On Monday we printed a column arguing that mountain bikes could pose a novel problem for safeguarding the habitat of grizzlies within the Larger Yellowstone Ecosystem, “Griz Knowledgeable Says Mountain Bikes Are a Risk To Montana’s Bears.” David Tucker, a volunteer with the Southwest Montana Mountain Bike Affiliation, gave us permission to print this essay as a type of rebuttal. – Ed.
Two hours south of Bozeman, alongside the Idaho-Montana border, practically 50 miles of pristine singletrack unfold out throughout the excessive alpine of the Henrys Lake Mountains. From Targhee Cross, at an elevation of over 10,000 toes, the Gallatins, Taylor-Hilgards, Spanish Peaks, and Tetons thrust upward towards an azure sky. October daylight displays off Hebgen Lake as wind rips throughout its floor, whitecaps seen even at this distance. The timber groans below the load of the gusts, a reminder that winter’s on its manner.
Montanans are lucky to have locations just like the Lionhead that elicit such adventurous urges to discover by bike.
That is the Lionhead, the delight of Montana’s mountain bikers and a spot not like some other within the state. My buddy Ryan and I are resting atop the move after driving up from the Targhee Creek trailhead. We parked simply off Hwy. 20 between West Yellowstone and Island Park, and now, from our elevated vantage level, we are able to see for miles in all instructions, a welcome reward after a grueling climb.
On this specific fall weekend, simply earlier than the onset of the overall rifle season, we’ve but to move one other particular person, and there was nobody on the trailhead. The one firm we have now is a set of bear tracks within the dust, a lone bruin certainly fattening up for the winter forward.
As we take a second’s pause, a mountain-goat household reveals itself on a distant knob, detached to and unaware of our struggles to experience of their alpine again yard. For them, the trouble is not more than a stroll within the park; for us, it’s exertion at our limits.
We’re right here to sneak in a single final high-alpine experience earlier than the climate adjustments, which it could actually do shortly within the mountains of Montana. We’ve chosen the Lionhead for its remoteness and lack of crowds, but in addition for its chic singletrack and all it means to Montana mountain bikers.
For a lot of, the Lionhead represents all the pieces that large-scale, distant, backcountry biking can supply: solitude, wilderness, problem, reward. That is made sweeter by the truth that mountain bikers make investments personally within the stewardship of this place, making its upkeep their privilege and its preservation their responsibility. “The Lionhead issues due to the surroundings and the driving,” says the Southwest Montana Mountain Bike Affiliation’s (SWMMBA) path supervisor Adam Oliver, “nevertheless it issues most as a result of we deal with it. Right here’s this place we love… that’s the essential factor.” When reflecting on his connection to the Lionhead and the paths right here, Oliver recollects driving previous the Henrys Lake Mountains a number of years in the past. “I believed, ‘I ponder if I might rise up there.’ The Lionhead is simply a kind of spots.” Montanans are lucky to have locations just like the Lionhead that elicit such adventurous urges to discover by bike.
Snacking on jerky and sweets, leaning right into a stiff wind, it’s simple to see what he means, though it’s troublesome to place the sentiment into phrases. “Distinctive” is just too easy a time period to seize a spot, particularly a spot like this. Trying north towards the core of the snow-capped Madison Vary, we see in its shadow a high-elevation plateau, uninterrupted for miles. No path crosses right here; few folks have plied the inside of this huge expanse. To the west is Lionhead Mountain, towering over the saddle on which we sit. To the east is Hebgen Lake, and within the distance, West Yellowstone; past that, Yellowstone Nationwide Park. To the south, there’s nothing however timber till the large uplift of the Teton Vary. A fast-moving squall has left the excessive peaks lined in snow.
The climb up to now is grueling, however hardly unattainable. The primary few miles of the Targhee Creek path meander alongside its namesake waterway at a leisurely incline, dipping out and in of the timber every so often to traverse sage-covered meadows. The tread is flawless and the one time we’re off our bikes is after we pause to the cliff-clinging antics of a mountain-goat clan. To achieve the drainage’s basin, we churn up challenging-but-cleanable switchbacks, cresting a ridge earlier than linking up with the Continental Divide Path (CDT).
Journey west, and we’d hyperlink up with the Mile Creek path, a part of the CDT and a masterpiece from the late, nice trail-builder Terry Johnson. Journey east, and we’d have a number of choices, just like the Sheep Creek epic, Watkins Creek, or Targhee Cross, a.ok.a. the Lionhead. We’re camped close to Targhee Cross so we take that choice, understanding we’ll be again to experience the others.
Volunteers assist with path upkeep alongside the Continental Divide Path.
Different in-state driving facilities like Helena or Whitefish would possibly get extra nationwide press, however for a close-knit contingent of native riders, the Lionhead is the most effective of the most effective, and it’s lower than two hours from Bozeman. The path high quality rivals any, and the surroundings takes the cake. That’s why volunteers like Corey Biggers and Adam Oliver spend their summers right here, organizing others to hitch in on the trouble. They take away a whole bunch of timber from miles and miles of the CDT, connecting nearly all the expanse from Yellowstone Nationwide Park to Monida close to Interstate 15.
“With out these of us, a number of trails wouldn’t open,” says Forest Service Area four trails staffer Jarrod Hansen. In line with Hansen, the Forest Service depends on mountain-bike volunteers. “Our [trail] tasks are knowledgeable by Corey. He’s the primary man opening trails. [Corey and the other volunteers] perceive the wants. They’re nice companions.” Whereas different teams such because the Montana Conservation Corps contribute, Hansen reiterates the dedication of Biggers and different mountain-bike volunteers. “It’s superb what they do for us.”
The advantages to the Lionhead and CDT path entry have been so pronounced that the Forest Service lately offered Biggers with an award for his service. This present of gratitude was much more significant as a result of it was offered to Biggers and Clark Kinney, a Gallatin Valley Backcountry Horseman. Backcountry horsemen and mountain bikers aren’t at all times the closest of mates, however in a spot as singular because the Lionhead, shared ardour has result in collaboration as an alternative of friction, and created mates as an alternative of foes. The outcomes converse for themselves.
In a letter addressing a separate trail-clearing effort, the Horsemen thank Biggers and the Montana Mountain Bike Alliance for his or her “willingness to staff up,” happening to say, “our mixed efforts … [are] an instance of what teamwork can do.” This collaborative effort isn’t any extra obvious than on the annual Lionhead trail-clearing weekend. What began as a partnership between just a few mountain bikers and some horsemen has grown right into a weekend-long gathering involving dozens of dedicated volunteers. Contributors arrive Friday night, camp, after which rise early to move into the mountains. The horsemen depart first, packing rakes and chainsaws on their trusty steeds. Bikers come up behind the horsemen, break into groups, and clear dozens if not a whole bunch of fallen timber from the path.
For nearly ten years, this occasion has taken place in early July, climate allowing. Due to this Herculean effort, all the zone is basically freed from deadfall in time for the summer season through-hiking season, a present most CDT backpackers by no means know they’ve been given. With out this partnership, the Forest Service would wrestle to clear the realm each different 12 months, not to mention each summer season, in line with Area four staffer Jarrod Hansen.
Whereas the Lionhead is most carefully related to the Bozeman trail-riding neighborhood, its affect extends effectively past Gallatin County. “The Lionhead is the premium vacation spot for difficult alpine driving within the nation,” says Lynne Wolfe, board secretary for Mountain Bike the Tetons. Mountain Bike the Tetons is an Worldwide Mountain Biking Affiliation chapter representing each side of Teton Cross, together with Jackson Gap, Wilson, Victor, and Driggs, and their members are simply as passionate concerning the Lionhead as SWMMBA’s are. “It’s my absolute favourite place—interval,” Lynne continues. “It makes me really feel small, and honored to be there. Yearly, my husband and I reciprocate by giving again. Yearly we do path work and join with different mountain-bike lovers [at the trail-clearing weekend].”
Jay Petervary, a ten-time Extremely Iditirod champion, six-time Tour Divide document holder, and Victor, Idaho native, agrees. “It’s superb to experience in such an ecosystem, simply exterior the Park,” he says. “It’s true backcountry, high-alpine driving.” For somebody who spends his life overlaying huge distances on a motorcycle, in locales everywhere in the world, that’s saying one thing. However Petervary does extra than simply speak. This previous summer season he donated a portion of proceeds from his Gravel Pursuit race in close by Island Park to trail-clearing efforts within the Lionhead. With dedication like that, stewardship efforts can proceed for years to come back.
Given the Lionhead’s propensity for partnership-development and its impassioned devotees, you would possibly assume that every one is effectively within the mountains above Hebgen Lake—and who might fault you? The reality is, a majority of the Lionhead’s trails sit inside a Beneficial Wilderness Space (RWA) throughout the Custer-Gallatin Nationwide Forest. Whereas a number of entry factors lie throughout the Caribou-Targhee Forest, the remainder originate within the Custer-Gallatin, a unit at the moment present process a forest-plan revision. The administration suggestions inside that revision might restrict or shut bike entry to the Lionhead, an end result native riders dread, particularly given their private commitments to the realm.
For Wolfe, there’s hope. She places her religion within the partnerships, saying, “We will work for a greater answer. We don’t need the Lionhead to go the way in which of the Boulder–White Clouds,” a beloved backcountry-riding space exterior Solar Valley the place bikers misplaced cherished entry in 2015. “This is a crucial place we have to respect,” she continues, “and I strongly consider mountain bikers ought to be there.” Petervary implores bikers to “know the work that it takes—many people with a robust ardour. You don’t take no for a solution.”
Forest planning has introduced quite a lot of stakeholders to the desk, and actual progress has been made on the collaboration entrance.
Adam Oliver, SWMMBA’s trails supervisor, can also be optimistic. “We’ve seen a current surge in effort and consciousness by the bike neighborhood. Mountain bikers have been volunteering extra, supporting path tasks, donating, and constructing relationships.” He goes on: “Though Montana has most likely seen bicycle entry restricted greater than anyplace, the difficulty has gotten much more consideration because of this. The preliminary maps launched by the Custer-Gallatin Nationwide Forest have two administration alternate options that protect all or practically all trails on the Montana aspect of the Lionhead for biking. That is no accident and mountain biking is just not a fad. Saving the Lionhead is unquestionably inside attain if mountain bikers give attention to commenting and persevering with to develop our constructive affect.”
In line with Oliver, forest planning has introduced quite a lot of stakeholders to the desk, and actual progress has been made on the collaboration entrance. He hopes that momentum can carry over into shared assist for bike entry to the Lionhead. Nevertheless, the primary collaborative forest-planning effort, exterior of the Forest Service, is the Gallatin Forest Partnership; and it left this panorama out of its settlement, because the group lacked consensus on its administration objectives, leaving the way forward for Lionhead bike-access insecure. One potential answer could be redesignating the Lionhead a backcountry space, offering a excessive degree of safety with out denying bike entry.
As afternoon turns into late afternoon, Ryan and I are reminded that daylight is at a premium this time of 12 months. We snap just a few extra pictures, end our sweet bars, and layer-up for the experience out. Ryan goes first and I take one final go searching, hoping this isn’t the final time I’ll experience my bike within the excessive alpine of the Lionhead. I consider Petervary’s insistence on motion, Wolfe’s hope, and Oliver’s resolve. I take into consideration the collaboration with the Backcountry Horsemen, Biggers’s selfless volunteerism, and the Forest Service’s appreciation. Then I take into consideration the forest-planning course of and my alternative to weigh in on how the Lionhead is managed. I begin outlining a letter in my head as we descend again all the way down to our automobile.
Notice: The general public remark interval concerning the Custer Gallatin Forest Plan extends by means of Thursday, June 6. To ship a remark, click on right here.
