Trail Creek Loop: Montana Driving Tours

A few miles east of Bozeman, Interstate 90 enters Rocky Creek Canyon, bordered on both sides by steep rock outcroppings. Look for Frog Rock on the right, a prominent formation that really looks quite like a frog lying on a mountain. At mid-canyon you will find the Trail Creek exit, and the few houses that remain in what was once Chestnut, Montana. This former coal mining town was built near a mine shaft that penetrated over 2 miles into the neighboring mountain.

Trail Creek Road initially follows Meadow Creek from the west, as it winds toward a low mountain pass. On the eastern side, Trail Creek begins, and the road slowly descends into Paradise Valley, a true gem of Montana and the Rocky Mountains. Halfway up from the Bozeman side, you will pass Goose Creek Road (on right), which will take you to a Gallatin National Forest trailhead, just a mile or two to the south. Across from Goose Creek Road, there are still visible ruins of coke ovens, once used to refine coal from surrounding mines. There were once a number of small mining towns along this route. Chestnut is the only one that is still somewhat evident.

As you head down the eastern (unpaved but fine) end of Trail Creek Road toward Paradise Valley, there is another road on the right that provides National Forest access at upper Trail Creek. You will also see evidence toward the south of the Fridley Creek Fire of 2001. This began not far from Yellowstone National Park, devastating over 10 miles of forest in just one day and ending near Trail Creek Road. On the entire eastern stretch of Trail Creek Road, you will be face-to-face with the majestic peaks of the Absaroka Mountains, part of the largest land mass above 10,000 feet in North America. Overlooking the scenic Yellowstone River, it becomes clear why this is called Paradise Valley.

The landscape is a bit drier on the eastern side, and you leave most of the mountain homes and cabins behind. A road on the left will take you toward the tiny community of Pine Creek, and serves as the shortest route to Livingston Montana and back to I-90. Continuing south on the main Trail Creek Road will bring you to (also tiny) Emigrant, Montana, closer to Yellowstone National Park.