Hikers’ Haven Area: Three Trails
Rocky Juniper, Big Sky and Doug Fir Trails
with Bear Canyon Creek Trail nearby
This area east of Bear Canyon and north of Horse Haven Road is one of the best places on Big Pryor Mountain to escape motorized commotion – a Haven for Hikers. The four trails can be connected with each other for loop hikes. Surprising diversity is available in these hikes. Landscapes and ecosystems range from open grasslands (with great views), to rugged and rocky hills, juniper scrubland to secluded Douglas fir forests. The Bear Canyon Trail adds riparian canyon bottomland including aspen groves. Longer hikes reach the Pryors sub-alpine high country above 8,000 ft. elevation.
These south Pryors hikes are available in early spring and late fall when high mountain trails are snowed in. The best times for hiking in this area may be March through May or June, and September through November. Depending on the weather hiking is sometimes possible in winter. July and August can be quite hot in the low country.
Map Notes: The Big Sky Ridge Trail extends northeast, off the map for a couple miles to 8,466 foot elevation Red Pryor Mountain. With some bushwhacking the Doug Fir Trail does too. The Bear Canyon Ridge Trail extends about 3/4 mile north off the map and loops back. (See individual hike guides.) The boxed letters C through G refer to the driving directions below.
Click to see hike guides for each trail. (Download and print guides to take with you.)
Driving directions for getting to Hikers’ Haven are below on this page.
Detailed Maps and Driving Directions to Pryor Mountain hiking trailheads are available on the Hiking Overview page.
Wilderness!
All four of these trails begin on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, but soon extend north into Custer Gallatin National Forest (CGNF) land. The new CGNF Management Plan designates a 10,366 acre the Bear Canyon Recommended Wilderness Area including all these routes. (The Pryors Coalition lobbied CGNF long and hard to get this designation.) BLM should match CGNF by similarly designating the approximately 1,800 acres north from Horse Haven Road to the USFS boundary and west to Bear Canyon. Congress should formally designate the whole area (and more) as Wilderness. The Bear Canyon Recommended Wilderness Area extends about 4 miles north from the upper border of the above map.
Official Route Designations - and Not:
Currently (November 2021), none of these routes have signed trailheads, marked trails, maps or other public information provided by the managing agencies. The guides on this website hopefully provide this needed information.
BLM
BLM’s new 2021 Travel Plan for the Pryors formally designates the BLM sections of these trails as “non-mechanized” routes. That means they are designated for foot-travel (human or horse) only. No motorized or wheeled vehicles are allowed. Unfortunately the BLM sections are only 0.5, 1.4, 1.0, and 0.4 miles respectively for the Bear Canyon Creek, Rocky Juniper, Big Sky and Doug Fir Trails. Then the trails enter CGNF managed land. Fortunately this BLM designation (if enforced) will prevent ATV and mountain bike access to the much longer CGNF sections of the trails in the CGNF Recommended Wilderness Area. In summer 2022 BLM installed trailhead signs for these four trails, and several”Trail” signs at appropriate places along the Rocky Juniper Trail.
CGNF
CGNF’s Pryors Travel Plan does not designate any of these routes as hiking trails. CGNF does not provide any public information or maps of hiking opportunities in the Pryors. They do not sign or maintain these trails. The Rocky Juniper, Big Sky, and Doug Fir Trails were identified, named, and posted on this website after Custer National Forest failed to designate hiking trails in their 2008 Travel Plan. (They did designate one, the Crater Ice Cave Trail, less than 2 miles long.)
Getting to Hikers’ Haven: Driving Directions.
The drive from Billings MT to the trailheads takes somewhat less than 2 hours. Use the Pryors Map Set and the map above with these directions to find the trailheads.
Drive to Warren MT, 21 miles south of Bridger MT, on Highway 310. Look for the Montana Limestone Company sign. There is no “town” at Warren. Warren is where limestone from the quarry at the southwest corner of Big Pryor Mountain is loaded onto railroad cars.
A. 0.0 miles: Warren MT. From Hwy 310, turn east onto Helt Road toward the Pryors. If you are traveling south on Highway 310 it is a left turn. Follow this paved road for 2.7 miles to a junction.
B. 2.7 miles: Helt Rd. – Quarry Rd. junction. The BLM sign on the right fork says, “Stockman Trail 1.5” and “Bear Canyon Road 3.5”, but does not list Horse Haven Rd. (The paved road continues left as Quarry Rd.) Turn right to continue on Helt Rd. which is now narrower and gravel. Drive past BLM signs for Stockman Trail and Bear Canyon Rd.
(See boxed letters C through G on map above.)
C. 7.1 miles: Helt Rd – Gyp Springs Rd junction. This is a “Y” in the road. Take the left fork, over the cattle guard, which is Helt Rd. (The right fork is the Gyp Springs Rd.) Continue 0.4 miles on Helt Rd. to a BLM sign for Horse Haven Rd.
D. 7.5 miles: Helt Rd - Horse Haven Road #1021 junction. Turn left onto Horse Haven Rd. The road soon becomes too rough for most highway vehicles. Higher clearance vehicles are recommended, but 4WD is not needed when the road is dry. (Up to this point Helt Rd is good gravel and suitable for most highway vehicles when snow free.)
E. 8.4 miles (0.9 miles on Horse Haven Rd): Rocky Juniper Trailhead. A “Y” junction. The left fork into a rocky canyon ends in a couple hundred yards at the trailhead for the Rocky Juniper Trail. The right fork is Horse Haven Rd continuing to the Big Sky and Doug Fir Trailheads.
D. Horse Haven Rd. Turn left.
E. "Y" junction. Left to Rocky Juniper Trailhead; Right to Big Sky and Doug Fir Trailheads.
F. 9.3 miles (1.8 miles on Horse Haven Rd): Big Sky Trailhead. On the left side of Horse Haven Rd there is a jackleg fence barrier with a sign indicating the area is closed to motorized use. This is the start of the Big Sky Trail.
G. 10.3 miles (2.8 miles on Horse Haven Rd): Doug Fir Trailhead. The post and rocks mark the start of the Doug Fir Trail curving left (north) from Horse Haven Rd.
F. Rocky Juniper Trailhead.
G. Doug Fir Trailhead.