Jackpine Gulch Trail is located in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, the largest of the national forests in Montana covering 3.35 million acres. This road is less than an hours drive from Ennis or West Yellowstone, and just under 2 hours from Big Sky Montana. The trail begins down in the steep valley floor of the West Madison River Valley surrounded by rocky bluffs, tall trees, and a few slopes of tall grass swaying in the breeze. With the wind hopping through the trees above, you can hear the rumbling sound of the West Fork Madison River while you take in the stunning views of the rocky cliffs up high. Bring your friends and come hungry for the wild strawberries and raspberries that can found along this road.
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Head south on Highway 287 for 33 miles to the Lyons Bridge and West Fork rest area and turn right/ south. Continue on West Fork Madison for 6.4 miles and turn left on Jackpine Gulch. The trail starts and runs to the left here.
Great day for cruising the dirt roads. Green grass, wildflowers, and still snow on the peaks. There were a lot of small trees leaning over the road, like limbo for cars. The hiking trails at the end of the road were pretty popular today.
With the Goose Fire closure lifted, we checked out some of the affected trails. Jackpine Gulch is in great shape to the end. The few ruts towards the end of the course were also filled in. There were no signs of the fire until Waypoint 7 at East Bench Road. It was neat to see the green grass and coming up through the ashes. We made this trip in the evening. While many deer were out and about, one stopped long enough for a nice pic.
The Goose Fire area closure order was rescinded on October 7th, allowing the reopening of the following trails:
Cliff Lake Bench
Conklin Lake
East Bench
Elk Lake
Jackknife
Jackpine Gulch
South Bench
The condition of the affected trails is unknown and will be updated soon.
Due to the Goose Fire, the following trails have been temporarily closed:
Conklin Lake
Elk Lake Road beyond Elk Lake to Hidden Lake is closed
Jackpine Gulch
Jackknife
Cliff Lake Bench
South Bench
East Bench
Currently, the West Fork Madison River is the edge of the closure area. More info on the closure can be found here: Goose Fire Closure Order
We ate some strawberries and enjoyed the views of the wildflowers and mountains. There were a lot of butterflies, and the squirrels are fun to watch.
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Cory grew up traveling the logging roads outside Durango, CO, with his dad for his woodcutting business and fell in love with everything about the outdoors. He's moved around a lot since then, from several rural areas of Southern California to Montana, Wyoming to Arizona, even living and working on a gold mine in Nevada for several years. In all these areas, he has explored several thousand miles of old dirt roads and trails and many old mines and ghost towns. Located in the Mohave Desert of AZ in the winter and the Madison River Valley of MT in the summer.
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