Trails leave from the edge of town, creeks run through the city, and the Continental Divide Trail passes just east and south of Butte. Every place below was verified in November 2026 as an open or accessible outdoor destination in Butte, Montana, and its immediate surroundings in Butte-Silver Bow. Hours, seasons, grooming, and fishing restrictions change, so readers should check the linked source before they go.
Last updated: Friday, November 13, 2026
🥾 Parks & Trail Networks
- Big Butte Open Space Recreation Area: Big Butte is a roughly 300-acre open space area on the landmark hill that gave the city its name, and it offers loop trails and a climb to the letter M with panoramic views over Butte.
- Blacktail Canyon: Blacktail Canyon offers a forested loop trail east of Butte in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest that climbs to a ridge with views over the surrounding mountains. The trail system connects toward Homestake Pass and the Continental Divide Trail.
- Maud S Canyon Trails: The Maud S Canyon Trails are a close-to-town trail network on Butte's East Ridge that offers a steep loop hike and bike ride with views back over the city.
- Thompson Park: Thompson Park is a 3,500-acre municipal recreation area about nine miles south of Butte that offers more than 25 miles of non-motorized trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Its backbone trail is the historic Milwaukee Road Rail-Trail, which passes through two tunnels and over a steel trestle and connects to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
🚶 Urban Trails in Butte
- Butte, Anaconda and Pacific (BA&P) Hill Trail and the Copperway Trails: The BA&P Hill Trail follows the former Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railroad grade across the Butte Hill and forms the in-town spine of the Copperway Trails that link the city's mining landmarks on foot and by bicycle. The in-town segments are complete, but gaps remain in the longer Copperway route toward Anaconda.
- Silver Bow Creek Greenway: The Silver Bow Creek Greenway is a paved trail that follows the restored Silver Bow Creek west from the Rocker area near Butte through stations with parking, restrooms, and interpretive signs. The trail runs in three disconnected segments totaling 15 miles and is not yet continuous from Butte to Anaconda.
- Ulrich-Schotte Nature Trail (Blacktail Creek Trail): The Ulrich-Schotte Nature Trail is a paved urban trail that follows restored Blacktail Creek through wetlands and a pond in southern Butte and provides an easy walk and birdwatching route inside the city.
⛳ Golf
- Highland View Golf Course: Highland View Golf Course is Butte's municipal golf course in Stodden Park, and it offers a regulation nine-hole course built in 1939 and a separate nine-hole par-three course built in 1980. The golf season runs from April to November, and the course offers cross-country skiing in winter. Location: 3150 Utah Ave, Butte, MT.
🎣 Fishing Near Butte
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks rules for these waters require artificial lures in Silver Bow Creek and German Gulch and catch-and-release fishing for cutthroat trout, and seasonal temperature restrictions are common, so anglers must check the current Fish, Wildlife and Parks restrictions before fishing.
- Basin Creek Park Area Below Basin Creek Reservoir: Basin Creek Park is a historic park in the Basin Creek canyon about nine miles south of Butte that has served as a public picnic and recreation ground below the city's reservoir dam since the early twentieth century. The park was closed through the summer of 2026 while logging trucks used its roads for a watershed fuels-reduction project, it is under rehabilitation, and the reservoir itself is closed to the public, so visitors should confirm with Butte-Silver Bow Parks and Recreation that the park has reopened before visiting.
- Blacktail Creek: Blacktail Creek is a small westslope cutthroat trout stream that flows through southern Butte and offers year-round fishing on the reach from Montana Street upstream to Four Mile Road under catch-and-release rules for cutthroat trout. Public access is through city parks, street crossings, and the Ulrich-Schotte Nature Trail corridor rather than through a single named Fishing Access Site.
- German Gulch Creek: German Gulch Creek is a cold-water tributary of Silver Bow Creek west of Butte that is managed for westslope cutthroat trout and is open to fishing with artificial lures only. It is a regulated fishing water rather than a formal Fishing Access Site, access is limited and partly private, and anglers should use the Greenway corridor and obey posted signs.
- Silver Bow Creek: Silver Bow Creek is the restored headwater stream of the Clark Fork River that flows west from Butte and now supports a wild trout fishery that anglers reach from Greenway trail stations and bridges. It is a recovering catch-and-release cutthroat fishery, and anglers reach legal public access from the Greenway stations at Whiskey Gulch, Rocker, and Silver Bow.
🏔️ Continental Divide Trail Access
- Continental Divide Trail — Pipestone Pass and Homestake Pass Trailheads: The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail passes immediately east and south of Butte, and hikers reach it most directly from signed trailheads at Pipestone Pass on Montana Highway 2 and at Homestake Pass on Interstate 90. The segment between the two passes is the classic close-to-Butte section of the trail.
❄️ Winter Recreation
- Butte Community Ice Center: The Butte Community Ice Center is an indoor regulation ice rink in Butte that hosts youth and junior hockey, figure skating, and public skating sessions. Public skating days differ between listings, so readers should check the current public skate schedule before going. Location: 1700 Wall St, Butte, MT.
- Homestake Lodge Cross-Country Ski Center (Homestake Pass Area): Homestake Lodge is a cross-country ski center beneath the Continental Divide near Homestake Pass that grooms about 35 kilometers of trails for classic and skate skiing and offers a lighted loop, rentals, and lessons. Because seasons vary, readers should check the lodge's current trail conditions before going.
- Moulton Reservoir Cross-Country Ski Area: The Moulton Reservoir ski area north of Butte offers about 14 kilometers of volunteer-groomed classic cross-country ski trails through lodgepole forest in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Snowshoers are welcome on the skate lane.
- Thompson Park Winter Trails: In winter the Milwaukee Road Rail-Trail and other trails in Thompson Park are groomed or tracked for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and fat-tire biking through the forest south of Butte.
- U.S. High Altitude Speed Skating Center: The U.S. High Altitude Speed Skating Center is an outdoor 400-meter speed skating oval in Butte that was built as an Olympic training facility and opens to the public for seasonal skating when ice is available. Public sessions are seasonal, so readers should confirm current hours before going.