helena national forest

We have hiked the Trout Stream trail a couple of times now and enjoyed it both times. A real high light of our last trip was seeing a family of mountain goats up on the hill. A little hard to see from a distance but then we were treated to an up close and personal meeting with a billy as we were heading back to the trail head. We were the only people there that day which probably made our sightings possible as the trail is popular with horseback riders too.

I took some time out of a business trip to Helena, MT to take my family to the mountains. A short drive and we were in the middle of national forest. Not only are the mountains great it was a nice break from business. If only I had my bow and a big game license.

There isn't much to say except how beautiful this place is. What a great experience! My family never gets tired of this place...

Checked out the National Forest along Hwy 12 west of Helena. Stopped at the top of the mountain pass, beautiful views of the valleys and wildlife everywhere. Lots of deer, and large birds. Great time spent walking/hiking around.

Mountain biking in the Helena National Forest is fantastic. Today, my first time here, I went on two ride totaling over 20 miles and didn't even scratch the surface of well marked and categorized as to difficulty trails. For the first ride I caught a free shuttle from Women's Mural park in town which took a whole buss load of riders and hikers to the Helena Ridge Trailhead which ended up right back in town.Loving the first ride so much I decided to haul myself back up Grizzly Gulch for a second more difficult ride on the Walkina Ridge / Stairway To Heaven Trail and then down the hill through Uniontown back to my truck. Great day of riding for sure.

What more do you want? First, hike up a mountain right from downtown and then come back for a fresh, cold beer at the quaint local Black Foot River Brewing Co.!

I driven through, picnic, and hiked a few times, but plan to come back when I can spend more time and do some fishing and camping. Absolutely beautiful from the mountain.

If you are doing a road trip this is a perfect place to drive through. Georgeous scernery. Enjoyed being a passenger in our vehicle just to enjoy the view.

What can you say, it was a typical forest, full of trees, moose, elk, bears, rocks, ticks etc. OK, it was a little boring, but a forest none the less.

Amazing views of mountains and lakes! We took the family to swim in Cannon Ferry Lake. We saw mountain goats, deer, hawks and antelope.

My family and I have spent a lot of time in the forest. There is something to do all year round. We hunt, fish, camp, hike, snowshoe, and just go there to relax. There are plenty of camp sites or we like to find a small stream and camp there.Keep your camp safe and watch out for bears.

The hiking is fantastic. Some places there are man made trails and other places you blaze your own. We took our children on the Trout Creek Canyon trail and it was perfect for our 6 year old. The 2 year old we carried in the pack. We did not hike the entire trail because it was completely snow covered and we wanted to turn back before we were carrying both of them all the way back. There are lots of photo opportunities. Trout Creek is beautiful running down through the snow. The drive to the trailhead is beautiful as well.We went in the morning and didn't see a soul, but as the day went on it became more busy. There were some cross country skiers and a few hikers with dogs. There is also a small picnic area.

Great variety and the HNF office has plenty of information & pamphlet to help guide you in your outdoor pursuits!

You can take a 2-6 miles roundtrip hike up Trout Creek Canyon from the Vigilante picnic/camping area, which is just 6 miles past YORK, northeast of Helena. The scenery was superb. Nice wide path, lightly graveled and easy to walk along. Horses were also sharing the path, although we did not see them. Peaceful, beautiful, with rushing waters and towering crags overhead.

Truly a "Land of Many Uses." Miles of roads make this very accessible.