The Big Sky 4Wheelers club of Kalispell, MT and the Skyliners 4x4 club of Polson, MT have been working on the Blacktail-Wild Bill OHV trail in NW Montana for the past several years.

The Skyliners 4x4 club of Polson, MT started the recent project 5-6 years ago when the Forest Service was looking for a recreation group to partner with on the trail. (Yes, there are some FS districts who do that!!). The trail was maybe a Class 1, and was very popular for wood cutting. This wasn't a problem, except that some people were felling 8-10" diameter green trees, and going back the next year when they were dry and selling them for easy firewood---meanwhile, the legal firewood--standing dead lodgepole--rotted where it stood. The FS asked the clubs to put in "some obstacles". "Like what?" we asked. They didn't care--just so that stock vehicles couldn't haul out loads of illegally cut wood. After three years of work weekends and heavy equipment use, there are some amazing obstacles and challenge features on this trail.

The original trail was petitioned by early Skyliners founders in 1972 as a National Recreation Trail, and it maintains that status to this day. Some of the adjacent routes have been closed, but both clubs are working with the FS to re-open some of those historic logging or fire roads for OHV access.

This trail was recognized by BFGoodrich as an Outstanding Trail in 2007.
http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/bfgapp/outstandingtrails/index.jsp?WT.z_spotlight=1
Click Blacktail, then Explore the Trail. These photos were taken prior to the significant challenge feature construction in 2008 and 2009.

I finally got to see the new work on the north end of the Wild Bill trail--it's awesome!!

ALL: Please come check out our trail. It's public land, and a great example of a FS-club partnership. Have a great time and just remember to pack out your trash. We are in the middle of travel planning and would appreciate your letters in support of re-opening another 30 miles of trail.