Cliff Lake in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana

Cliff Lake in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana

Under the famously Big Sky of Montana lie some of the biggest, and most remarkably scenic, state parks and national forests in the nation. And while you may not be familiar with Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, it’s Montana’s largest, totaling over three million acres in the southwest of the state, not far from the Wyoming border and Yellowstone National Park. There’s splendor aplenty here, including dozens of pristine lakes and rivers in the shadow of towering mountain ranges. History was made in the area, as well: Lewis and Clark first spied the headwaters of the Columbia River from their viewpoint atop the forest’s Lemhi Pass on the Continental Divide.