The last undammed falls on the Kootenai River and one of the largest free flowing falls in the Northwest, dropping 90 feet in under a mile below a swinging bridge, on flow released from Libby Dam.
Year round
Big water window
see the season section
Flow controlled
What drives it
Kootenai River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 12301933
USFS Kootenai
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Kootenai Falls, and when
The falls themselves are wild, as the Forest Service notes, but the river reaching them is not: Libby Dam sits 17 miles above the town of Libby and sets the Kootenai's flow by Corps of Engineers operations rather than a natural snowmelt curve. In practice the falls carries thousands of cfs in every month, with the shape of the year decided by reservoir management. Our regulated label describes the river, not the rock.
What the agency itself says
Kootenai Falls located 10 miles downstream of Libby is the last undammed falls on the Kootenai River. Located adjacent to US Highway 2, it is the most highly viewed scenic attraction on the Forest.
Gauge: USGS 12301933 Kootenai River bl Libby Dam nr Libby MT, upstream of the falls, just below Libby Dam. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
A flow-controlled falls when the schedule favors it: Shoshone Falls with the spring Snake River coming over the full brink. The dry season photograph of the same falls is the other bookend. “Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls, Idaho” by Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The falls sit beside US Highway 2 about 10 miles downstream of Libby and are, per the Forest Service, the most viewed scenic attraction on the forest, with a swinging bridge across the river for the classic view. The site is a sacred place in Kootenai tradition; visit accordingly.
A large river spread across bedrock ledges (Great Falls of the Potomac, NPS photo). Kootenai Falls works the same way at Montana scale: breadth and power rather than a single plunge. “Great Falls of the Potomac River in November, 2012” — National Park Service — Public domain
Common questions
Kootenai Falls flow season FAQ
The falls themselves are wild, as the Forest Service notes, but the river reaching them is not: Libby Dam sits 17 miles above the town of Libby and sets the Kootenai's flow by Corps of Engineers operations rather than a natural snowmelt curve. In practice the falls carries thousands of cfs in every month, with the shape of the year decided by reservoir management. Our regulated label describes the river, not the rock.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Kootenai River (Kootenai River bl Libby Dam nr Libby MT, upstream of the falls, just below Libby Dam) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
No. The Kootenai below Libby Dam is one of Montana's largest rivers, and dam operations keep substantial water moving year round; the late August reading routinely sits near 9,000 cfs. The variation you see is a management curve, not a drought cycle.
Kootenai National Forest (US Forest Service). The falls sit beside US Highway 2 about 10 miles downstream of Libby and are, per the Forest Service, the most viewed scenic attraction on the forest, with a swinging bridge across the river for the classic view. The site is a sacred place in Kootenai tradition; visit accordingly. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Kootenai National Forest (US Forest Service). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Great Falls of the Potomac River in November, 2012” — National Park Service — Public domain
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