Wheeling in Montana. (Pictures of course)

Last winter, I had joined because there was a guy looking for guys to go wheeling with up here. Never did get back to me. So, after being depressed about it for a while, feeling like I was betrayed, and after gaining 60 pounds from eating to make me happy, I decided to loose the weight, dump some more money into the truck, and take it out.

For those around the Flathead Valley area, or those wanting to come here, the ONLY OHV park that I have found is the Wild Bill OHV park. Very cool trail that starts at Blacktail Mountain, cuts across Truman Saddle, and eventually comes out at an unknown area (I have yet to go on the other side of the trail).

It is either a beginners trail, or I believe a 6 (do not quote me on that, just from what I've read, and seen). You can go around most of the bigger obstacles, but what is fun in that? I unfortunately will be going around them until I get my lift with bigger tires.

Other then the actually OHV park, there are a ton of logging roads and forest service roads. None are all that exciting, however, the views you see of the valley are what makes it fun. One trail in particular etched into my mind is one I found behind that climbs Big Mountain.

You start out by going past the Big Mountain turn off, heading towards the road that loops to the back side of Whitefish Lake. You will go to a dead end if you continue on the road, and it really narrows out after about 3 miles, but don't give up.

Anyway, there is one house in particular that you need to look out for. It is sitting on top of a hill with a rock wall that comes down to the edge of the narrow road, creating a really cool blind spot. After you pass that particular house, you will be entering the Stillwater National Forest, where there is a nice little Folf course. After you pass that course, you will go around a bend, and see a gravel road climbing up with a gate that should be open if you come in the summer time. If you continue on the paved road, you will run into a snow mobile access road, but who cares about that.

Go up the gravel road about 8 - 10 miles, and you will see yet another access road that goes to the right. This is where it starts to get cool. You will be driving up hill most of the time, continuing on thinking "This is starting to get boring", but soon you will round a corner with no trees in the way. Make sure you don't have anybody coming down the hill or coming up, stop, get out, and look. You should see a portion of Whitefish Lake, and the east side of the valley. You may think that's an awesome sight, but it gets better.

Continue on, and you'll start seeing all kinds of cool stuff. A small waterfall, a red dirt road, yet another access road that leads down (closed off every time I go up there), and then, you will see what made me gape. The entire valley floor stretching from the southern edge of Whitefish to the southern end of Kalispell.

But you still haven't seen it all! Continue on, and you will finally get to the top of Big Mountain. You should see a radio tower, and a road leading up to it, which will give you views of Glacier National Park* farther to the north, and a large building with ski lifts.

Continue on the road. It is a designated road, after all. There will be people walking on it, so just be careful.

This is where the road starts to get your heart pumping. The road goes to the front side of the mountain, which means you start to go down. Going down is fine, but this hill is steep. VERY steep. I had my truck in low gear and my foot practically on the floor with the brake pedal, and my truck was still sliding down. I suggest going extremely slow down this hill, and maybe having somebody going down taking pictures, as your truck will be flexing like crazy (unfortunately, this was a solo trip of mine, and I never got pictures). You'll see more views of the valley, but you'll mostly be paying attention to your driving.

After scaling the hill, stop and start taking pictures, because you see the best view available. Absolutely Gorgeous. You can see the north end of Flathead Lake, all of Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, and part of Bigfork.

After taking it all in, you will be extremely pissed off at this point. Why? Because if you continue on the road, you will realize that this part of the road is patrolled by Big Mountain Staff, and they have their own gate.

Which leaves you only two options. The first is to go back up the hill, and go back the 10 miles of trail you went through. In my case, this was not an option, as my four wheel drive does not work in my Ranger, and it would be impossible to make it up the hill you come down without it.

That leaves you option number 2, which is a lot more fun. Going down yet another access trail that goes down one of the ski slopes. You will see a lot of angles with your rig, as the slope is well developed for skiers. You'll be tucking tire, and if you aren't careful enough, dragging your frame if you have a stock suspension like myself.

Do not worry about the legality of this. I came out on the designated road with a couple of police officers at the bottom who were taking a break. I stopped and asked them if what I just did was illegal, and they said no.

Other then those two trails, there are lots and lots of small trails that lead to the popular trucking sport here: Mudding. Not my favorite thing in the world, but it is sort of fun having a dirty truck.

Now, after reading all that, I imagine you all are waiting for pictures. These are in no particular order, and I have some of both trucks.

Criticism is always welcome:



































And that is all for now.

If you would like High Resolution pictures of any of those, please let me know. Also, I have a lot more scenery shots as well. If you would like to see those, let me know.

Thanks for looking. If this is the wrong section, I apologize. I will add more to this thread as I go.