Montana trails · Spotted Bear River
Spotted Bear River
A 32.7-mile network in Montana, with 3,015 ft of climbing. Reaches Spotted Bear Pass and other lake/pass/waterfall destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 2,711 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Spotted Bear Pass (pass)
- Dean Falls (waterfall)
- Blue Lakes (lake)
- Shelf Lake (lake)
- Spotted Bear Lake (lake)
Getting there
BIG BILL TRAILHEAD — parking nearby. About 3 h 17 min drive (86 mi, 59 of them unpaved) from Kalispell. 47.92871, -113.38881 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 7:19 a.m., the sun rises at 7:51 a.m. and sets at 6:47 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:18 p.m. (MDT) — 10 h 56 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 32.7-mile route works out to roughly 13 h 38 min of walking — more than a single day of daylight here, so plan it as an overnight or hike it in sections.
Nearby trails
- Chair Mountain Trilobites — 11.4 mi
- Chair Mtn. Trilobites — 13.4 mi
- Garnet Peak — 22.7 mi
- Alpine 7 — 29.9 mi