Ride up Sourdough Canyon Rd. It is fairly smooth and gradual. At about 4.8Miles you will come to a bridge and a trail off to the left. Go straight, over the bridge. At 4.95miles you will come to a fork. Go to the left towards Mystic Lake. At about 9.96 Miles you should come to another fork. Go to the left and down. A few hundred yards at 10.05Miles you come to another small fork. Go to the left and down below the dam. Cross the creek and go up the other side to the trail intersection. The intersection is at about 10.21miles. Go to the left and up (Toward Bozeman Cr. Trail Head) to the south-west. This is the beginning of the single track. At about 10.5 Miles you should come to what locals call "The wall of Death". This wall isn't so bad. At about 13 Miles you will come back to the bridge. Go right. At about 18Miles you should be back at the trailhead.
Considerations:
There are a unusually high number of people to crash on this trail for seemingly no reason. I am one of those people. I had a bad crash on the single-track and I don't even know how. Some people say the area is cursed by Indians. I'm starting to believe it. Be careful.
There is a forest service cabin near the lake that you can rent.
Have fun!
Fun trail I have done before but rode up the road this time instead of the "Wall of Death"--rode down the singletrack. Only one downed tree crossing on the singletrack down. A good mellow ride with decent mileage just watch out for off-leash dogs
| ThankA great trail system with lots of options. I took my wife on this system on our anniversary last year as her first MTB ride. Shoe LOVED it!! We chose to take the road to the lake and back which rounds out around 20 miles. I prefer to ride the single track up to the lake and back when doing it alone. This portion of the trail is moderate difficulty and not for beginners. The lower half of the trail(Sourdough Canyon trail) is a golf cart sized path with heavy foot/bike traffic. It can be a riot to ride out fast on a day with minimal traffic but that is extremely rare! Great views, awesome scenery up at the lake and abundant wildlife. My wife almost hit a bear on the downhill last year on the way out. A must-do ride for anyone near Bozeman. The more adventurous rider can loop over into New World Gulch/Bear canyon trail for a long but rewarding ride.
| ThankMystic Lake Trail has great scenery throughout and is a fairly easy grade. Don't let the name "Wall Of Death" deter you. It's no harder than any other climb around Bozeman! It gets its name because it traverses above the steep, rocky slope above Bozeman Creek and used to be really poorly maintained. It's definitely better now and is an enjoyable descent down the single track if you want to make it an out-and-back instead of loop after you get to the lake!
| ThankRode this trail a couple of years ago, heard there was a land slide last year along the way. Not much to add about this ride, it's close to town and would be better rode during the week when there were less people and DOGS.
| ThankPrinted the directions out and followed them for the length of the 18 miles. Nice 10 mile climb to the single track, gnarly 2+ miles of single track, much of which clings to the ledge high above the canyon, then zippty doo dah down the final 5 miles of jeep track. It was a fun day. Its a great workout, there's plenty of scenery, and the single track is short but pretty sweet.
| ThankLived in Bozeman from 04-06 and this was my after work and fitness ride. It is a jeep trail, but no motorized vehicles are allowed on it, except forest service personel. Lots of hikers and dog walkers on the bottom 2 miles of trail, but after that mostly bikers and the ocational horse. It is up hill all the way to the top where a great alpine lake sets. The 2.5 mile single track starts at the bridge and takes you to the lake. The ride down on the jeep trail is the fun part, very high speeds, just look out for the hikers and dogs twords the bottom. Great work out, and high speed downhill. If you are looking for single track, this isn't the trail for you.
| ThankCalling this ride "singletrack" is a misnomer. Although the singletrack section is great, it's only 2.5 miles long. Otherwise you are on, what I would call, jeep road. Good ride, though not 18 miles of singletrack.
| ThankSweet ride, rode it long time ago so it may have changed a bit.
| ThankOne of my Favorite trails, I rode it the other day theres just a bit of ice at the bottom
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