Trail Review

Bangtail Divide Trail

Fourteen Helena Bicycle Club members and invited guests had a terrific mountain bike ride on the Bangtail Divide on June 16th. The Bangtails are a low mountain range just east of Bridger Bowl, situated between the Bridger and Crazy Mountains. A trail specifically for biking was completed in 2003 connecting the Stone Creek and Brackett Creek trailheads.

Seven of us from Helena met up with seven riders from Bozeman. Our 15th rider, Jim from Great Falls, had to bow out with a last-minute illness after helping with the car shuttle. Not to rub salt in your wound, Jim, but you missed a great ride--hope you're feeling better!

After the 1-mile "warm-up" ride up the Stone Creek road, we began the ascent up the 20+ switchbacks from the Stone Creek trailhead. We've been told that the entire ride has over 50 switchbacks but all are rideable. After lunch on top of the divide, the pace picked up as we traversed the Bangtail Divide for about ten miles. A brief rain shower hit us as we made the final, fast descent to Brackett Creek, but a little rain actually felt good after five hours of riding (25 miles and about 3400 total vertical feet). Monique from Bozeman topped off a perfect ride by providing cold PBRs at the finish!

Submitted by Mark Reinsel

Trail Map

In 2004, the Prickly Pear Land Trust Produced a trail map of the South Hills of Helena, showing the trail network on City of Helena parklands and the Helena National Forest. They have been in the process of updating this map and anticipate the release of the new map in late February. It should be exciting to see all the new trails that have been added. The map should sell for about $7 and will be sold our store.

Falcon Press and Will Harmon along with few other local riders put together this easy to read, very informative trail guide to Helena, Montana. It covers 40 trails in Helena and the surrounding areas. All trail maps are graded on technical

ifficulty and aerobic level. It also covers distance, time, hazards and highlights with a pedal by pedal description of what to expect. This is definably Helena's best and most popular trail book. It sells for $10.95 and can be purchased at Big Sky Cyclery. If you want to see some of the best single track in the country you'll need to come to Helena, if you don't want to get lost you'll need Will Harmon's Mountain Biking Helena.