The Iron Spring Trail is located is southeast Montana, in Custer Gallatin National Forest. This place is extremely remote and doesn’t get much credit for its dozens of miles of trail. The hills in this part of the state are just high enough to receive more rain than the surrounding grasslands, and as a result have some beautiful pine forests.
The closest town is Ekalaka. The trailhead is southeast of town off Snow Creek Rd (Forest Road 3117) The road is a bit rough but was passible in my Corolla. There is an unlocked gate that you are allowed to go through (I asked), just close it after you pass so the cows don’t get out.
The loop itself is about 8.7 miles with 600 feet of gain. It has a couple miles of forest road and several miles of rolling double track trail that doesn’t receive much use. You will likely have the place to yourself, besides cows and pronghorn. There is a small stream about halfway through and great views from the ridge on the west side of the loop.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/montana/iron-spring-trail
Comments
https://www.strava.com/activities/7867513649/shareable_images/image?tok…
https://youtu.be/s-hDQaWr3Wg. Video of run. Clips of first miles as well.
On 9/25/2022, I ran the Iron Springs FKT I beat the time and put up a 1hr 8 min 9 sec
I submitted for FKT and never got a response from Website even after 2 emails. Unfortunately, my watch was not connected to GPS when I took off but I did start/stop from the same location. there is only one trail to run on and you can tell from my GPSLine I was on the trail. This is a scenic location but you have to really want to get here I had been exploring the Slim Buttes of SD and Cave Hill N/S in SD We decided to come over and see what this area had to offer. I feel like I could come back here again.
For what it’s worth-Take this as the TIME to BEAT! Happy Runnin-Lance Smith
I put moving time. Elapsed time was 1:08.16 per Strava. Lance Smith.