Climbing Near Marion, Montana

Water soloing has become "popular" at Little McGregor in recent years (Rockfish, the boulder gym in Whitefish, even hosted a comp. for several years).Here is a photo album from the Flathead Beacon from 2021 to give you an idea of the wall/"routes": flatheadbeacon.com/gallerie… The wall (obvious) is directly across the lake from the parking lot. It is possible to walk around the lake, but it's easier to do the relatively short paddle board or kayak to the wall.

Sweet and Low Wall is a wall that’s 1/4-mile long, has great rock ... and is 25 ft. tall at its apex ...But, there’s good news: That 25 ft.-high section of rock has a bolted route! Behind Camp Spot 77 at the north end of the campground there is an old, blocked (bouldered) road bed; follow this obvious road straight/north for about .4-mile until you come out of the trees and into the clear cut just past a marsh. Once in the clear cut, cut right, find a deer trail, and follow a decent trail to the base of the climb.

The history: In 2018, my lovely, then-coworker, Shirley, a 60-year-old former-professional-bodybuilder-turned-therapist and Marion, Montana, resident said something to me one day at work along the lines of, “You like climbing on rocks. Out by my house there are some rocks that you could maybe climb on.” Sure, Shirley; I humored her, I wasn’t expecting much. Weeks earlier, another coworker had excitedly sent me a photo of some "rocks they’d seen" that maybe I could climb on -- the "cliffs" at Lone Pine State Park above the Hwy. 93 bypass in Kalispell, a chossy, muddy, completely unclimbable mess that thousands of people drive past every day. I appreciate the effort, obviously, but …A week later I met Shirley at her house to go on a hike to check out these rocks I could maybe climb on. "Whoa, there’s potential here!" The rock Shirley showed me certainly isn’t world class … but it’s not the Lone Pine choss "cliffs," either. Over the next three years, after many trips back and forth from Kalispell and hours of scoping, scrubbing, hammering, and bolting, "the rocks that you could maybe climb on" have become something you can climb on -- the Little McGregor Massifs! The Massifs are a neat addition to the cadre of Northwest Montana climbing areas. While these walls obviously aren’t the quality of Koocanusa’s Stone Hill nor the quantity of Point of Rocks in Stillwater State Forest west of Whitefish, it does offer a variety of fun climbing -- mostly sport, some trad., some easy, more hard -- on mostly very good rock.Enjoy!-- Jason M., 2021 The beta: The Little McGregor Massifs are a large group of (mostly shorter) crags scattered throughout the Little McGregor Lake area, about 40 minutes west of Kalispell, just north of McGregor Lake.If you're already driving west to the Kila Crags from Kalispell it's only 20 minutes further down the road (or a quick detour if you're driving US 2 east from Libby) and worth a visit.The Massifs are on ("uninhabited") private property. The owners are aware of the climbing here. Please be respectful, keep a low profile, and leave no trace so we can continue to enjoy access to these walls. Other notes: The campground/parking lot has a pit toilet. Swimming in Little McGregor is nice and there's a spot across the lake that's become popular to water solo. On Highway 2, east or west, follow the sign for the Little McGregor Lake forest service campground/fishing access (the driveway is a few hundred feet east and across the highway from McGregor Lake Lodge). Drive up the paved-then-dirt road (stay straight at the three forks) for about a half-mile and park near the pit toilet in the parking lot. Behind Camp Spot 77 there is a blocked (bouldered) logging road — follow this obvious road and then a good trail to the crags.