Summer is for Mountain Biking King’s Hill

If you say King’s Hill around Central Montana most folks think of skiing at Showdown Montana Ski Area. The ski area used to be called King’s Hill and that’s also the name of the mountain pass where the ski runs are located.

Recently though, we decided to get some video footage of mountain biking in the King’s Hill area.

It didn’t take long to line up some mountain biking models. A couple of gals who work at Showdown Montana Ski Area were eager to escape the office and show off some biking skills in their back yard.

The day – simply beautiful. You couldn’t have asked for better conditions with a cool, crisp morning but plenty of sunshine. Although, I’m glad I packed a fleece.

I had a few ideas that I wanted to do to set the stage for showing off this area.

We climbed a fairly steep hill on a rather bumpy two lane track and once we got to the top I could see the all of the ski runs at Showdown across the highway. Each time we do a video I want it to be place-specific, not anywhere USA. My goal was to showcase not only the great mountain biking terrain, but also the amazing views in the area.

Whenever I get out of the office I realize the things that we take for granted can easily be overlooked and forgotten.

One example, the wildflowers were absolutely stunning this time of year. Not showy, big blooms like arrowleaf balsamroot, but literally a carpet of delicate blooms that we were stepping (and riding) on!

One idea I had for the “shot list” was to have the mountain bikers hoist their bikes in the air when they got to the top of the hill and then have the ski runs at Showdown visible in the background. A great idea but our models soon found out, those bikes are heavy!

But, hoist they did! And they held them long enough for several photos. They commented afterwords that their arms were a bit sore although it was a very fun photo.

We wanted to explore more but the clock was ticking and we had quite a few miles to go for some more video work.

And, I think our models might have been getting a bit weary. I know I would have been if I was climing up and down that terrain.

That beautiful yellow lab pup could have gone all day without stopping though!

Trails in this area are on the Lewis & Clark National Forest. You can ride, ride, ride and not run out of trails for a long time! And this area is easily accessible from US Hwy 89.

If you want details on mountain biking trails on the Lewis & Clark National Forest you can visit their offices in Great Falls, the Belt Creek Ranger Station on US Hwy 89 near Monarch or the Kings Hill office in White Sulphur Springs.

Our video – still not done – but I’m having a good time seeing the different locations and styles of mountain bikers. More to come!