Bozeman, MT

Burke Park/Gallagator Linear Trail

Running Time: 55:35.5 + 2-minute kick

This run was fine, although I got off on the wrong track and did a fair amount of muddy wandering, but the scenery was much better on the wrong track, it turned out. The plan was to run the Gallagator Trail out and back. It started behind the library in downtown Bozeman, and it was asphalt, which threw me, because I thought I had seen photos of a gravel path on All Trails.

I do not like asphalt. It promotes concussions. There was a muddy trail up a hill – too steep and muddy for a run, but then I came to a road and saw a better trail headed up the hill, so I took that.

This diversion took me into a network of dirt and gravel trails that covered a ridge and spilled into adjacent farmland. The mud almost got me on the initial incline, but I shifted over onto the grass. The view from the ridge was spectacular, even on a cold and wet day.

There were, in fact, many treacherous areas of potential slippage along the route I ended up taking, but that also meant no other runners. It was only when I got back onto asphalt that I found human company.

When I came back around to the library, I had another 12 minutes or so to run, so I headed back down the Gallagator Trail and crossed the road I had stopped at before, and lo and behold, the trail turned into a gravel trail. I just had not run far enough.

The day had started with snow in Twin Falls, which followed me through Pocatello and up to Idaho Falls, where it warmed slightly and got sunny on the way to Butte, and then the rains hit between Butte and Bozeman. I found a gas station with a good beer selection near my hotel in Belgrade and tried a couple local beers that night that did not disappoint.