Can You Recommend a Trail?
Our first mission at our campground MTBCity here in Helena, MT is to do whatever we can to ensure our guests have an amazing time exploring Helena’s trails. Our favorite question from guests is, “Can you recommend a trail?”. Last month in Moab we asked this question of the gentleman running the camp gave us three recommendations, all three black diamonds or double black diamonds. While I’ve been riding mountain bikes for 35 years and have skills, I’m not 22 anymore.
This interaction affirmed why we always reply with “What sorts of trails do you enjoy?”, “How much time do you have?” and “What elevation are you coming from?”. Based on their replies we usually make the following suggestions:
Scratchgravel: We recommend the Echo Lane trailhead for riders coming from low elevations and beginners who have time to build up to the big stuff. We also suggest Scratchgravel Hills if the South Hills are wet.
Eddie McClure: If a person is in moderate shape with only an afternoon and doesn’t want to do a shuttle we send them to Eddie McClure East. We suggest riding east to west and pausing to take in the valley view.
Rodney Ridge: If they’re a beast with only a few hours or a moderately fit rider that has an afternoon, then we send them to Top of the World.
Waterline: Kids. We like to send young riders there because after pushing up the first set of switchbacks they can ride until they are tuckered out then dang near coast all the way back to the trailhead.
Swaney: Want to ride from camp? We send folks up Glendale Street to Tubbs Trailhead to use Swaney and Old Chevy to grind out access to Mount Helena Ridge. This is one of our personal favorites for an afternoon with an abundance of time.
Wakina: Solitude, views, high speed downhills and don’t mind grinding it out on a soul crusher? We’ll send you to Wakina. We seem to do Wakina the opposite of most folks and ride from Dazed to Dog then enjoy the downhill flow on Waterline.
Sometimes age does bring wisdom. Talking to an individual and learning about them doesn’t just improve the likelihood of them having a great day, it can be the foundation of a friendship that will grow later around the campfire.
If you’re a fan of the self checkout line, you can figure all this out with zero human interaction here: