🥾 ActiveLong weekend · from Bozeman, MT
Pintler Country — Georgetown Lake, Philipsburg & the Anaconda Smoke Stack
West of the Continental Divide, in the high country around the historic mining towns of Anaconda and Philipsburg, lies one of Montana's most rewarding and least-crowded weekend regions — the Anaconda-Pintler country. Two and a half hours west of Bozeman, this three-day escape loops the famous Pintler Scenic Route through alpine lakes, sapphire mines, and copper-boom history beneath the jagged Pintler and Flint Creek ranges. Day one climbs to Georgetown Lake, a sparkling high-mountain reservoir ringed by peaks, and drives the Pintler Scenic Route with its overlooks and trailheads. Day two is spent in Philipsburg — a beautifully restored Victorian mining town — digging for genuine sapphires at its gem mines and hiking the trails around the Discovery ski area. Day three explores Anaconda's astonishing 585-foot Smoke Stack, the tallest free-standing masonry structure in the world, and the granite crags and cirque lakes of Lost Creek State Park before the drive home. Copper barons, blue-ribbon lakes, and quiet alpine trails give this loop a character all its own.
Day 1 — Georgetown Lake & the Pintler Scenic RouteDay 2 — Philipsburg sapphire mines & the Discovery trailsDay 3 — Anaconda Smoke Stack & Lost Creek State Park
Day 1 — Georgetown Lake, MT
Day 1 — Georgetown Lake, MT
🚗 2 hr 55 min driving📍 4 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Bozeman, MT → Georgetown Lake, MT
2 hr 30 min8:00 AM → 10:30 AM
Georgetown Lake
★ 4.7Georgetown Lake sits at nearly 6,400 feet in a high basin between the Flint Creek and Anaconda ranges, a sparkling three-mile reservoir ringed by evergreen slopes and snow-streaked peaks that is beloved across western Montana for its fishing, paddling, and mountain scenery. Rainbow trout and kokanee salmon draw anglers, while the many public access points make it easy to launch a canoe or kayak onto the clear water with the Pintlers as a backdrop. Take an easy morning shoreline walk or paddle to shake off the drive and orient yourself to the region. At this altitude the water stays cold and the weather can turn quickly, so keep a layer handy even on bright summer mornings.
10:30 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Georgetown Lake Lodge Restaurant
★ 4.3A classic Montana lakeside lodge overlooking Georgetown Lake, this is the natural lunch stop before the afternoon drive, serving hearty burgers, fish, and comfort food with big windows onto the water and peaks. It is popular with anglers and boaters, giving it a relaxed, sun-warmed mountain atmosphere. If you would rather stay outside, the lake has numerous picnic sites along the Pintler Scenic Route where you can spread a packed lunch with the range in full view.
11:30 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
Pintler Scenic Route & Range Overlooks
The Pintler Scenic Route (Montana Highway 1) is one of the state's designated scenic byways, curling from Georgetown Lake past forested ridges, historic mining sites, and stunning views of the jagged Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness peaks on its way toward Philipsburg. Drive it slowly, stopping at the pullouts and short trailheads that give access to overlooks of the high country and the glacier-carved cirques of the Pintlers. Roadside interpretive signs recount the region's copper- and silver-mining past. It is an ideal afternoon of easy exploration — a walk to a viewpoint here, a photo stop there — that delivers the grandeur of the range without a strenuous climb, setting up the historic town base for the night.
12:30 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Georgetown Lake, MT → Philipsburg, MT
25 min5:00 PM → 5:25 PM
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The Broadway Hotel, Philipsburg
Philipsburg is a jewel of a restored Victorian mining town, its brightly painted 1890s main street lined with a historic hotel, a famous candy store, and a craft brewery. The Broadway Hotel, a lovingly restored boutique inn on the main street, puts you in the heart of it, within a short walk of dinner and the morning's sapphire mines. Booking here immerses you in the town's frontier atmosphere for the night. If it is full, Georgetown Lake's cabins and lodges are twenty-five minutes back up the scenic route, and Anaconda offers additional options a half-hour east.
Day 2 — Philipsburg, MT
Day 2 — Philipsburg, MT
🚗 50 min driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
Philipsburg Sapphire Mining
★ 4.6Philipsburg sits atop some of the richest sapphire gravels in North America, and its main-street gem shops let visitors buy a bucket of concentrate from the nearby Gem Mountain deposits and wash it at wooden sluice troughs to hunt for genuine Montana sapphires. It is a hands-on, family-friendly morning: swirl the gravel, pick out the glassy blue, green, and pink stones, and have your best finds identified and even cut on the spot. The town's mining heritage is everywhere around you as you work, and the thrill of turning up a real gemstone from the mountain gravels is hard to beat. Plan a couple of unhurried hours — it is genuinely absorbing.
8:00 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Philipsburg Brewing Company & Main Street
★ 4.8Philipsburg's historic main street is packed with places to eat, from the acclaimed Philipsburg Brewing Company — pouring its beers out of a restored 1888 building — to cafes and a legendary old-fashioned candy store next door. Grab a hearty lunch and a local brew before the afternoon's hike, and browse the Victorian storefronts while you are at it. The compact, walkable downtown makes this an easy and characterful midday break with real frontier atmosphere. If the weather is fine, take a sandwich up toward the Discovery area and picnic with the mountains around you.
9:00 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Philipsburg, MT → Discovery Ski Area, MT
25 min12:00 PM → 12:25 PM
Discovery Ski Area Summer Trails
★ 4.7In the warm months, the slopes and access roads around the Discovery ski area above Georgetown Lake open into fine hiking terrain, with trails climbing through subalpine forest to high ridges and views over the Flint Creek and Anaconda ranges. Well-graded routes and old ski-mountain roads let you choose your effort, from a gentle forest walk to a steady climb toward the summit for a broad panorama of Pintler country. The high elevation keeps the air cool and the wildflowers late into summer, and you will likely have the mountain nearly to yourself. Carry water, watch the weather for afternoon storms building over the peaks, and be bear-aware — this is grizzly and black-bear country.
12:25 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Discovery Ski Area, MT → Philipsburg, MT
25 min5:00 PM → 5:25 PM
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Philipsburg, MT lodging (The Broadway Hotel or Anaconda inns)
Spend a second night immersed in Philipsburg's Victorian main street, with dinner at the brewery or one of the town's restaurants and an evening stroll past the restored storefronts. Staying put avoids repacking and keeps tomorrow's drive toward Anaconda short and simple. Alternatively, shift your base tonight to Anaconda, a half-hour east, which offers additional hotels and puts you at the doorstep of the Smoke Stack and Lost Creek State Park for the final day.
Day 3 — Anaconda & Lost Creek State Park, MT
Day 3 — Anaconda & Lost Creek State Park, MT
🚗 3 hr 45 min driving📍 3 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Philipsburg, MT → Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park
40 min8:00 AM → 8:40 AM
Anaconda Smoke Stack State Park
★ 4.2Rising 585 feet above the hills east of Anaconda, the Washoe Smelter Stack is the tallest free-standing masonry structure in the world — a brick chimney so vast that the Washington Monument could fit inside it with room to spare. Built in 1918 to vent the copper smelter that made Anaconda a company town for Marcus Daly's mining empire, it is now the centerpiece of a state park viewed from an interpretive overlook, since the contaminated smelter grounds themselves remain closed. Interpretive panels tell the story of the copper boom that helped electrify America and of the town it created. It is a genuinely staggering monument to the industrial history of Montana, and a striking way to open the final day.
8:40 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch9:40 AM
Anaconda Historic Downtown Cafe
Anaconda's historic downtown, laid out along broad avenues beneath the Smoke Stack, retains grand copper-era architecture and a handful of good local eateries and cafes. Stop for a hearty lunch — pasties, the region's iconic miner's hand-pie, are a fitting local specialty — before the afternoon at Lost Creek. The town's frontier-industrial atmosphere and the towering stack on the horizon make for an evocative meal stop. If you would rather eat outdoors, pick up provisions here and carry them to the picnic areas at Lost Creek State Park.
2 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Anaconda, MT → Lost Creek State Park
20 min12:00 PM → 12:20 PM
Lost Creek State Park — Falls & Granite Crags
★ 4.7Lost Creek State Park hides in a narrow canyon just north of Anaconda, where towering gray granite and limestone cliffs rise 1,200 feet above the creek and a road threads to the base of Lost Creek Falls, a graceful cascade tumbling over the rock. Short trails lead to the falls and along the canyon floor, where mountain goats and bighorn sheep are frequently spotted on the crags above — bring binoculars and scan the ledges. It is a quiet, dramatic, and easy-to-reach finale to the loop, with big rock scenery and wildlife for modest effort. Enjoy the falls and the canyon walk before beginning the drive back toward Bozeman, keeping an eye on the light as it slants across the crags.
12:20 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Lost Creek State Park, MT → Bozeman, MT
2 hr 45 min5:00 PM → 7:45 PM
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