Sleeping on the ground in a tent is less than ideal. When you don’t sleep well, the night can be the most dreaded time of your backpacking trips. 8 hours of rolling around to get comfortable can be torture! All of the different styles of sleeping pads offer their own advantages and disadvantages. By buying a different style of pad a backpacker can customize their sleep to their cushion, pack s...

The Cabin The Garnet Mountain Fire Lookout Cabin is a popular Forest Service rental just southwest of Bozeman in the Gallatin canyon. Perched atop Garnet Mountain, the cabin sleeps 4 people and offers 360° views of the surrounding peaks. It is accessible via a 4 mile hike or ATV via the Rat Lake Trail. Gallery The Views Staying at this cabin is all about the views. You can see down the Gallati...

Getting your ever-growing piles of camping and outdoor gear organized can feel intimidating, but doing so will eliminate hours of prep time and result in more outdoor adventures. Here are a few tips and ideas to get you started. Locate The Gear This step might take some digging, but try to gather all of the camping and outdoor gear you own and put it in one spot. Once you have located everythi...

The Cabin Mystic Lake Cabin is a popular Forest Service rental just southeast of Bozeman. Nestled above a 13 acre lake, this is a great stop along a backpacking trip or just a place to hangout and fish, hike and take in the sights. It's accessible year round via hike, ski or snowshoe. Gallery Amenities The Mystic Lake Cabin is a primitive one-room structure that sleeps four. There's also a tab...

Bear spray is NOT a repellant Do not spray clothing, tents, backpacks or any other objects in an effort to deter bears from you or your campsite. In fact, if the can is sprayed the oily, resin-like substance that is released may actually attract bears in the same way food might. Bear spray is only effective if you can reach it Bears look big and slow, but they can run about 50 ft/sec (more tha...

The Lake Thompson Lake is a small body of water below the towering 11,000 ft Gallatin Peak. It's located Southwest of Bozeman in the Spanish Peaks Unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area. It's tough to reach just for a day hike, but there's plenty of room to camp if you need too. Getting There Head Southwest down the Hellroaring Creek Trail, off of US 191 just north of the Lava Lake Trail. Hik...

Forest Service Cabins are reservable cabins located throughout our national forests. They’re often affordably priced and range from backcountry shelters with few amenities to full fledged houses with electricity and toilets. Research There’s two ways to find more info on these cabins. It can be tough to find all the info you’re looking for, but it’s there. The first method: Recreation.gov Head...

Hello and welcome to Montana Trail Briefs! Trail Briefs is a site dedicated to providing important trail facts that are necessary for safe and enjoyable hiking in and around Montana. Our first hand hiking experiences are photographed, documented and presented in a quick and easily digestible format. We answer vital questions that you won’t find in your expensive guidebooks, like, “is there eno...