Wallman Trail

The Wallman Trail is an important travel route in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Wilderness. The project to reroute the trail, adding 1.3 miles of trail to the system allows users to move from the main corridor of Rattlesnake Creek into Spring Gulch, via Wallman Saddle. Over the past decade, our partners at Montana Conservation Corps have improved the condition of this trail, on both sides of the saddle through the construction of well-designed trail reroutes. Much of the original trail was steep (15-25%) fall-line in nature, with poor drainage, and poor sight-lines. MCC constructed a series of reroutes that created sinuous, sections of side hill trail, with grade reversals all designed at 10-15% grades. These designs improve safety with better sight-lines, reduce maintenance, have the ability to shed water, and create a more aesthetically pleasing experience.

The one section of the Wallman trail that is out of character with the majority of trails in the RNRA, and that is the lower half of the eastside of the trail. It’s incredibly steep, stays mostly on a loose and rocky old road grade, has no drainage, and poor sight-lines. By redesigning this section of trail, and building it in a similar fashion to the rest of the Wallman Trail, we are creating a safer, more sustainable, and enjoyable recreational experience to be enjoyed by a wider range of riders. It’s pretty burly terrain, the work has to be done by hand. The trail crews have done an amazing job bringing this project to a close. So far, we’ve completed about 1.2 miles of new tread construction, including 4 switchbacks and 3 climbing turns!