Painted Rocks State Park occupies the south end of Painted Rocks Reservoir in Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains, where colorful lichens brighten dark granite and rhyolite cliffs above the West Fork Valley. Long before the park existed, the valley was important to the Bitterroot Salish people. The reservoir was created in 1939 by damming the West Fork of the Bitterroot River, and the state park was established in 1963 for public recreation. Known for boating, hiking, fishing, camping, and wildlife viewing, the area also stands out for exceptionally dark night skies, abundant wildlife, migratory waterfowl, and the reintroduced bighorn sheep and peregrine falcons.