Blackfoot Meadows Trail - Hiking trail near Elliston, Montana, United States - Description

This trail is located within the proposed Electric Peak Wilderness. Popular uses include hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking; motorized travel is prohibited. If the area is designated as wilderness in the future, mountain biking will be prohibited.

Much of this part of the Helena National Forest is well roaded from past years of timber harvest and mining activities, however the headwaters of the Little Blackfoot provide a large roadless area with opportunities for day rides and camping sites. Two main access points will get you into this area. One is the trailhead just beyond the Kading Campground. Here there is room to turn a horse trailer around and park. The other access point is off the Ontario Creek road near the Monarch mine. A small meadow there provides trailer parking. The Larabee Gulch trail #359 has no parking or turn around space.

This area south of the Little Blackfoot River road is heavily timbered and trails are low gradient making it easy on the horses. The Blackfoot Meadows trail #329 follows the Little Blackfoot River into the Blackfoot Meadows. From Blackfoot Meadows you can ride southward to Cottonwood Lake or Thunderbolt Mountain on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, to the Monarch Mine trailhead or Larabee Gulch. The loop from the Kading area to Blackfoot Meadows, to Larabee Gulch and back up the road makes a good day ride.

The Kading Cabin is available for rent from the Forest Service. This is an old Forest Service Guard Station used by the early day Forest Rangers. There are corrals here as well as a creek. This area is good starting point for an enjoyable weekend of day trips. Remember that certified weed seed free hay is required when feeding livestock on Forest Service land.

Access is via Highway 12 near Elliston, turn south and travel on the Little Blackfoot Road 227 to a parking area south of Kading Campground.