Forget Yellowstone — Visit Montana's Lesser-Known Nature Oasis Near Billings With Mountain Trails And Wildlife

The United States is an immense country, filled with varied landscapes, and there are a wide collection of parks to enjoy if you want to spend some time in nature. Some, like Yellowstone National Park, can be rather crowded. Although it can be great fun to see the sights with other people, if you want something just as majestic, but less packed, you may want to check out Acton Recreation Area in Broadview, Montana. While the trails in Acton Recreation Area are very popular for mountain biking, this is still a lesser-known park. Yellowstone has almost 45,000 reviews on Google Maps, while Acton Recreation Area only has 126, with no reviews at all on Yelp, and not even a page on TripAdvisor. However, it's not in the middle of nowhere. In fact, this oasis of natural beauty is only around a half-hour drive from the city of Billings. 

In the 3,800-acre recreation area, run by the Bureau of Land Management, you'll find majestic sandstone bluffs, ponderosa pines, badlands, and shale, as well as some great stargazing at night. The area is inside the Hoskins Basin Archaeological District, which has the ruins of conical and cribbed aboriginal wooden dwellings that you may be able to spot. You'll find trails, a picnic shelter, and lots of wildlife. There is no fee to enter Acton Recreation Area for the day, nor is there a fee to camp. However, I spoke to the Billings Field Office for the Bureau of Land Management, and the latest information at the time of this writing is that there will be a $20 camping fee, beginning on January 10, 2027. 

While you can camp in Acton Recreation Area, there aren't a lot of sites compared to Yellowstone, which has the most campsites of any national park. Acton only has 15 campsites in total. That said, you don't need an official site to spend a night under the stars. You can set up a primitive tent campsite anywhere you want, though you won't have any amenities like restrooms or showers. 

There are trails all over the recreation area for both hiking and mountain biking. For bikes, the Red Line trail is 4.8 miles, with jumps and drops, while the Roller Coaster Trail is 4.9 miles with some climbs. For hikers and bikers alike, the multi-use Owl Be Back Trail is 3 miles with a high difficulty level and a 352-foot elevation gain, and the Underdog Trail is 4.1 miles with a 286-foot elevation gain. You can find a trail map of Acton Recreation Area here.

If wildlife-spotting is something you enjoy, you can keep your eyes peeled for muskrats, coyotes, skunks, pronghorn deer, and badgers. Birders may spot species like Swainson's hawks, American kestrels, prairie falcons, mountain bluebirds, and common nighthawks. You can find a bird checklist for the area on eBird. Make sure you keep your distance and look for signs that you've wandered into an animal's territory, though. Finally, since you're so close to Billings, Montana's largest city, it's worth checking out some of the urban amenities and sights there, as a contrast to your trip into nature.