The Best of Stillwater County
Geographically, Absarokee is at the heart of Stillwater County, at the confluence of the Stillwater and Rosebud Rivers. Nearby Derby Moutain is one of the best Absarokee rides, in many ways the King Absarokee ride. It's a lot lower, easier to access, than most of the local rides, with a road almost all the way to the top. And you go right through the scars of The Derby MT fire, which left a mark on the county that will continue to be visible for another century at least. As a biker, it's a long steady uphill on a great road, through some really unique burnt forest environments.
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| Spring Floods |
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| Bald Eagle on Stockade Road |
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| Stillwater County Traffic Jam |
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| Blind Bridger Creek |
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| This was the best Puffball we've ever had. The smell (fine french cheese) and texture (firm tofu) were perfect. Yokie cubed it and sauteed it with mini bell peppers and wild caught US shrimp. |
Unfortunately, Stillwater County is not a biker's paradise; indeed I'm usually the only biker around. As such, many of the trails are totally overgrown, and there is a constant backlog of downfall. Usually, I understand: public funding is insufficient, so areas like ours get passed by while the more popular forests like Bozeman, Missoula, Helena area trails enjoy slightly better maintenance.
But Arch Rock trail is ridiculous. On paper, it's an eight mile ST winding up a ridge from the bottom of Bridger Creek all the way to the top of the ridge near Limestone Butte, where it terminates at Arch Rock.
That's right: Arch Rock. Didn't know there was an Arch Rock just outside of Absarokee, near Nye? Nobody does.
Apparently nobody ever goes there. Probably because in real life, the trail doesn't exist.
Well, it exists in spots. The local guides maintain sections with scree piles and occasional chainsaw work, but in the long run their goals don't always help a biker. In the meadows and clearings their trails disappear, and in the riparian areas they often leave significant damage.
In 2011 the USFS did a lot of trail work on the upper section. I saw it on a firewood mission before I left for Malaysia that year. There were five people there, with one of the cool little bobcat style trail builders. Trucks everywhere. I was so stoked to get back and try their handiwork.
Well, I don't know what they did in 2011, or what happened in the mean time, but when I was there on Friday there was absolutely no sign of improvement, if anything trail looked worse than ever in the few spots I could find it.
I can't get a straight answer from the Big Timber office of the USFS, and most locals don't even know the trail or rock exists.
That's the local bike scene really. So much potential. I didn't see a single person on the trails today. Epic MT views. Tons of wildlife. A great network of local jeep roads. Phenomenal topography. But it all never quite comes together, usually because the downhills end up being 100 meters of greatness for every 500 meters of bushwhacking / orienteering / trailwork.
BTW I almost broke Kip. 25 miles by my GPS, probably more for him. In 3 hours. He was so tired he didn't move for about 40 hours.