Great Bear Wilderness

The Great Bear Wilderness extends roughly 36 miles and is about 34 miles across at its widest point, with elevations from 4,000 feet on the Middle Fork to 8,700 feet on Great Northern Mountain. It forms a critical ecological link with Glacier National Park, just across U.S. Highway 2 to the north, completing the habitat protection for the most significant grizzly bear range in the lower 48 states. The Middle Fork Flathead River rises here and runs as a Wild and Scenic River through the area for about 50 miles, raging below cliff faces and over boulder-strewn rapids in what some refer to as Montana's wildest waterway. The Wilderness contains approximately 310 miles of system trails. The Great Bear encompasses the traditional lands of the Salish (Selis), Kootenai (Ktunaxa), Pend d'Oreille (Qlispe), and Blackfeet (Niitsitapi) peoples. Visitors today travel along routes, enjoy the land and water's bounty, and camp at sites used since time immemorial by these traditional land and river stewards. Traditional use and connections endure, with tribal members hunting and gathering here and through river stewardship work by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe. This Wilderness lies on the western side of the Continental Divide entirely within the Flathead National Forest (Hungry Horse and Spotted Bear Ranger Districts) and forms the northern portion of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, which with the Scapegoat and the Bob Marshall makes up more than 1.5 million acres — the third largest such area in the lower 48 — laced by over 1,700 miles of trail. Grizzly bears, lynx, wolverine, deer, elk, gray wolf, moose, black bear, mountain lion, mountain goat, and mountain sheep roam the rugged ridge tops, alpine meadows, thickly forested river bottoms, and open grass parks. Schafer Meadows, within the Great Bear, holds the only open airstrip in the complex. It is a primary access point for the Schafer area and the Middle Fork, pre-dates the Wilderness designation, and was specified as an inclusion.