Whitefish has the Whitefish Trails. The Kalispell area has the Great Northern Historical Trail. Coram has the Gateway to Glacier Trail.
And soon, Libby and the surrounding area hope to have its own trail system that is synonymous with the community. This summer, a student intern from Eastern Washington University is working in south Lincoln County to gather information that will eventually be formed into a master trail plan for Libby and the surrounding area.
Local officials hope the document – funded by the Kootenai River Development Council, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, Libby Parks District and the Montana Department of Commerce’s Big Sky Trust Fund – will guide local planners on how to develop, build and improve a trail system in the area. County Commissioner Mark Peck, one of the officials spearheading the effort, said he hopes improved trail access would not only benefit local bikers but also bring visitors to Lincoln County.
“We’ve got several good biking trails around town but nothing is connecting it and there is no signage. The locals know where to go but visitors don’t,” Peck said. “But we believe there is unlimited potential here.”
Among the goals in the master plan is setting up a framework to improve trail signage and connecting trails, so that people can easily get from downtown Libby to the wilderness, all without having to get off their bike.
Bryce Huck, owner of the Bad Medicine Bike Shop in Libby, said in the three years since he’s opened his doors biking has taken off in the area. However, while locals like him know where to ride, he frequently talks to visitors who have no idea where to go. He said the publication of a local trail map would be especially beneficial.
The effort to create a master plan emerged from a series of community meetings in early 2015 about how to improve the local economy and recreation scene. The plan is also banking on the momentum that has been built by a handful of local trail projects, including an effort to construct six miles of new trail that will connect four different drainages that stretch into the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness.
Amy Hillard, an Eastern Washington University student working on her masters in urban and regional planning, has spent part of the summer in Libby working on the master plan and meeting with locals to see what they want in a connected trail system. From what she has seen so far, she believes the bones of a great bike trail system are already there.
“There are a lot of old roads out there that are being used at trails now that could be connected to a system.”