Browning Area Duck Lake Lower St. Mary Swift Reservoir |
Duck Lake
Duck Lake is located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation near Glacier National Park. The Blackfeet Reservation runs south from the Canadian border along the Rocky Mountain Front, covering some 1.5 million acres. Dave Parsons, a professional outfitter and member of the Blackfeet Tribe, says it contains about 1,500 miles of rivers and about 20 lakes with fish in them. Duck Lake is the largest, at 1,850 acres. The world renown Duck Lake which is famous for its 'Monster Rainbow Trout'. It is known for the size of its fish; eight pounds on average. Occasionally, anglers take a 15-pound brown or rainbow here, and on a typical good day it's not unusual to hook a 10- or 12-pounder. What makes this place especially out of the ordinary is that this is not just catch-and-release. This lake is catch-and-keep, if you choose to keep the fish. Click here for more photos.
Lower St. Mary
St. Mary Lake is on the east side of Glacier National Park along The Going-to-the-Sun Road. This lake is 10 miles long but not as wide as McDonald Lake. You'll want to stop at the turnouts at the end of the lake for a view of 100-foot Virginia Falls across the valley. From the Virginia Falls Turnout or Sun Point you can take some short hikes. One is a fork that leads to Sunrift Gorge where a steep, paved path leads to an overlook with windswept pines and views of Baring Creek cascading over slickrock. Another trail continues around to the end of St. Mary Lake and leads to St. Mary and Virginia Falls. There is an excellent view of St. Mary Lake as the trail rounds the lower end of the lake over a bluff. It then takes you to St. Mary Falls and then over a bridge at the base of Virginia Falls. Click here for more photos.
Swift Reservoir
The Swift Reservoir can be found on the Fish Lake USGS quad topo map. Swift Reservoir is a reservoir in Pondera County in the state of Montana. The latitude and longitude coordinates for this reservoir are 48.1636, -112.8723 and the altitude is 4875 feet (1486 meters). Click here for more information.
