Frenchtown Pond State Park — Attraction in Montana

Frenchtown Pond State Park is a family friendly park just off the interstate west of Missoula, featuring a playground, nature trail, group picnic shelters, and a pond with a small beach, swimming area, and fishing dock.

Accessibility info and site description: There are two parking lots at Frenchtown Pond. On the parking area to the left, there is a van accessible parking space in front of an entrance sign. A sidewalk leads to a reservable covered picnic shelter with 6 picnic tables and a large barbecue. There are two more picnic tables with small grills in the well-maintained lawn, as well as a large accessible restroom building. On the far left side of the parking area is an entrance to the nature trail. This gravel trail appears to be mostly flat, goes around the pond next to the interstate, and wraps around to the other side of the park. The trail is 1.3 miles total, and has several backless benches.

In the parking lot to the right is a playground. There's a van accessible parking space and benches around the play area. There is a roughly 6 inch tall barrier surrounding the playground, however, there is a small ramp on one side (see photos). At the center of this parking lot is another van accessible spot, entrance sign, and accessible bathroom building. Follow the sidewalk 200 feet down toward the dock. There are several areas where the sidewalk is uneven, with 3-5 inch gaps between the height of the concrete. There is a shower on the sidewalk with a sign about swimmers itch, and two picnic tables on concrete to the right. Heading down toward the dock, there is a small beach area. There is a step down from the grass onto the beach nearest to the dock, and a more gradual transition from the grass to the beach farther from the dock. The last area of interest is on the far right side of the parking lot, where there is another disabled parking space and reservable covered picnic shelter with about 15 picnic tables and a large barbecue. There is access to the nature trail from this side as well.

Frenchtown Pond is a great community space, and reminded me of the parks I grew up visiting in the suburbs of Chicago. Note that this park is right next to the interstate, so it can get quite loud. I did not walk around the nature trail, so I am not sure how well the path is maintained. I could see three or four backless benches along the trail, and the ones that are visible from Google maps appear to be .3 miles apart. If you swim here, be mindful of swimmers itch and remember to quickly rinse off afterward. Lastly, don’t forget to leave your fur friends at home, as there are no dogs allowed here...

Nice family oriented fishing, swimming, boating (kayak, raft, SUP) pond. Big enough to be a decent workout in my kayak doing laps. Fun to stop at a downer tree and catch some largemouth bass or find that deep spot where the rainbow trout are lurking.

Plenty of parking, multiple rest rooms, a small park for the kids to play, a dock for swimming around and jumping off of. This has been a go-to for years.

Folks do need to pick up after themselves, too many leave garbage behind. The staff working the grounds does an amazing job managing it all. That's no excuse for those of you leaving your trash all over the place. Handle it!

Sometimes I wish it was open beyond 9A-9P, but it works out well and the fishing can be pretty good once the pond is stocked and/or fishing pressure goes down. This also means it's a good place to go after some early AM river fishing to wind down, have a picnic, plan a BBQ and reserve a spot or a host a small gathering. Frenchtown Pond has really cleaned up and improved this past decade, and we're happy to keep coming back to it!

Frenchtown Pond is also a great place to practice fishing strategy. I've been personally working on my kayak fishing, easier to adjust and make changes here than on the rivers or bigger lakes. Between my paddling form, fishing tactics, kids having fun, and overall enjoying these beautiful sunny Montana days, we're pretty content having this state park just 20 minutes...

This is one very odd park indeed. As it's name implies, it is a pond, surrounded by a parking lot, toilet, picnic tables, and a toll booth to enter. There are no trees, no majestic peaks nor interesting valleys, just the deafening roar of traffic zooming down I-90 less than 100 feet away.

Vehicles with Montana license plates enter at no charge; out of staters pay an entry fee of $10.

Even as a person with Montana plates who gets in without charge, I still feel cheated. If you aren't attending an organized picnic event, you can skip this park and spend time at a more enjoyable venue, say the parking lot at the gas station convenience store 2 minutes away: it has...