Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area straddles the Montana-Wyoming border, where the Bighorn River has carved a deep canyon through the landscape. The construction of Yellowtail Dam in the 1960s created Bighorn Lake, which stretches roughly 60 miles through the canyon and is the centerpiece of the recreation area.
The park is split into two sections with no road connecting them. The north district is accessed from Fort Smith, Montana, and sits within the Crow Indian Reservation. The south district is reached from Lovell, Wyoming. By boat is the only way to travel directly between the two.
Bighorn Canyon is one of those national park sites that most people have never heard of, which is exactly its appeal. The canyon walls rise over a thousand feet above the lake, the fishing on the Bighorn River below the dam is considered world-class for trout, and you can spend a whole day without seeing another person. A herd of wild horses roams the south end of the park, one of only a few such herds on public land in the country. If you are driving in from Lovell, keep your eyes on the hillsides.