Blacktail Connection Trail #417

Dogs Off-leash

Features Birding · Wildlife

From Highway 14 drive up Lightening Creek Road. The pavement turns to gravel as you climb towards McComas Meadows. Turn right onto Forest Road 451 (Blacktail Road) and continue climbing up the mountain. The trail begins on the right.

The trailhead can be very difficult to find. Look for a brown, non motorized use only sign, hidden in a dense tangle of brush.

From it's eastern terminus at Forest Road 451 (Blacktail Road), the trail begins climbing gently up a low ridge which quickly begins to steepen. The trail makes two switchbacks and then begins climbing straight up the ridge at a moderately steep grade, which grows gradually less steep as you continue to climb up the ridge.

The trail through here was slightly overgrown as of November 2020. As you near the highest point on the ridge the understory opens up considerably as the trail leads through an old commercial thin unit. Be careful not to loose the through here as it can be difficult to follow.

The then turns slightly to the right and begins descending gently down another spur ridge, soon passing through a metal gate and emerging onto Forest Road 451 (Blacktail Road), the same road it started on.