Quiet Trails

The Montana High Divide Trail System
Connecting Trails to Southwest Montana Communities

Spending time in the woods with family and friends is a Montana tradition. For many southwest Montana residents, the freedom to head for the hills to enjoy an afternoon hike or weekend bike ride is part of what makes living in Montana so special.

As more and more people move to Montana to enjoy the quality of life, traditional trail users have recognized a need to expand and protect quiet trail opportunities in Montana’s beautiful wild lands so there will always be room to get away from it all – whether on horse, by foot, or bicycle.

The Montana High Divide Trail System is the vision of a diverse group of southwest Montana trail users who envision a wide-ranging trail system along the Continental Divide between the Pintler Wilderness and Scapegoat Wilderness that will offer quiet trail opportunities for everyone.

• Bicyclists will enjoy hundreds of miles 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)

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 are 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)

When completed, the Continental Divide Trail will also be Montana’s longest trail, winding 820 miles through some of Montana’s finest mountain wilderness and backcountry. You can view a pdf of the High Divide Trail Agreement's recommendations for all of the High Divide Trails in Montana.

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, sent to Tom Tidwell, Regional Forester, in September 2007, forges a hopeful new vision: The Montana High Divide Trail System will add permanent protection to some of Montana’s most beautiful wildlands and offer quiet trail opportunities for everyone.

From the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, the Continental Divide Trail wraps Butte and skirts Helena before reaching north into the Scapegoat and 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.

Although much has been decided, key sections remain unfinished. Hikers, equestrians and bicyclists will work together, along with land managers, to complete unfinished sections of the Continental Divide Trail. Of 240 trail miles between the Pintlers and Scapegoat, 202 miles (84%) will be for bicycle, foot and equestrian use, with 38 miles (16%) managed for hiking and horseback travel. The cooperation of key stakeholders will help public land managers determine which sections of the Continental Divide Trail are suitable for bicycle, foot and equestrian travel.

Trails such as Thunderbolt Mountain within proposed wilderness that displace mountain bike use will be replaced by trails offering great single-track riding.

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.

The Montana High Divide Trail System will add permanent protection to some of Montana’s most beautiful wildlands. As more and more people move to Montana, High Divide Trails will give residents, new and old, the peace of mind that comes with knowing our beautiful wildlands and backcountry trail opportunities will be protected, now and for future generations.