Find the top rated birding trails in Bozeman, whether you're looking for an easy short birding trail or a long birding trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a birding trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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I parked downtown on main street, then rode to both ends of the paved trails and got 20 miles. That would include a few blocks of riding on residential streets, but impossible to get lost as it is a small town. Trails are flat and smooth. Three Forks has a couple of historic hotels and several restaurants.
Trails are really for walkers, a mountain bike would work. The highway is low traffic, so I just biked the the park on the paved shoulder.
Love this ride..over 20 miles of paved trail through marshlands, streams, rivers ending at Headwaters state park. Lots of birds, moose, deer. All under the Big Sky!!
This trail is not well marked (if at all). The visitor center in Three Forks couldn’t give us definitive directions for connecting to the trail from downtown. We located it ourselves.
If you’d like to start the trail in downtown Three Forks, you’ll find the path located on 4th Avenue East and Oak Street behind the school. The path starts behind the field track and playground and will run adjacent to the golf course. The trail in town is a mixed bag. Sometimes it is narrow with tree roots growing onto the path.
The nicest part of the trail runs 4 miles north of town into Missouri Headwaters State Park. You can then cycle further on the lightly-traveled road to a picnic area and historical display before working your way back into town. The section we rode on was all paved. It is an easy ride and one I would recommend if you happen to be in Three Forks.
I rode this trail yesterday and was really impressed. For a small community, they have a great trail system. Beautiful views, lots of clean air. I rode in from the east and the trail ends up at the High School track, kinda awkward. The ride to Drouillard Boat Launch was great, as was the ride around the lakes near the golf course.
Rode through the state park and into Three Forks. It's a combination of paved, gravel, and dirt trails. Not too demanding but some areas can be tough for an inexperienced rider. There's no problem with pushing a bike when you need to! Several historical markers in the park made the ride interesting. The trail to Three Forks was paved. Nice scenery. Heard the traffic but didn't have to deal with it. Wish I had time to explore the town. Maybe on the next trip.
Beautiful ride, follows highway but not ON highway; the trail winds through a city garden between 3-Forks and State Park. We went N to boat launch, past day-use area on Trident highway as the (?a) trail continues through SP but it is not paved.
We rode this recently, we did an out and back from the Headwaters State Park to the ponds in Three Forks, its an easy ride, flat and paved but fun for even the littlest ones including those riding pedal-less Skuut bikes (too far to do the whole length for my 2.5 year old but we were towing a Chariot as well) doesn't seem very crowded as we only saw a few other bikers on a Sunday afternoon in August. The views of the surrounding mountains and of the valley are very nice however the trail does run very close to I90 so you will hear it much of the time. If you plan on starting or finishing in the Headwaters State Park be careful, I cannot recommend the first/last mile of the trail (ending at the state campground) for kids or anyone not on a mountain bike or not good at technical riding. That first/last mile is not paved and is very loose deep sand and gravel, an accident waiting to happen. On our return segment I got on the road right where the trail turns to sand and left the family there to catch butterflies while I road the mile to get the car, there is one good safe parking spot to load bikes and passengers just off the road where the trail turns to sand.
The Gallagator Trail is the keystone trail in Bozeman's Main Street to the Mountains trail system. Over the last 30 years, Bozeman's trail system has grown to over 60 miles of paved and gravel trails as well as some single-track. For detailed maps of the trail system please visit: http://gvlt.org/trails_maps.html
For the next two years, there will be no dry-season access to the Story Mill Spur Trail - connecting the south end of Wallace Ave. to Story Mill Rd. at the Stockyard Café. The MT Department of Transportation will be rebuilding the I-90 overpass across both the trail and Rouse Ave. One lane will be rebuilt this year and the other lane will be rebuilt next year. Both years, the trail will be closed from April 5th to November 5th. Bicyclists and pedestrians can use L Street as an alternative route, but the increased volume of vehicles doing the same thing to avoid construction on Rouse may compromise the safety of this alternative.
Note that in spite of the closure you can still use most of this trail north of the interstate. Coming from the north, just cut west into the parking lot right before the construction. From the parking lot take Gold to Rouse, but not that Rouse is dreadful for bikes/pedestrians.
Note that the Story Mill Spur trail is more of a key connection than a destination in itself - though the bridge over the East Gallatin River is quite nice. This trail connects Downtown with trails along Bridger Creek, and at the East Gallatin Recreation Area and Cherry River Fishing Access.
Accidentally discovered this Trail late on 27 April 09 while in Bozeman.
Parked on dirt off N Wallace Ave. at N45.69027 W111.02755 A Historical Plaque is nearby on the side of the trail before it curves under I-90 into a straight dirt path with room for my 36 inch wide Tri-Cruiser. It soon joins along side Story Mill Road and becomes wider with packed gravel surface. Then winds through a residential area to end near the Golf course. Noel J Keller
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