Jason Frey's Montana Real Estate: Family Hike to History Rock by Jason Frey

I had the opportunity this past weekend to take a morning and enjoy it with my family, which is something we do not get to do as often as I would like. My wife and I currently have two children, our son is almost 4, our daughter is 18 months, and we are expecting #3 in December. We are not crazy but, if the family continues to expand at this rate we may be soon. Spare time is at a premium and enjoying it all together is rarer still. So when the opportunity arose for a family hike we were all excited. As I have said previously, the most difficult part of recreating in the Bozeman area is choosing what to do and where to do it. The possibilities are as near endless as it gets. My wife and I are stealing an idea from my cousin Seth and his wife Brooke, we are taking 52 hikes in the Bozeman area and writing each of them on a playing card. When it comes time to choose a path, we simply choose a card and head out, it makes the selection process much easier and when we have done the first 52 we can add, cull, supplement our favorites and re-shuffle.

History Rock is a short, 2.4 mile loop that begins a short distance below Hyalite Reservoir in the Gallatin National Forest. The name of the hike is derived from a large limestone rock poised along the trail that has had a number of names scribed into it over the years. According to our hiking book there are names on the rock that date back into the 1800's from hunters and settlers in the area. The hike starts from a well maintained parking area and crosses a large meadow before heading up into the lodgepole pine forest. The trail shadows a small creek for most of the way and the sound of water can be heard from multiple locations along the trail.

We started out just after 9:30am so the wildlife activity was not as high as I would have liked but we had a great time pointing out different animal tracks in the moist trail. My son is enamored with all types of wildlife and asked a never-ending string of questions about each track. Why did the horse have shoes on? Why are elk toes pointed? Are coyotes really like dogs? Can I step in that? He also saw a "really big bird" when running ahead of us and, sure enough, when we caught up with him there was a large owl stirring about 20 feet up in the pines.

Our youngest grew tired of being ported along in the luxury of our kid-carrying backpack and insisted on walking for a portion of the trail. This forced us all to slow down a little, we all took a little deeper sniff of the roses, feeling the warmth of the late summer sun cutting through the cool of the trees. We came across one other hiker along the trail, a older gentleman who looked to be in his late 60's or early 70's. We stopped and exchanged pleasantries, he commented on the beauty of the morning and commended us for getting the whole clan out and about. I told him we could not bear to waste the morning, and had to get out on the trail. He looked wistful as he talked of his children and grandchildren's adventures on the very trail that we were following and encouraged us to keep at while we could. "Times go fast", he said, "and before you know it, you'll be out here alone."

We continued on, upon reaching our destination, we took a few minutes to crawl on the rocks, gather moss and pine cones so when we clean out the car in a month or two there is something more to remind us of the morning, snap some photos, then began our return to the trailhead. After getting back we loaded up and headed about a mile farther up the canyon to the reservoir for a picnic lunch and quick splash on the boat ramp.

The hike took about 2 hours round trip, adults without kids or with older children would probably be able to complete the loop in closer to one hour. It was time well spent and we look forward to drawing another card soon.