Montana Water Park Faces Demolition: A Popular Landmark Gone

Growing up as a child in the 80s and 90s was great. It was far different than what life is like for a kid today. In the summertime, kids were basically booted out of the house each day and only expected to be home before the street lights came on. We spent all of our time outside in the summer. Whether it was building forts, riding bikes, or simply running through the sprinkler. Occasionally we would get the opportunity to go to the local pool or even a splash pad. But, every once in a while, our parents would load us up for a wet and wild adventure to the waterpark.

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Growing up in Billings, we had a small waterpark in the Heights neighborhood. It was just a small water slide that took about three seconds to ride and 10 minutes to hike back up to the top. When we really wanted to ride a legitimate waterslide, we had to drive an hour west to Big Timber, Montana.

The Big Timber Waterslide was Montana's only waterpark for a long time. It featured 2 spiral slides that were 4 stories high over 300 feet long. These were called the Hurricane and Typhoon.

One of my favorite slides was the one known as "OLD FACE-FULL." This slide required a foam mat to ride and took you through dark underground tunnels. But, not before getting gallons of water in your face before entering the tunnels.

Unfortunately, the park I remembered growing up sadly grew into disrepair and closed years ago. Since then all that stands are the memories of summers past at Montana's first waterpark.

A group of drone pilots recently visited the old water park. They asked its current owners for permission to fly their drones around the park. After securing authorization the owners informed them that the last remaining parts of the water park were to be torn down completely later this week.

Photographers Brandy and Royal Mackenzie recently snapped some photos of the old waterpark as it is today.