Trailblazing in Sypes Canyon, Bozeman

I did this hike in Mid Feb, when it hadn't snowed in a few days The trail was nicely compacted, nice canyon views, and some real friendly hikers along the way - Bozeman, kudos!

A nice mixture of water, protected forest cover, and open south facing views

Clean

This is technically the only trail I hike in the Valley currently, I like the overall challenge, the trail starts pretty gradually, the first 2.4 miles are mostly forested and under cover, it's also the only area where you may encounter black bears, but they're mostly active during dawn and dusk, and during the night. Around 2.4 miles you'll hit the first ridge overlooking the valley, from there it slowly works its way up for another 2.2 miles where you'll encounter a stone cairn around mile 4.6 where there trail splits in 3, the rightmost I've been told goes to the M, the middle follows the ridge east towards the peaks, and the left is a spur that goes slightly north and eventually climbs steeply south to link up with the ridgeline trail. The ridgeline trail meets up with the higher trail to the M around 7 miles, the false peaks are only a short climb farther to the north, Baldy Peak is actually the third of the peaks and it's slightly northeast of the two smooth topped peaks if I'm reading the topographical map right.

Nice trail up to a ridge viewpoint. Continue on for more views at around 2.5 miles in.