A Central Montana Gem.My pal Kacey and I’ve taken a pair hikes within the Sluice Containers State Park 34 miles southeast of Nice Falls – each have been improbable! In July of 2022 we hiked your entire 6.5-mile path from north to south, then caught a trip again to our place to begin on the Evans-Riceville Trailhead, 13 miles south of Belt. Two years later (July 2024) we did an out-and-back hike with our wives, beginning on the similar trailhead (6 miles spherical journey).
Moist toes.When the 2 of us hiked Sluice Containers in 2022, we’d deliberate to stroll your entire 6.5-mile path from north to south, after which flip round and stroll again – 13 miles with 32 stream crossings. We each wore outdated trainers and accepted that we have been going to be strolling in moist sneakers – squish, squish, squish. It was a really heat day, so we having moist toes wasn’t a problem however lots of the crossings required wading by means of water that was over-our-knees deep, which could be a priority for smaller people. A lot of the path was on the mattress of an outdated railroad that was used to haul silver ore from mines close to Neihart to a smelter in Nice Falls from the late 1800s till the mid-1900s. Kacey and I loved the uncommon mixture of pure magnificence and the stays of some attention-grabbing human engineering, together with bridges, partitions, and a nifty tunnel. As for pure magnificence, the canyon that Belt Creek has carved out of the Madison limestone is superb!
Sufficient already.As a lot a we loved our hike, by the point we reached the southernmost finish of the park we have been drained, plus it was getting late within the afternoon (3:30 ish) – the sixteen stream crossings had taken extra time than anticipated. Thankfully, we met a fisherman and his spouse who have been about to drive north towards the trailhead the place we began our hike at 9:30 that morning. They have been type sufficient to offer us a elevate, so we have been in a position to spend some high quality time on the Harvest Moon Taproom in Belt earlier than driving again to Helena – a terrific ending to among the best days of the summer season of 2022.
Double date.Kacey and I acknowledged that Sluice Containers can be a terrific place to take our wives, so we made that occur in July 2024. This time we began on the similar trailhead on the north finish, hiked in about 3 miles, after which walked again to that northern trailhead, crossing the stream 4 occasions every manner. The women have been impressed, however the crossings have been nonetheless a bit of difficult, giving us an excuse to do some hand-holding. We additionally wished to hike down and discover the realm proven within the picture atop this web page – a spot that we’d walked previous in 2022. The time we spent there ended up being the spotlight of the day. We swam, snacked, jumped off the cliff, and received a pleasant have a look at an incredible man-made wall that may solely be seen from beneath. Try the picture tour to see why we preferred this spot a lot. All complete the leisurely 6-mile hike with 8 stream crossings took us 4.5 hours. Afterwards we shared a meal on the Black Eagle Brewery in Nice Falls, earlier than driving again to Helena – a day well-spent!
CAUTION: A lot of the path is fairly protected, nonetheless there are a pair scrambles and some locations the place a slip may trigger severe damage or dying, plus it’s essential be super-careful in any respect the stream crossings. I might not advocate this hike for babies or clumsy individuals. The realm can be habitat for black bears, rattlesnakes, and mountain lions, though we didn’t see any of those.
FYI – I not too long ago began an Instagram account. I’ll attempt to publish one thing attention-grabbing at the very least as soon as per week. Test it out: rodbenson406
Under: This map marks hikes which have been featured on bigskywalker.com thus far, together with a number of in Glacier Park – Choose full display to develop, zoom in for extra element, or click on on a marker for a hyperlink to the publish.
.
