safe outdoors

Photo by Rob Chaney/ MT 55

A panoramic image of the Rattlesnake Wilderness shows Murphy Peak and the Grant Creek Basin to the right, with the Jocko Valley visible in the upper left. Stay outdoors, stay distanced, stay safe: Take a hike

Missoulian Staff

Montana 55

Daily, it seems, we’re b ombarded with advice on how to avoid contracting the coronavirus.

Mostly, it’s of the “wear masks, wash your hands” variety — necessary, but not much fun. Better is when the experts tell us we’re safer outside, and 6 feet away from the next person.

Fortunately, the wealth of hiking trails surrounding Missoula offers plenty of opportunities to do just that. Here’s a reminder of a very few.

For many, many more, with detailed information on routes, regulations and elevation gain, see the Missoulian’s Explore: Hike, Bike, Run publication, either online or drop by the lobby for a copy. Or visit the Missoula Parks and Recreation website for information on its maps, which detail city Open Space and other local recreation areas, including hiking and biking trails on Mount Jumbo, Mount Sentinel and the North Hills. The maps are available for $4 at Currents Aquatics Center, or various retailers around town.

We’ve also included a couple of hikes that are farther afield because, if you’re like us, you’re hankering to get out of town, even if only for a day.

Montana Snowbowl

Wait, what? It’s summer. But as the Missoulian’s Rob Chaney

Erin Boggs and Joe Dixie hike with their dog Kenai up the Barmeyer Loop Trail on Mount Dean Stone.

points out, nobody has to fight for a parking space to enter the Rattlesnake Wilderness’ backdoor.

While the main trailhead off of Missoula’s Rattlesnake Drive can swarm with cars, the entry behind Point Six above Montana Snowbowl Ski Area barely warrants a skinny signpost. And that’s even though a chairlift ride eases the first 2,000 vertical feet of elevation gain, after a car ride has absorbed 2,000 more from the Missoula Valley floor. Once off the Summit Lift, you’ve still got the equivalent of Mount Jumbo to climb before reaching the wilderness boundary.

From there you can see Jumbo and neighboring Mount Sentinel looking like knobs above the University of Montana campus. Directly below, a few bright green patches indicate the small ponds that form the headwaters of Grant Creek, dependent on a huge but barren basin on the Rattlesnake Wilderness’ western edge.

A small sign denotes the start of a ridge-walk to Murphy Peak, elevation 8,167 feet. The trail drops off a switchback just

before the top of the Point Six access road, but it disintegrates into talus slope after a few hundred yards, leaving the traveler to scramble across the spine of the wilderness boundary ridge.

“It’s a lot of space allowing a person to explore and feel they’re really remote,” said backcountry photographer Brian Christianson, who’s frequently used this backdoor route into the Rattlesnake’s inner lake swarm. “It’s got peaks, a ton of lakes, small creeks, jumbled ridges — there’s a lot of space allowing a person to explore and feel they are remote. People can connect with something beyond their lives in the city. And the fact that it’s in our backyard is icing on the cake.”

And speaking of the Rattlesnake …

Rattlesnake Wilderness Area: Spring Gulch/Stuart Peak Trail

Sure, some days it seems like half of Missoula is in the Rattlesnake. But don’t be discouraged by the packed trailhead parking lot (and the cars along the road leading to it). There’s such a wealth of trails throughout its 60,000 acres that it’s easy to feel as though you’ve got the whole place to yourself, whether you’re looking for an hour’s walk, or an overnight backpack into the higher country. Plus, in the summer months, it’s wonderfully shady, with enough of an elevation gain to provide a noticeable and welcome drop in temperature.

Barmeyer Trail

The lower, wide portion of the trail was created with an eye toward hikers walking abreast of one another, and sharing the space with bikers, according to Missoula Conservation Lands Manager Morgan Valliant. The trail narrows as it gains elevation and use is more dispersed. The trail grade also reflects use, with the pedestrian and biker portion around 10% to 12% on average, with gentle, wide switchback turns. The leg of the trail that is pedestrian-only has steeper grades of 18% to 20% on average, with tighter switchbacks to make it unrideable for most bikers.

Be warned: The trailhead parking lot is tiny, and illegally parked cars will be towed.

The M Trail and the L Trail

See ‘em, bag ‘em, and pat yourself on the back for some decent cardio.

Jewel Basin Hiking Area

Got creaky knees? Billings Gazette Outdoors writer Brett French recommends this hike in the Swan Mountains about 15 miles northeast of Bigfork. He took his daughter there when she was just 3, on a hike tailor-made for tiny legs — just over a mile long and minimal elevation gain. “The beauty of this 15,000- acre hiking-only area, which includes several other lakes to hike in to,” he wrote, “ is that you gain most of the elevation driving up to the trailhead. Go as far or as little as you want, the views are great no matter what.”

Lost Creek State Park

Also for the creaky-knee set, French recommends this 502-acre park about 11 miles northwest of Anaconda. It’s only a half-mile walk from the parking area to the overlook for the 50-foot high Lost Creek Falls. “If that route doesn’t sate your hiking bug, follow the creek upstream for as far as you want as it wanders through the trees and across meadows below thousand-foot cliffs that rise to the north,” he writes. “The cliffs are home to mountain goats, bighorn sheep and large raptors like golden eagles. Camping is available in the park if you want to hang out for a couple of days.”

The Sawmill Gulch trail in Missoula’s Rattlesnake Valley is one of the most used local trails and caters to a variety of non-motorized use. mt55mag.com