Ptarmigan Falls
Montana · height not recorded · Glacier National Park · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Ptarmigan Falls is light today (25 cfs) — visit for the geology, not the volume. 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 25.4 cfs (bottom 0% of the last 30 days, vs. 38.2 cfs average). The 7-day NOAA forecast shows no significant rain.
Right now
Streamflow
24.6 cfs
Swiftcurrent Creek at Many · 38m ago
Overnight
22°F
Mostly Cloudy
Sunday
33°F
Mostly Cloudy
Today's daylight
Sunrise 8:09 AM · Sunset 6:27 PM · 10h 18m
Other park alerts
- Going-to-the-Sun Road Seasonal Closure(Park Closure)
Snapshot built 9m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS TFX.
Ptarmigan Falls is a waterfall in Glacier 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.
Ptarmigan Falls sits in Glacier County, Montana. It drops along Ptarmigan Creek. The falls are inside Glacier National Park, a US National Park. The base sits at roughly 5,740 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 18 minutes from Babb. A trail — Ptarmigan Trail — runs within 10 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.
Ptarmigan Falls is a waterfall located in Glacier National Park, Montana, US. Ptarmigan Falls has a series of cascades and at least one drop of over 30 feet (9.1 m) as it descends downstream along Ptarmigan Creek. The falls can only be seen by hiking west on the Ptarmigan Trail from Swiftcurrent Auto Camp Historic District in the Many Glacier region of the park.
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 05014500 · 3 mi away
Swiftcurrent Creek at Many Glacier MT
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 24.9 cfs · 102% of last year — similar
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ptarmigan Falls (this page) | — | — | — | N | — |
| Redrock Falls | 2 mi | 25 ft | easy · 3.6 mi | N | $35 |
| Swiftcurrent Falls | 3 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Apikuni Falls | 3 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Hidden Falls | 4 mi | — | — | N | — |
| Grinnell Falls | 4 mi | — | — | N | — |
Questions visitors ask about Ptarmigan Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
Is Ptarmigan Falls in a national or state park?
Yes — Ptarmigan Falls is inside Glacier National Park. See the park page for fees, hours, and current conditions.
Can I bring my dog to Ptarmigan 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 Ptarmigan Falls from a major city?
Ptarmigan Falls is 13 miles from Babb (about 18 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Montana
Where it is
48.8216, -113.7117
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptarmigan_Falls
Wikidata (Q85794904)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q85794904
GeoNames (5672660)
https://www.geonames.org/5672660/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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