MCC intern working to highlight Lincoln-area trails

Whether it's hiking, horseback riding or off-highway vehicles, information on the various public trails around Lincoln can be hard to come by, for both visitors and locals alike.

This year, an effort to raise awareness of the public trail system around the Upper Blackfoot Valley is underway, with the ultimate goal of developing a website specifically for Lincoln-area trails.

Montana Conservation Corps intern Paige Havener began working on that task in June, and for the past seven weeks, she's been spending her days hiking various Forest Service trails around the Lincoln area.

Hailing from upstate New York, Havener is in Montana for her first time on a 14-week tour with the Lincoln Ranger District to collect data on the trails, to research and update online sources for trail information and to develop brochures for individual trails.

Although Havener has had some hiking experience in her home state, she comes from an area of New York that's only about 300 feet above sea level, and fairly flat. That gives her the chance to approach the trails from the point of view of a member of the general public who wants to become a more experienced hiker.

"I'm seeing these trails with fresh eyes. I've never been to Montana before this," she said. "I'm trying to make it sound appealing. I have enjoyed every trail I've done so far and I want people to enjoy them as well."

When she's not out hiking the trails, Havener is writing up descriptions of the trails – short versions for printed brochures and longer versions for websites - detailing information such as their length, the availability of water, stock accessibility, degree of difficulty and directions to the trailheads. Havener has even taken the extra step during her free time of taking her own car, a low-slung Ford Focus, to check trailhead accessibility for standard passenger vehicles

By the middle of July, Havener had already compiled information on trails including Lewis and Clark Pass, Arrastra Creek, the Sauerkraut Wall, Porcupine Basin, Alice Creek and part of the CDT, as well as her only wilderness trial, the Main Line trail to Heart Lake.

"We're keeping this mostly around the valley, more of a front country thing," said Lincoln Ranger District resource specialist Josh Lattin, who is supervising Havener.

Havener expected to hike Nevada Creek and to compound two trails in the Dalton and Sauerkraut areas before the end of last week.

"The main goal here is to do day hikes, so people visiting here can pick up something, look it over and, ideally, go out and hike it that day," said Havener. "The only longer hike I'm going to be doing is Red Mountain, which is about 18 miles."

By last week, Havener already had brochures for six of the trails ready for publication, complete with maps, photos and a short description. Although she said developing a website is probably beyond what she will be able to do during her time here, Havener has added new and updated information to existing trail websites.

"There are a few different websites I've been using," she said. "One is called the Hiking Project. That is run by REI. There's also AllTrails, which I think is an independent forum, and then there's the Wilderness Associations Hike Wild Montana. They all have different qualities I enjoyed."

The plan for the internship was to cover about 15 of the 50 or so Forest Service trails around Lincoln, but with 10 or 11 already under her belt, Havener plans to keep exploring and documenting trails until her term of service is done in September.

So far, her focus has been on hiking trails, but Havener is also going to begin compiling information on OHV trails in the area, despite not having ridden an ATV before.

"They're gonna train me up and then throw me out there," she said.

Lattin said once she's been trained, she'll take on the Stonewall Mountain trail, the new Hogum Creek connector trail and will compile the first information on the new OHV trails being built in the Beaver Creek area.

"She'll have brochures on them as they're finished," Lattin said, adding that they expected to have about two-thirds of the new system open to the public by end of last week. Riders will be able to ride from the Lincoln Ditch Road to the old Lincoln Cemetery, but when the new bridge on the trail is completed across Beaver Creek in September, it will extend the route to the Pine Grove Campground.

Latin described her work as the "first phase." He said all the data she's gathering is going into a day-to-day file in a spreadsheet that can be used for the development of a standalone website later.

"By populating these existing websites sites, it gets us somewhere better for now," Lattin said. "Ideally, we'll put a link to those websites on a site like the LVCC web page, to get them somewhere closer to where they want to be."

Ultimately, the development of a website was key to securing funding for Havener's position.

According to community organizer Karyn Good, the idea originated with part–time Lincoln resident Perk Perkins, the CEO of Orvis. Perkins, an avid hiker, sees an opportunity to make Lincoln a destination for hikers, but that requires easy access to trail information for the area.

Good said a meeting she had with Perkins and Lattin expanded the scope to include OHV, horseback and mountain biking trails, which improved the chances of securing funding.

Good approached the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Blackfoot Challenge and Sculpture in the Wild for seed money to support the effort, which helped Jordan Reeves with the Wilderness Society to secure a grant from the Kendida Fund.

Good explained that as the trails website project moves forward, Perkins will help with some of the funding and they will look for additional funding through sources such as Montana's Recreational Trail's Program.

Interestingly, the project almost didn't get off the ground for reasons other than funding concerns. By the time money for the MCC internship was on hand, there were very few MCC employees available. One individual accepted the job, but she backed out at the last minute. That proved fortunate for Havener, who finished her Geology degree in May.

"I was looking around at different jobs, environmental jobs, all over the place and this was one of the ones that showed up on my radar," she said. "I found out I actually applied after the start date, but they still took me."

Havener served two earlier terms with AmeriCorps, MCC's parent organization, in her home state, but said she's been enjoying Lincoln and Montana.

"You live in a beautiful part of the country. It's truly a gift," she said.