Western Montana

In my hometown of Bozeman, Montana, skiing is king. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; we have a world-class resort just 45 miles down the road at Big Sky, as well as the local favorite, yet still impressive Bridger Bowl ski area. But lost in all the downhill excitement is the soothing experience of cross-country skiing. I’ve found that many residents are surprised to find that the city of Bozeman operates several cross-country trails within the city limits.

I realize it’s June now and probably hard to think about skiing, but it did snow here in town earlier today! Not a ski-able amount, of course, but I was able to ski as recently as a month ago. Of course, in early May you practically have to ski as it is snowing, since it melts so quickly the moment the sun comes out. But still, I’m pretty die-hard. The city does maintain a groomed trail at the top of Pete’s Hill (a skiing hill near the intersection of Church and Main); this trail is my favorite in the winter when the trail is actually groomed. But otherwise, the city’s many bike and walking trails double as ski trails when covered in snow - just don’t expect them to be groomed! One such trail goes right by my house and winds its way through several small parks, parallels a stream (you can spot ducks here even mid-winter!), and terminates at Lindley Park at the trail’s northernmost end. On this snowy May day, I found I had the entire trail to myself, which is never a bad thing when cross-country skiing.

Well, I shouldn’t say I had the trail to myself entirely - the ducks were out and about today! You see, the local university (Montana State University) operates a heated pond where the ducks can hang out year-round. These ducks often wander around town and find themselves at the stream by my trail. Naturally I felt compelled to feed them bits of bread, so I did. Then onwards I went.

The trail crosses Church Street further up the trail. This generally entails skiing across the street in the winter since the pavement is often snowpacked. But no such luck in May - got to remove your skis and walk across. There’s little traffic on Church so crossing is rarely a problem for me personally. By this point, I had maybe a quarter-mile to the northern terminus at Lindley Park.

In order to ski this trail yourself, I’d suggest starting at Lindley Park, located along Main Street between Church and Highland. Lindley Park has parking and the trail is easy to find from there. Follow the trail down as far as you wish; you can make it all the way to Kagy at its southern end if you like, giving the trail a length of about two and a half miles from one end to the other. There are various spurs and deviations, as well as maps posted along the route. Getting lost isn’t a problem and it’s very fun! Five months from now we’ll be in the heart of ski season once again, and I know what I’ll be doing.