McDonald Peak is located in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 and is the highest peak in the Mission Mountains

Mission Mountains

The Mission Mountains or Mission Range are a range of the Rocky Mountains located in northwestern Montana in the United States. They lie chiefly in Lake County and Missoula County and are south and east of Flathead Lake and west of the Swan Range...

. McDonald Peak is situated within the Flathead Indian Reservation

Flathead Indian Reservation

The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes - also known as theConfederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation...

. The peak has the second greatest topographic prominence

Topographic prominence

In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...

 (after Crazy Peak

Crazy Peak

Crazy Peak is the highest peak in the Crazy Mountains, an isolated range of the Montana Rockies, in the United States. Crazy Peak dominates the surroundings, rising over 7,000 feet above the Yellowstone River Valley, and is the highest peak in Montana north of the Beartooth Mountains, which are 50...

) of all summits within Montana and is almost 80 miles (128.7 km) away from the next highest mountain in the state. McDonald Glacier

McDonald Glacier

McDonald Glacier is located in the U.S. state of Montana. The glacier is situated in the Mission Mountains at an elevation of above sea level and is immediately north of McDonald Peak. The glacier covers approximately and is located in a cirque below McDonald Peak....

is on the north slope of the peak.

During the summer the summit and surrounding area are inhabited by grizzly bears for the purpose of feeding on insects. Consequently, in the interests of conservation and safety, the area is closed to hikers between July 15 and September 30.