Quiet Trails

Montana High Divide Trails
Working Together

Bison Mountain Trail Crew, Continental Divide- Helena National Forest, June 19, 2010



Highlands Cycling Club
Mile-High Back Country Horsemen
Helena Bicycle Club
Wild Divide Chapter, MWA
Last Chance Back Country Horsemen
Prickly Pear Land Trust
Helena Trail Riders
Great Divide Cycling Team
Helena Outdoor Club

Montana High Divide Trails is the vision of southwest Montana hikers, mountain bikers, horsemen/women and conservationists working together to build and protect a wide-ranging trail system along the Continental Divide between the Pintler and Scapegoat Wilderness Areas that offer quiet trails and wilderness for everyone.

  • Mountain bikers will enjoy hundreds of miles of quiet singletrack in some of Montana's most scenic mountain lands, including 202 miles of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail near Butte, Helena and Lincoln.
  • A network of "front country" foothill trails located near cities like Butte and Helena will give bicyclists, horse enthusiasts, hikers and other quiet trail users quick access to mountain trails linked to the rugged Continental Divide trail system.
  • Hundreds of miles of mountain pack trails will provide horsemen and women wide ranging opportunities to explore Montana's vast wildlands along the backbone of the Rockies.
  • Hunters and anglers and other wildlife enthusiasts will enjoy ready access to some of America's finest backcountry and wilderness - lands where grizzly bears, wolverine, mountain goats, big horn sheep, elk and lynx still roam.
  • The 820-mile trail along the backbone of the Rockies will comprise Montana's contribution to America's longest and most rugged quiet mountain trail, the 3,100 mile-long Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. (CDNST)

Along Montana's Great Divide

The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is America's longest quiet mountain trail. Designated in 1978 by Congress for hiking and horseback travel, the trail will stretch 3,100 miles along the Rocky Mountains.
The nature and purposes of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is to provide for high quality, scenic, primitive hiking and horseback-riding and non-motorized recreational experiences, and to conserve natural, historic, and cultural resources along the Continental Divide. (From "Purposes of the Continental Divide Trail, Legislative History of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail", Feb. 28, 2007)

What we are working on now

  • July 23-24: Help build a new section of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail north of Champion Pass, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
  • Aug 28: Help finish new Bison Mountain Trail, connecting to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, Helena National Forest.
  • Cliff Mountain Crest Trail: We are working with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to survey a trail linking Cottonwood Lake, Continental Divide NS Trail and Cliff Mountain across Electric Peak.
  • Work with Helena National Forest to initiate new Continental Divide Trail Project south of MacDonald Pass.
  • South Hills Trails, Helena National Forest: We are working with the Helena Ranger District to complete quiet forest trails in the South Hills and connect to city parks and open spaces.

Special thanks to our partner The Continental Divide Trail Alliance and to the U. S. Forest Service for their encouragement and support.

Stretching 3100 miles, the biggest share of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail will be 820 miles along Montana's rugged Divide. When competed the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail will be Montana's longest quiet trail; linking Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, the Badger Two Medicine, Bob Marshall, Great Bear, Scapegoat and Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Areas with wilderness study areas recommended for designation by the National Park Service, BLM and U S Forest Service.

Montana bicyclists have discovered the quiet beauty of this trail. "I consider the Continental Divide the gem of mountain biking trails in the Butte area," says Mike Borduin, president of Highlands Cycling Club. The need for a cooperative conservation plan for the Continental Divide Trail and surrounding wildlands was one reason Montana hikers, equestrians, conservationists, and bicyclists began meeting in July 2006.

The resulting agreement, delivered to Tom Tidwell, Chief of the Forest Service, in September 2007, forges a hopeful new vision for protecting America's wilderness and quiet trails. Helping the U S Forest Service and BLM complete the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is a key component of the cooperative goals of Montana High Divide Trails.

From the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail wraps Butte and skirts Helena before reaching north into the Scapegoat -Bob Marshall Wilderness Country. Approximately 240 miles of the Continental Divide Trail will link the Pintler and Scapegoat Wildernesses. Portions of the proposed trail systems are shown in the Pintler-to-Scapegoat Wilderness map and the South Hills map, which includes details around the Helena Area.

Volunteers build new trail near Helena

Key sections remain unfinished. Hikers, equestrians and bicyclists will work together, along with land managers, to complete the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Between the Pintlers and Scapegoat, 202 miles (84%) would be available for bicycle, foot and equestrian use, with 38 miles (16%) managed for hiking and horseback travel.

Trails such as Thunderbolt Mountain within recommended wilderness that displace mountain bike use will be replaced by trails offering great mountain bike riding. The new 14.5 mile bison Mountain—High Divide Trail was just completed—check out the map and take a hike/bike ride and enjoy this new addition.

This approach to resolving specific conflicts between bicyclists, hikers, equestrians and wilderness is similar to agreements in Virginia where a new bike trail will replace trails within the proposed Raccoon Branch Wilderness. More on that agreement.

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