast Bob Marshall Wilderness. It's big, varied high country: limestone canyons, blue-ribbon trout rivers, alpine meadows, and some of the wildest backcountry left in the continental US.

History

The forest carries two of the biggest names in Montana's story. The 'Lewis and Clark' half honors the 1804-1806 Corps of Discovery, which traveled this country on the Missouri River -- in 1805 the expedition named a towering limestone canyon here the 'Gates of the Mountains,' because the cliffs seemed to swing open like doors as the boats approached. The 'Helena' half takes the name of Montana's capital, a city born in an 1864 gold strike at a creek the miners called Last Chance Gulch -- still the name of the city's main street. The Helena and Lewis and Clark national forests were managed separately for most of the last century and were brought together under a single name in the mid-2010s. This is old mining country, and prospectors' diggings and ghost-town ruins still dot the hills.

Wildlife & plants

This is serious big-game and big-predator country. Elk are the signature animal -- the Elkhorn Mountains are managed specifically for one of Montana's premier herds -- along with mule deer, whitetail, moose, mountain goats on the high rock, and bighorn sheep. The Rocky Mountain Front is renowned grizzly bear habitat, one of the few places where grizzlies still range out onto the open foothills and prairie edge as they did before the West was fenced; black bears, gray wolves, mountain lions, and the elusive wolverine also live here, though grizzly and wolverine keep mostly to the Front and the wilderness rather than the drier island ranges. Overhead you might spot a bald or golden eagle, and the headwater streams hold native westslope cutthroat trout.

Notable features

The Continental Divide runs across the forest, which protects a major east-side share of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex -- the legendary 'Bob' -- including the Scapegoat Wilderness and the east-side approaches to the Chinese Wall, a miles-long limestone escarpment along the Divide. The Gates of the Mountains Wilderness guards the Missouri River canyon that the expedition named, and you can still ride a tour boat through it. Signature ranges include the Big Belt, Little Belt, Elkhorn, Castle, Crazy, Highwood and Snowy Mountains, plus the Rocky Mountain Front. The Kings Hill Scenic Byway climbs over the Little Belts, and the Missouri River threads the whole region.

Cool to know

• The Little Belt Mountains, around Yogo Gulch, are the only known source of the Yogo sapphire -- a rare, cornflower-blue Montana gem prized because it stays brilliant under artificial light. (The gem-bearing ground is mostly private mining claims, not a public dig site.)
• In 1805 the Lewis and Clark expedition named the 'Gates of the Mountains' when the Missouri's limestone cliffs looked like they were swinging open to let the boats through -- you can ride a tour boat through the very same canyon today.
• The Rocky Mountain Front here is one of the last places in the lower 48 where grizzly bears still range out toward the open prairie, the way they did across the West before it was fenced.
• 'The Bob' -- the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex whose east side this forest shares -- covers more than a million and a half acres of roadless country, ranking among the wildest places left in the continental United States.
• The Elkhorn Mountains are managed as a special wildlife unit, known for one of Montana's premier elk herds.
• Montana's capital, Helena, grew out of an 1864 gold strike on a creek the miners called Last Chance Gulch -- and that's still the name of the street running through downtown.