The South Hills and Mount Helena City Park trails are gorgeous. I absolutely love them! But there’s something about the rawness of the Scratchgravels that is also appealing. Maybe it is that they seem underappreciated, and I think it would be great if they felt a little love and care! 🙂 So onto another Scratchgravel trailhead – John G Mine Road! If you are curious about some of the other trailheads, click the links (Norris; Head Lane).
This is not one of our go-to spots. It is convenient if you live in the North Valley, but if not, there are a lot of other trails to choose from that are closer!
When our boys are hiking this one, we never make it very far. There are a couple of stops along the way where the boys entertain themselves climbing large boulders. Overall, we find this is a good area if you only have 30-60 minutes. Of course you can always make it longer, but we like it for a shorter outing.
If you do decide to make it longer, there are some nice trails and high points that offer views of the valley and surrounding mountains.
Sometimes in the winter the road to the main trailhead is too snowy, so we park down below and just wander until we find some rock outcrops or some fallen trees. Along the way, we enjoy the stillness and taking in the views of the valley.
A couple other notes – This is usually a quiet trailhead. There is also quite a bit of cacti around here, so we usually don’t venture off the trail (except to climb boulders, but those are close to the trail).
Have you hiked from the John G. Mine trailhead? Thoughts??? 🙂