Sypes is clear... Again.

Sypes is grippy and completely ridable right now.

Two minor issues:

1. The first creek crossing is HUGE right now. I tried to blow through it and ended up in the middle halfway up to my knees in FREEZING cold water. It is beyond cold.

2. There was a small rock slide in the rocky area (who would have guessed). It's small and easy to get over.

Memorial Day

Mother nature "spared" us for the holiday. Instead of a rain/snow mix, it warmed all the way up to 46ºF with extreme wind!!! *sigh*

I threw on my winter clothes and rode out to the Triple Tree trail. I'm not sure what to make of the "Bicycles not advised" sign, but with only one vehicle in the parking lot I braved it. If you drive to this trail in the next two weeks, park up on Wintergreen road. The recent moisture has turned the lower section into a flooded mess of highly organic mud. Having your shoes dip into mung on each pedal stroke makes you feel extreme, but it's bad for the trail and bad for your bike.

When the trail begins to climb it gets better and sticky aside from wet roots. Stay right and ride to the bench. Even though the trail continues past the bench, turn around and go back down the trail you came up. I made the mistake of going down the other side. Slop city.

View from the top:

(Edit: I apologize for the crap phone cam pics)

Three Trail Updates, May 20th.

Grassy Mountain: I parked at the Brackett Creek trailhead and rode up the trail. There's a few small patches of snow just big enough to keep you from riding up them, so you'll have to walk about a half-dozen times. About a mile up you'll hit a 60-foot long pile of snow that's a bit tricky to walk over but it's clear after, so don't despair. The trail is clear and dry up to the first high clearing where you can see the Crazy Mountains, about 3 miles up. From there it's about 100 yards of thick snow (about 3ft), and it appears to continue as the trail climbs. Maybe after today's rain some of that will be eroded away. The ride down is just as much fun as it's always been, and all snow patches are ridable except the big patch.

Stone Creek: After Grassy, I drove up to the Stone Creek trailhead, intending to ride that trail as well. I talked to a guy who just finished riding and he told me that it was mostly clear for about 5 or so miles. The trail was slightly tacky. Just about perfect.

South Cottonwood: This trail looked promising- dry and fast, until halfway between the first and second bridges. The low-lying areas along the creek have far too much snow right now, making it irritating to get off, walk, get on, ride 100 ft, get off, walk... Give this trail another couple weeks.

-DNA

Sypes...

Being the naive fool that I am: I rode from campus, up the M trail, and up the Bridger Foothills trail. Against my better judgment I continued on the Foothills trail. Unless you LOVE carrying your bike for the better part of 30 minutes up STEEP, loose switchbacks, avoid this trail like gas station burritos.

When I finally arrived at the top of Sypes, the conditions were awesome. A few small areas of snow were easily walked through. 4-5 muddy spots happened in random places, but the trail was sticky, smooth, and FAST.



One of the few snow spots:



After descending Sypes, I rode back to town just in time to get RAPED by the incoming storm front. I hope mother nature goes easy on us.

Indian Ridge Trail, May 18th

Thanks to Ben for alerting me to the fact that the Indian Ridge trail is Closed to mountain bikes. I apologize for the misleading information.

Here's a link to the current iteration of the travel plan. It's a bit cumbersome (being a large .pdf) but fairly clearly tells what trails are legally ridable and which ones are not.
-DNA

Fairy Lake (Bridger Foothills Trail?)

In my opinion, this is the best riding available right now. I LOVE long sustained climbs, so keep that in mind when I say "I like this trail".

Go up the "M" main trail then take a left at the sign pointing to Fairy Lake. I made it all the way to a north facing slope before I was confronted with snow (I turned around there).

I would say getting to the snow is like climbing to the "M" twice but on nice smooth, switchbacky, singletrack with MUCH fewer people than the M trail. The descent is FAST and grippy.





Turn around point:

Sourdough

I went running on BozemanCreek/Sourdough last night. It is mostly dry. With a few patches of snow/ice. I wouldn't necessarily call it 'ridable' as you will do damage to the softer sections. But it was clear for at least a couple miles.

C

Helena Ridge Trail, May 12th

Yesterday C-Note, Wiley, Suzanne, and I made the trek up to Helena to ride some trails NOT covered with a foot of snow. Aside from one big patch of snow the entire trail was dry and in great shape. Even the perpetually muddy spot soon after the start of the downhill was dry.
If you're sick of riding Pipestone, pack the car up for the drive to Helena park right in town, have a great ride, and get reward yourself with a Blackfoot IPA and a burger at Miller's Crossing. It's worth it.

I'll get some pics up here later.

-DNA

May 8th - A Hint of Fail

Olsen Creek road:











Just for giggles, I rode over to the Bangtail Divide trailhead. Give it a month (or more).

A small trail update...

I was feeling frisky last night and took the mountain bike for a spin around the local stuff here in Bozeman.

The Gallagator trail is mud free, but pedestrian and canine rich. They don't take kindly to anything moving over 7 mph, so slow it down when you approach others. I was almost run off of the trail by a 5 year old on a BMX bike as well, so announce your intentions clearly

Pete's Hill and Chris Boyd trail is roughly the same. The single track the "follows" the wide main trail is a better bet. Less people, but more dogs not on a leashes.

Painted Hills was fun and dry but carved into the soil pretty deep. I kept hitting my pedals on the ground if I stayed in the main "rut". The further south you go, the more mud you encounter when you cross the creek.

Continuing south after getting off of painted hills (after jumping the fence), I got lost. After aimlessly wondering around on game trails for 20 minutes, I figured I had better find a road. It was mostly dry while I was "Vietnaming".

Triple Tree trail was dry until you enter the aspens (not very far). I didn't go past that for fear of drowning in mud and $100 bills. Give this trail a while.

Bozeman Creek trail was dry with muddy patches for 200 yards. After that, snow is intermittent with mud surrounding the edges. About 350 yards from the gate the snow begins and doesn't have and end in sight.

Lewis and Clark Caverns is completely dry and by far the best riding available right now. Do yourself a favour and go the clockwise route. The downhill back to your car is KILLER. Make sure you're in shape though. The climb up to the visitors center is not easy. 950+ vertical feet in 1.5 miles... It can be loose at times as well.

Pipestone was a slopfest a few weeks ago with glare ice covered in running water on some sketchy downhill sections. This might be cleared up by now, but it doesn't discount the motorheads tearing the trail to pieces. Most of the trails we rode were doubletrack wide enough to fit a compact car on. If you hear a motor coming your way, just get off of the trail. Those guys are going 30-40+ around sharp corners and blind hills. It's a wonder how there aren't more head-on collisions out there.

I also have reports that the "M" is dry. I might try that today if I don't feel like spending my life savings on gas getting to the Caverns.