Reservation Divide Ride

Terrain Distance (approx): 29.5 miles
Climbing Distance: 3,900 feet
Highest Altitude: 7,200 feet
Trip Time: 4.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy Climbing, Technical Singletrack.
Maps: Larry's map

My friend Larry and I took on a loop that we have been thinking about for a while. We loaded up the mountain bikes and headed for the Reservation Divide Trail in the Nine Mile Valley.

Within an hour we were climbing up the Edith Peak Road on our mountain bikes. The road section was 9 miles and after an hour of climbing we stopped for a ass break. Larry looked down the trail and saw that a mountain lion was coming up the road behind us. It was the first mountain lion that I have seen myself in Montana.

We reached the RDT in under two hours and started the single track section to the peak formerly known as Squaw Peak. I'll call it SQP for this blog! The single track was rooty and as we approached SQP became rocky. Wonderfully technical. I loved it the entire way. It would be 100% rideable if it were not for the thin layer of ice on the rocks.

We reached the cross roads just .5 mile from the summit of SQP. We bundled up and descended down the trail that you would normally take up SQP. The decent was fast, fun, and was over in about 15 minutes. From there we rode to our vehicle that was parked near the ranger station.

After the ride we settled in to burgers, beer, and fries at the local eatery in the Nine Mile Valley and watched the grizzly game. It is summed up nicely by what Larry said

"Vigorous new un-ridden scenic loop, perfect timing on start and finish, cool weather with refreshing snow storm at top, mountain lion spotting, burger and beer after ride at funky roadhouse, GRIZ game… It doesn’t get any better."