Beaver Chief Falls
Montana · height not recorded · Glacier National Park · Last verified 2026-05-15
Beaver Chief Falls is at 502 cfs of flow today, on the upper end of typical conditions. The park has an active closure alert: "Going-to-the-Sun Road Seasonal Closure."
Expect dry conditions today — don't drive out for this one. Flow is at 506 cfs (bottom 0% of the last 30 days, vs. 696 cfs average). The 7-day NOAA forecast shows no significant rain.
Right now
Streamflow
502 cfs
M F Flathead River · 1h ago
Overnight
23°F
Mostly Cloudy
Sunday
29°F
Partly Sunny
Today's daylight
Sunrise 8:09 AM · Sunset 6:28 PM · 10h 19m
Other park alerts
- Going-to-the-Sun Road Seasonal Closure(Park Closure)
Snapshot built 16m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS MSO.
Beaver Chief Falls is a waterfall in Flathead County, Montana. Height has not been officially recorded. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Beaver Chief Falls sits in Flathead County, Montana. The falls are inside Glacier National Park, a US National Park. The base sits at roughly 5,815 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 18 minutes from West Glacier. A trail — Gunsight Pass Trail — runs within 690 meters of the marked location. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Beaver Chief Falls is a waterfall located in Glacier National Park, Montana, US. The falls emerge at the top of a hanging valley just beyond the outflow for Lake Ellen Wilson and descend in a series of braided drops a distance of nearly 1,300 feet (400 m), the tallest of which is recorded as being a straight drop of 517 ft (158 m). Below the hanging valley lies Lincoln Lake, where the cascades end. Somewhat inaccessible, the falls require a nearly 20-mile (32 km) round-trip hike to visit.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 12358500 · 13.1 mi away
M F Flathead River near West Glacier MT
— Distant gauge — proxy reading, not on the same drainage.
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 353 cfs · 143% of last year — significantly wetter
When to go (from the climate data, not our opinion)
Monthly averages from Open-Meteo's reanalysis dataset (2020–2024). Highlighted months are when we think the waterfall is at its best — but the numbers are the numbers regardless.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip (in) | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 25 | 14 | 4.1 | 22.4 |
| Feb | 25 | 11 | 4.5 | 21.6 |
| Mar | 34 | 17 | 3.3 | 19.2 |
| Apr | 41 | 23 | 2.8 | 15.8 |
| May | 52 | 32 | 4.1 | 10 |
| Jun | 62 | 41 | 4.1 | 2.6 |
| Jul | 74 | 51 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
| Aug | 72 | 50 | 2.4 | 0.2 |
| Sep | 63 | 43 | 2.6 | 2 |
| Oct | 47 | 30 | 4 | 11 |
| Nov | 31 | 18 | 5.6 | 19.8 |
| Dec | 26 | 15 | 4.6 | 22.6 |
Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API · ERA5 reanalysis 2020–2024.
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver Chief Falls (this page) | — | — | — | N | — |
| Feather Woman Falls | 1 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Beaver Medicine Falls | 2 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Akaiyan Falls | 2 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Monument Falls | 4 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Siksika Falls | 4 mi | — | — | N | — |
Questions visitors ask about Beaver Chief Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
Is Beaver Chief Falls in a national or state park?
Yes — Beaver Chief Falls is inside Glacier National Park. See the park page for fees, hours, and current conditions.
Can I bring my dog to Beaver Chief Falls?
No — dogs are not allowed on trails here. Most National Park trails prohibit pets to protect wildlife. Service animals are an exception per ADA.
How far is Beaver Chief Falls from a major city?
Beaver Chief Falls is 12 miles from West Glacier (about 18 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Montana
Where it is
48.5939, -113.7644
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_Chief_Falls
Wikidata (Q85746203)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q85746203
GeoNames (5639117)
https://www.geonames.org/5639117/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
Been there?
Marina and Theo verify pages one road trip at a time. If you've been to Beaver Chief Falls recently, your local knowledge improves the page for everyone. Pick the kind of contribution that fits — every email lands in our inbox and gets read (and credited when we publish).
Add a tip
Something we should know — best time, parking trick, that hidden viewpoint.
Share a photo
Have a CC-licensed image on Wikimedia or Flickr? Send the link.
Report a fix
Wrong height, closed trail, broken link — tell us what we got wrong.
We don't collect your email. Replies go directly to hello@fallspots.com.