FEATURED RECREATIONAL TRAILS PROGRAM PROJECT
The Chief Joseph Trail System in southwest Montana provides for easy and safe use by a variety of winter visitors.
Volunteers maintain Montana winter trail system
Article and photos from Bitterroot Cross-Country Ski Club
the public. In recent years multi-use trails have been added to the system that provide recreational opportunities for a wide variety of winter activities. There are now over 13 miles of
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trails groomed for skate and classic ski- ing, and 19 miles of multi-use trails appropriate for skiing, dog sledding, snow shoeing, fat-tire biking, snowmo- biling, and people who wish to ski with their dogs.
The trail system is groomed at least weekly during the season by Bitterroot
he Chief Joseph winter trail sys- tem is a 25+ year project that pro- vides free cross-country skiing for
Cross-Country Ski Club, with multiple loops in the system of varying lengths and difficulty level. Every trail junction is marked with a trail map— it’s almost impossible to get lost— and benches are placed at appropriate spots along the trails. There is a warming hut open from December 1 through mid April. The Bitterroot Cross-Country Ski Club is a nonprofit, non-partisan, pub- lic-interest corporation whose purpose is to benefit the public by promoting Nordic (cross-country) skiing and other outdoor recreational activities. Efforts of the club include educating the public about the health and recreational bene- fits of outdoor activities, and by assist- ing a variety of public agencies in the management and operation of the Chief
8 WINTER 2017-18
AmericanTrails.org
Joseph Cross-Country Ski Area. According to the club, “Based upon comments left on the trailhead sign-in sheets, it must be assumed that skiers are overwhelmingly happy with the trails this winter. However, it appears our volunteer groomers (using snow- mobiles to put the finishing touches on the trails) are even more pleased. That is what we’ve been working to achieve, happy skiers and ecstatic groomers!” During the 2013-2014 ski season, the Club made an agreement with the Lost Trail Powder Mountain Downhill Ski Area to groom the wider ski trails at Chief Joseph Pass (on a test basis) with a PistenBully snow grooming machine. That test proved so successful that the decision was made to prepare all of the
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