5.6 miles
Distance
689 ft
Climb
-1,423 ft
Descent
1 mile
High Point

This is a local's favorite Mount Helena Ridge ride, ending with Show-Me-the-Horse Trail. It is an extremely popular way to take advantage of the Bike Helena Trail Rider shuttle. Be careful exiting the bottom of Horse trail onto Grizzly Gulch Road

The only drawback to this route is that by choosing Show-Me-the-Horse Trail, you lose out on the two miles of the Mount Helena Ridge Trail (Lower), which are pretty sweet. Better make another lap!

Optional: descend Emmett's Trail, and climb back up Mini Ridge before continuing down the Ridge.

Detailed Description
Mount Helena Ridge to Show-Me-the-Horse is a 6 mile popular intermediate route located near Helena Montana. This mountain bike only route can be used one direction and has a moderate overall physical rating. This route includes 3 trails. This route climbs 689 ft with a max elevation of 5,821 ft then descends -1,423 ft.
Local Trail Association
Local trail association
Montana Bicycle Guild (www.montanabicycleguild.org)
Please consider joining or donating to the local riding association to support trail development & maintenance.
donate to earn trail karma!

6 Reviews & Comments


We hope you've been enjoying Trailforks!

Create a FREE account to view route comments and much more.

Details

  • Featured
  • Riding area
  • Primary Activity
    Mountain Bike
  • Difficulty rating
    Blue
  • Route Type
    Shuttled
  • Bike type
    AM
  • Direction
    One Direction
  • Physical rating
    Moderate
  • Ridelogs
    29
More Stats for Mount Helena Ridge to Show-Me-the-Horse mountain bike route
  • Avg time
    58 min 27 sec
  • Altitude change
    -734 ft
  • Altitude min
    4,469 ft
  • Altitude start
    5,203 ft
  • Altitude end
    4,469 ft
  • Grade
    -2.5%
  • Grade max
    -58.6%
  • Grade min
    68.4%
  • Distance climb
    2 miles
  • Distance down
    3 miles
  • Distance flat
    535 ft
Avg: 4.25 (4 votes)
close
3D
Trail Conditions
  • Unknown
  • Snow Groomed
  • Snow Packed
  • Snow Covered
  • Snow Cover Partial
  • Freeze/thaw Cycle
  • Icy
  • Prevalent Mud
  • Wet
  • Variable
  • Ideal
  • Dry
  • Very Dry
Trail Flow (Ridden Direction)
Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.
  • > 96%
  • > 90%
  • > 80%
  • > 70%
  • > 50%
  • < 50%
  • bi-directional trail
  • no data
Trail Last Ridden
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.
  • < 2 days
  • < 1 week
  • < 2 weeks
  • < 1 month
  • < 6 months
  • > 6 months
Trail Ridden Direction
The intended direction a trail should be ridden.
  • Downhill Only
  • Downhill Primary
  • Both Directions
  • Uphill Primary
  • Uphill Only
  • One Direction
Contribute Details
Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.
  • Description
  • Photos
  • Description & Photos
  • Videos
Trail Popularity ?
Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.
  • most popular
  • popular
  • less popular
  • not popular
ATV/ORV/OHV Filter
Max Vehicle Width
inches
US Cell Coverage
Legend
cell carrier legend

Radar Time
x Activity Recordings
Trailforks users anonymized public ridelogs from the past 6 months.
  • mountain biking recent
  • mountain biking (>6 month)
  • hiking (1 year)
  • moto (1 year)
Activity Recordings
Trailforks users anonymized public skilogs from the past 12 months.
  • Downhill Ski
  • Backcountry Ski
  • Nordic Ski
  • Snowmobile
Winter Trails
Warning A routing network for winter maps does not exist. Selecting trails using the winter trails layer has been disabled.
x Missing Trails
Most Popular
Least Popular
Trails are colored based on popularity. The more popular a trail is, the more red. Less popular trails trend towards green.
Jump Magnitude Heatmap
Heatmap of where riders jump on trails. Zoom in to see individual jumps, click circles to view jump details.
Trails Deemphasized
Trails are shown in grey.
disable
Only show trails with NO bikes.
enable

Save the current map location and zoom level as your default home location whenever this page is loaded.

Save
Trail transparency
205
85
533 | 1 faves
348
Helenduro 2023 - Stage 1 - Montana Enduro Series
Helenduro 2023 - Stage 1 - Montana Enduro Series
5:11 | 190 | comments: 0 | favs:
Aug 16, 2023
Helena Ridge First Drop Attempt
Helena Ridge First Drop Attempt
260 | comments: 0 | favs:
May 20, 2022
#fridayfails

Recent Trail Reports Along Route

statustraildateconditiondescription
Mount Helena Ridge Trail (Upper)
May 3, 2025 @ 3:31pm
May 3, 2025
Show-Me-The-Horse Trail
May 3, 2025 @ 3:31pm
May 3, 2025
more reports »
  • By evasiveTF Pro MBG & contributors
  • #73 - 9,627 views