Montana Riders Warned After Dangerous Trail Discovery

One of the things I've always liked about Montana is that most of us can agree on at least one thing: public land is for everybody.

You might be riding a dirt bike. Your neighbor might be riding a horse. Somebody else is hiking, mountain biking, hunting, or cruising around in a side-by-side. We don't always agree on how public land should be used, but at the end of the day, we're all out there for the same reason. We enjoy being outside.

That's why reports of someone stringing barbed wire across trails in Jefferson County have a lot of people fired up.

According to reports, authorities are investigating multiple incidents near Pipestone and Bernice involving barbed wire allegedly stretched across trails used by off-road riders. In one reported incident, an 11-year-old dirt bike rider encountered wire that had reportedly been strung across a trail at about chest height.

Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt.

Somebody Could Have Been Killed

The more I think about this story, the harder it is to write off as some kind of prank.

This isn't toilet paper in a tree. This isn't somebody spray painting a sign. If somebody intentionally stretched barbed wire across a trail, they had to know there was a chance someone could hit it.

It doesn't take much imagination to figure out how badly that could end.

A dirt bike rider. A mountain biker coming around a corner. A horseback rider. Even a hiker moving through the area at the wrong time. This kind of behavior doesn't target one group of outdoor users. It puts everybody at risk.

Public Land Is Hard Enough Without This

Montana already has plenty of arguments about trail access and recreation. We debate where motorized vehicles belong. We argue about trail maintenance, hunting access, and land use.

But I think most of us can agree that setting traps isn't the answer.

What really sticks with me is that a kid was involved in one of these incidents. An 11-year-old should be worrying about riding trails and having fun outdoors, not wondering whether somebody strung a piece of barbed wire across the next section of trail.

Whether you're a hunter, biker, rider, hiker, or horseback enthusiast, we all share these places. Whoever is responsible for these incidents isn't helping their cause, whatever that cause might be.

They're just making Montana's public lands less safe for everyone.