Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor

Mary Erickson

My name is Brad Wilson. Back aprox. one year ago me along with some fellow sportsmen formed a group called Friends of the Crazy Mountains. This group was formed for two reasons, 1.) through the years these trails in the Crazy mountains have slowly deteriorated so bad that in some spots making it impossible to get through. We decided that it was time for someone to step up and help with the trail issues making our trails a little safer and better marked for easier access. We met with District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz who started giving us ideas and helping plan a maintenance schedule we could follow. 2.) The second part of our mission is to help preserve and protect our access points.

 

Since Alex has been reassigned we will now come to you There are numerous issues with some of the trails on the west side of the Crazy Mountains.There are many spots with blow down making traveling difficult and in some cases dangerous as well as tree blazes and markers that have faded or disappeared through the years, again creating a difficult situation for the traveling public.

The trails that need attention are Trail#s 258, 267, 268 and 260. On trail 267 south of the Porcupine Ranger Station after going aprox. 3/4 mile you come to a locked gate on the trail. At this point the trail pretty much disappears. Using a GPS I proceeded on stay on the trail. The blazes are very hard to see but with the trained eye I was able to see them and yes document them as well This part of the trail is in need of maintenance as it is extremely difficult  to know where it is there by causing a person to trespass on private property. This truly makes one wonder where the trail is at. I find it ridiculous that someone would need a $ 700 GPS unit to find this trail and stay on it.

I would like to set a meeting up with you or one of your staff to help address these issues. I would be available to take you or your staff to any of these points. Again I have willing people to help in doing maintenance on these trails. All we would need is a maintenance schedule from you. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Friends of the Crazy Mountains