Bozeman, MT: Gallatin Valley Golden Triangle

Bozeman, MT: Gallatin Valley Golden Triangle

A 35 mile loop around the Gallatin Valley, connecting Belgrade, Bozeman, and Four Corners.

Author:	Jason Karp
Date:	31 Aug 2008 9:30:52 AM
Activity:	Bicycling ActivitySearchBicycling
State:	Montana (MT)
Distance:	34.59 mi (Change units)
Calories:	2428
Average Speed:	14.8 mph 0:04:03/mi
Duration:	Total: 2:28:09 Active: 2:20:26 Resting: 0:07:43
Elevation:	Total Gain: 745 ft Total Loss: 746 ft Net Change: -1 ft
Difficulty:	5 / 10
Tags:	Montana, Bozeman, Gallatin Valley, Four Corners, Belgrade
Rating:	Unrated Rate it

I am often asked how to get from Belgrade to Bozeman without getting run over. This route gets you to the Bozeman Area's busiest places on light traffic roads-if you don't mind a few extra miles. The ride works best on a quiet weekend morning. It's a loop, so you can jump in anywhere. An early start out of Belgrade avoids traffic on the busy and narrow two mile stretch of Frontage Road between Belgrade and Airport Road. After following the slightly meandering Airport Road to Springhill Road you'll come into Bozeman via McIllhattan and Manley Roads. This route into Bozeman takes you past some old industrial neighborhoods near the railroad tracks that are being redeveloped into all kinds of office, retail, and residential spaces. The real fun begins once you get to Main Street in Bozeman. With any luck you can catch the draft of a Suburban or some other SUV and fly down Main Street with the cars. It's always great fun. If you don't like the traffic there are plenty of quieter streets to navigate through Bozeman-but I always like to establish a cycling presence on Main Street whenever I ride there. Going out of Bozeman, the route takes you along the newly paved Durston Road, which up until August of 2008 was a gravel road. The new smooth pavement is a cyclist's delight! Durston takes you to some new subdivisions that don't have any houses yet-but have lots of new, smooth asphalt-I love a freshly platted subdivision! After passing through the unincorporated, but rapidly developing area, we locals call Four Corners you'll cross the Gallatin River and turn onto the lightly traveled and tranquil River Road as you make your way back to Belgrade to complete the loop. This route is the hub from which nearly every great road ride in the Bozeman area takes off. There are all kinds of trips just off this route for those who like to climb, ride rollers, or get into straighter roads with higher traffic. There's also limitless possibilities for food and drink along the way as you are never out of civilization.

Position Format:	Datum:

Tracks

Dist: 34.59 mi	Points: 976	Calories: 2428
Time: 2:28:09	Speed: 14.8 mph	Pace: 4:03 / mi

Distance	Instruction		Distance to next
0.00 mi	Straight	Belgrade City Hall-Central Avenue	Then go 0.07 mi
0.07 mi	Turn Right	Davis Street	Then go 0.09 mi
0.16 mi	Turn Left	Main Street (becomes Frontage Road aka MT 205)	Then go 1.45 mi
1.61 mi	Turn Left	Airport Road	Then go 4.12 mi
5.72 mi	Turn Right	Springhill Road	Then go 2.71 mi
8.43 mi	Turn Left	Sypes Canyon Road	Then go 0.22 mi
8.66 mi	Bear Right	McIllhattan Road	Then go 1.51 mi
10.16 mi	Bear Right	Manley Road	Then go 1.78 mi
11.94 mi	Turn Left	Griffin Drive	Then go 0.29 mi
12.23 mi	Bear Right	North Rouse Avenue	Then go 0.80 mi
13.04 mi	Turn Left	East Tamarack Street	Then go 0.16 mi
13.19 mi	Turn Right	North Wallace Avenue	Then go 0.67 mi
13.87 mi	Turn Left	East Main Street-Bozeman Public Library	Then go 0.09 mi
13.96 mi	U-Turn	Bozeman Public Library	Then go 0.01 mi
13.98 mi	Straight	East Main Street-Downtown Bozeman	Then go 1.96 mi
15.93 mi	Bear Right	West Babcock Street	Then go 1.82 mi
17.75 mi	Turn Right	Cottonwood Road	Then go 0.48 mi
18.23 mi	Turn Left	Durston Road	Then go 2.04 mi
20.27 mi	Straight	Black Bull Subdivision	Then go 0.84 mi
21.11 mi	Straight	Middle Creek Parklands Subdivision	Then go 0.57 mi
21.68 mi	Turn Left	Monforton School Road	Then go 0.51 mi
22.19 mi	Turn Right	Huffine Lane (US 191)	Then go 0.78 mi
22.97 mi	Straight	Norris Road (MT 84)	Then go 1.26 mi
24.23 mi	Turn Right	River Road	Then go 5.25 mi
29.48 mi	Turn Right	West Cameron Bridge Road	Then go 1.46 mi
30.94 mi	Turn Left	Thorpe Road	Then go 1.00 mi
31.94 mi	Turn Right	Frank Road	Then go 1.01 mi
32.95 mi	Turn Left	Jackrabbit Lane (MT 85)	Then go 0.93 mi
33.88 mi	Turn Right	Jefferson Avenue	Then go 0.21 mi
34.10 mi	Turn Left	Colorado Street	Then go 0.05 mi
34.15 mi	Bear Right	Broadway	Then go 0.38 mi
34.53 mi	Turn Right	East Central Avenue	Then go 0.05 mi
34.57 mi	Straight	Belgrade City Hall

Points of Interest

Belgrade City Hall

Location: 45.776907°, -111.175118°
Belgrade City Hall-downtown Belgrade, MT

Airport Road

Location: 45.762449°, -111.150527°
If there's traffic, turn right on to the Knife River, Inc's driveway, wait for traffic to clear, then proceed across Frontage Road (MT 205) to Airport Road

Bridger Mountains-Ross Peak

Location: 45.772956°, -111.118727°
The view of Ross Peak in the Bridger Mountains from Airport Road

Old Train Depot

Location: 45.688629°, -111.026588°
Bozeman's passenger train depot hasn't been used since the 1970's. There's talk of bringing Amtrak back to the southern Montana route and thus resurrecting the old depot!

Bozeman Public Library

Location: 45.678886°, -111.027274°
Bozeman's beautiful new library, with a coffee shop built right in!

Downtown Bozeman

Location: 45.679380°, -111.032789°
Main Street-downtown Bozeman, MT. Heading west it is slightly downhill. I like to draft SUV's and keep up with the cars (I don't suggest everyone try this-make sure you know what you're doing).

Durston Road

Location: 45.685587°, -111.121473°
Durston Road was a gravel road up until August of 2008. Now it's smooth as a baby's bottom!

Grain Elevator-River Road

Location: 45.677041°, -111.211982°
An old grain elevator along what once was a spur of the Milwaukee Road (the train tracks are long gone).

Black Bull and Middle Creek Subdivisions

Location: 45.683608°, -111.154647°
Newly platted in 2008-these subdivisions won't show on the map. But they're there and they have nice new paved roads and no traffic for now (until the houses get built).

Four Corners

Location: 45.671194°, -111.185632°
The intersection of US 191, MT 84 and MT 85, has seen a large unicorporated community spring up with lots of commercial and residential growth. The interection is busy-but I've never had any trouble getting through it-there's wide shoulders.

Frontage Road (MT 205)

Location: 45.772575°, -111.170064°
Be cautious on the Frontage Road. For a short distance traffic will be busy and there is minimal shoulder. YOU MUST RIDE SINGLE FILE!

Rockford Coffee

Location: 45.679193°, -111.046404°
Rockford Coffee at 7th and Main is popular with cyclists. They show the Tour de France and the other grand tours on their TV's. Their logo can be spotted on local team jerseys, and they sponsor other cycling activities in and around Bozeman.