Long-anticipated mountain bike trails are on the way in the southeast corner of the Flathead Valley near Bigfork, MT, on Crane Mountain. The new trails are called for in a Forest Service management plan called “Bug Creek.” While the plan’s emphasis seems to be on tree harvesting, thinning, and replanting forests in certain sections of the forest, mountain bike trails will also play a substantial role.
The Bug Creek project
Bigfork has a tight-knit mountain bike community, but trails close to town can be few and far between. For years, locals have ridden Crane Mountain, which includes one of the state’s most popular trails, Beardance. While many of the current trails in the Crane Mountain area are unsanctioned, it will soon be the home to several new, sanctioned trails.
“So Crane Mountain — it’s about 15 miles of trail in this project,” Ron Brandt, Executive Director of the Flathead Area Mountain Bikers (FAMB), told us. FAMB will work with the Swan Lake Ranger District on the Bug Creek project.
According to the Swan Lake Ranger District, Bug Creek has three distinct agenda points:
- Reduce fire behavior near communities within the wildland-urban interface to facilitate safer, more effective wildland fire operations.
- Improve the diversity and resilience of forest vegetative communities and associated wildlife habitat.
- Provide quality outdoor recreation opportunities.
As you can imagine, it is the last bullet point that has FAMB and local mountain bikers so excited. Brandt and FAMB had discussed trails with the Swan Lake Ranger District in years past, getting the initial “yes” he needed but not the official green light for shovels to actually hit dirt. But, as is often the case, the new person in the lead spot at the Ranger District was excited to have FAMB take on building the trails.
“[The Swan Lake Ranger District] was considering taking the full lead, but since that has mountain bike-specific trails, they were super stoked to partner with us,” Brandt said.
FAMB has built a solid relationship with the Swan Lake Ranger District over the years. Brandt and the FAMB trail crew have spent countless hours on Crane Mountain maintaining trail.
“Mountain bike-specific” was the other aspect of the project that excited Brandt and FAMB. The new trails in the Bug Creek project will be the first mountain bike-specific trails in the Flathead National Forest. Brandt told us that while the trails will still be open to foot traffic, they will be intentionally built with mountain biking in mind.
The 15 miles is spread between six trails. “We’re revamping some [of the] trails that are there,” Brandt explained. “And then there’s at least three or four new mountain bike-specific trails that I’m laying out.”
Brandt already has one of the new Bug Creek trails laid out, and he will soon be working on the other trails. He has already scouted where the other trails will go but is waiting for logging operations in the area to wrap up before he puts the final pins in the ground.
FAMB is excited to see some of the currently unsanctioned trails be brought into a sanctioned trail system at Crane Mountain. While unsanctioned trails can be a sensitive topic, often, the reality is that trail needs and desires aren’t currently being met. Brandt explained that a dedicated group of trail builders in the Bigfork area have logged many hours, and their work is now paying off.
It shows in the turnouts FAMB is seeing on trail work days. “I had almost 30 people [at a dig night], and not from a big community,” Brandt said.
What riders can expect
Bigfork and the Bug Creek project are at the southern end of the Flathead Valley. The Crane Mountain area has roughly half the elevation of the Whitefish Range on the opposite end of the valley. Unlike the bigger descents and more gravity-oriented trails on the valley’s north end, the Bug Creek trails will be more tech- and traverse-focused.
“[Crane Mountain] doesn’t have any alpine at all. We’re talking about 800 or 1,000 feet of vert, but it’s more tech. It’s very technical,” Brandt explained.
Brandt told us that he wouldn’t give the trails a “cross-country” label but solid, technical “grunt” climbs with spicy downs mixed in. Many of the current trails are already labeled black diamonds, and FAMBA intends to continue the trend.
“These are black mountain bike-specific trails,” Brandt told us. “Black level is what the existing network is, and what we’re going to key in on and showcase is an advanced trail.”
The trails in the Bug Creek project will be multi-use, allowing bikes and hikers/runners on the trails, but not equestrians. However, Brandt shared that FAMB has plans to work on a nine-mile cross-country loop at the bottom of the trail system that will allow horses.
Brandt told us that the completion date of the Bug Creek project trails will depend on the Forest Service’s logging operations. While recreation is fortunately written into the USFS’s plan, Bug Creek’s primary focus is on wildfire protection and prevention. Clear-cutting, thinning, and brush (understory) removal are all part of the Bug Creek project.
Brandt hopes this will all be done by 2026. That doesn’t mean that trail-building will wait for two more years. Instead, it just means more coordination will happen, and some trails and areas may need to wait.
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