Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1357477
GIANT SPRINGS The centerpiece of Heritage State Park is Giant Springs, the world's largest freshwater spring, bringing 14 million gallons of water per hour to the surface from an aquifer 75 miles away in the Little Belt Mountains. With nearly 150,000 visits each summer, Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls draws the most visitors of all Montana's state parks. Described by Meriwether Lewis as the "beautiful fountain" when the explorers first saw it in 1805. The area is a popular picnic destination. The state also maintains a trout hatchery at the park open to the public. In the long and short of it, Great Falls is a city of rivers. The history-laden Missouri, the Sun, and the Roe, all come together here. The Missouri, at 2,341 miles long, is only nine miles shorter than America's longest river, the Mississippi. The Roe River, running just 200 feet from Giant Springs into the Missouri, on the north edge of Great Falls has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's shortest river. The Sun River flows out of the Rocky Mountain Front to empty into the Missouri at Broadwater Bay near downtown Great Falls. Website: stateparks.mt.gov/giant-springs GLACIER NATIONAL PARK Known as the "Crown of the Continent," Glacier National Park preserves more than a million acres of forests, alpine meadows, lakes, rugged peaks, and glacial-carved valleys in the northern Rocky Mountains. Its diverse habitats are home to nearly 70 species of mammals including the grizzly bear, wolverine, gray wolf, and lynx. Glacier National Park is a hiker's paradise traversed by more than 740 miles of maintained trails, while historic chalets and lodges provide visitors with in-park comforts at a handful locations. The trek from Great Falls is spectacular from the start. Travel northwest on US Highway 89 along the Rocky Mountain Front, and you get a taste of what the northern Rockies have to offer. When you enter Browning, it's time to make a decision of where in Glacier you want to experience. Highway 89 heads north toward St. Mary and Many Glacier, as well as the easiest entrance into Alberta's Waterton National Park. Highway 2 traverses the southernmost boundary of Glacier through the towns of East Glacier and West Glacier. For the best of both worlds, travel the Going-to-the-Sun Road from St. Mary to West Glacier to breathe in the true splendor of the park. Websites: nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/index.htm and glacierraftco.com YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Yellowstone was the nation's first National Park, established in 1872. Sitting atop a giant caldera, a bulge in the crust of the earth, thinned by millennia of heat and pressure from within, the park features hotpots, springs, geysers, thermal meadows, and other worldly phenomena. With 60 percent of the world's geysers, Yellowstone has a lot to offer. The most popular geyser is Old Faithful spouting between 3,700 and 8,400 gallons of boiling water every 90 minutes as high as 185 feet. Four of every five visitors stop at Old Faithful. To learn about the geological history of the area and Yellowstone's super volcano, a visit to the Canyon Visitor Education Center is a must. Opened in 2006, the visitor center 78 Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce www.greatfallschamber.org Outdoor Beauty is All Around Great Falls