Missoula's Milwaukee Trail provides a valuable east-west commuting route through the city. The paved pathway includes occasional on-road segments but is well marked with excellent at-grade road crossings. On its east end, the trail begins at a hub just south of McCormick Park and Ogren Field, where the city's baseball team plays. At the hub, the Bitterroot Trail heads southwest and the Riverfront Trail heads north and east. Heading west on the Milwaukee Trail, the route traverses a mix of commercial, light industrial and residential areas.
Parking is available at McCormick Park (600 Cregg Lane) on the east end of the trail.
It has its moments of beauty. Well traveled and well marked. It's a fun trail.
While this isn’t the most scenic trail, it is a nice way to get east to west, across town. While it is mostly a residential trail, it is well paved and there are good signs to show you the way. It does cross several streets. It will connect up with the trail that runs along the river, and get you to the University.
Milwaukee Trail (The Milwaukee Road Path)
This trail is a segment of the Great American Rail-Trail (GART).
Location: Missoula, MT
Parking: Parked along street on west end of trail.
Trail Condition: Nice paved path until the University area and then becomes gravel to end. The gravel portion isn’t real rough and did see folks on road bikes on this part of trail.
Signage: Overall good directional signage with exception of one intersection.
Comments: This trail is actually 6 miles in length. TrailLink indicates this trail ends at the “hub” but it now officially continues east past the hub for about 4.2 miles to the underpass with the train tracks and I-90. TrailLink shows the Kim Williams Nature Trail starting at the hub but none of the trail signage indicates this trail. The Milwaukee Road Path does pass through the Kim Williams Nature Area. Overall I really enjoyed this trail as it passed through residential areas, parks, and into the nature area along the river. Highly recommend as a Missoula option.
As the description notes, this ain't purty but it's a great link for people who live on the west side of town to access downtown and the university. The trail is in great shape, having just opened in 2011, and is well marked, especially the at-grade crossings. As the city begins rehabilitating the disused commercial areas, the trail will only improve from a visual standpoint. Not sure about some of the junky back yards, though, but at least Missoula is developing a more extensive off-road access corridor!
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