Lake View Trail completed, ground broken for all-access trail

SEELEY  LAKE - As part of their Hill 16 trail system project, Seeley Lake Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports' (ROCKS) recently completed the Lake View Trail and began a yet to be named all-access trail. Both are located near Placid Lake State Park.

The Lake View Trail is a "family friendly" trail designed for all types of non-motorized uses including hiking, bike riding and riding horses. The trailhead, for the roughly two mile trail, opens at the intersection of North and South Placid Lake Roads.

Its development took just over a year to complete. The project was primarily funded by a $30,000 grant through Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' Recreational Trails Program. ROCKS had to do an in-kind match of 20 percent of the grant through volunteer labor as well as supply an additional $10,000 in order for the trail to be completed. 

The project was a joint venture among multiple parties with FWP agreeing to maintain the trail. The Nature Conservancy owns the grounds. It bought around 170,000 acres between Seeley Lake and the Blackfoot River in 2014 as part of the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project.

"None of this could have happened without The Nature Conservancy," ROCKS board member Jim Fulton said. "It's because of their land and their enthusiasm to get something out here [that the trail was completed]. They want to share the land."

ROCKS Board Member Alan Davis said Lake View and future trails will help "connect the dots" between several open access and former logging roads in the area.

ROCKS board members were heavily involved in the development process but they also had some help from a youth group, high school students and the Placid Lake Landowners Association. Members of the Missoula County Weed Control Board spent a day pulling weeds. Fulton estimated that they had roughly 300 - 400 hours of group labor last year.

The Lake View trail will be closed from Dec. 1 to April 30 for wildlife mitigation because it goes through critical elk winter range. 

For the currently unnamed trail, ROCKS wanted to make it accessible to all abilities so it would complement Placid Lake State Park's other handicap accessible facilities. To do this, they met with Brenden Dailin, a peer advocate at Summit Independent Living, who acted as a consultant for the project. Dailin said it is not very common for Montana trails to be accessible for all abilities although some may be more usable than others depending on conditions.

Davis said to make the new trail accessible to all-abilities, it had to be relatively level, wide enough to allow two wheelchairs to pass simultaneously and have rest areas, all while being an engaging experience. The trail has less than a seven percent grade and is a quarter mile long. 

Phat Trak Trail Company of Helena acted as a consultant and contractor for both trails. The work required to construct the trail includes excavating the ground, compacting the remnants, laying down a weed barrier, making the surface wheelchair accessible and compacting the ground again. Chase Krywaruchka of Phat Trak speculated that it would take about two weeks for the trail to be completed.

The currently unnamed trail was funded by a $23,000 grant from Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Once construction on the trail is completed, it will need to be approved by ROCKS and The Nature Conservancy.

ROCKS board president Garry Swain said the trails tie into ROCKS' bigger mission which has been to provide recreational facilities for Seeley Lake families since 2011. In addition they have seen visitors come in from California, Oregon and Colorado.

"It generates a lot of traffic with our local families, parents and kids," Swain said. "[A]nd the feedback is amazing."