HELENA — Just up from the Head Lane Trail Head in Scratch Gravel Hills a new trail has gone in as part of a larger project to improve recreation experiences.
On Wednesday MTN caught up with some avid hikers that had already tested out the new trail. Ramona Stuehl is one of those hikers.
“Oh it is the most exciting to explore new terrain, the Scratch Gravels is a wonderful area to hike and we thoroughly enjoy all the work they have done for this new trail," Stuehl says
The Bureau of Land Management’s Butte Field office finalized its Scratch Gravel Hills Recreation Area management plan in 2022. The 5,500-acre planning area near Helena is a popular local recreation destination.
Construction of the trail system will be completed in phases, as partnerships become available. The Montana Bicycle Guild is one of those partners.
Eric Sivers, the president of Montana Bicycle Guild says, "The plan calls for 35 miles of new trail construction to give us a more thoughtful trail system out here than the old arrangement of old moto trails, old jeep trails and mining roads and things like that. This is the first step of a mile and a half of 35 of new construction.”
The trail starts above Head Lane Trail Head and can be used as a loop around the ridge or to connect to Echo Lane Trail Head.
The new trail is a multi-use trail for all non-motorized users.
Its construction also avoids natural resources and archaeological resources.
“It accesses a new part of the landscape here that there has not been trail access to before, so it is connecting a new part of the scratch gravels and providing a new connection from one popular trailhead to another," Sivers says. "It is also not a very steep trail, it is a low-angle trail and we do not have enough of that in Helena.”
The trail will not have a name until the Bureau of Land Management has designated and approved a name.
