Trails are the passageways that connect us to outdoor adventures. The Last Best TRAILS is about year-round real-life human-powered trail sports in the greater Bozeman and Big Sky area. The book has been "drawn" from the past six years of exploring "The Last Best Place" on foot, bike, and ski. Exploration and adventures shouldn't be limited to the ultra-elite athletes but our public lands. We have all ages and experience levels to celebrate and experience getting out year-round in SW Montana. This book's mission is to start the stoke about our true treasures in this region of the treasure state and give a starting point of how to get the most enjoyment out of each activity safely. So lace, buckle on your footwear, and let's get out and explore The 100 Last Best Trails! "It's hard to imagine the sheer time and effort needed to create a comprehensive guide to southwest Montana's hiking, biking, and ski trails. Luckily, you won't ever have to take on such a monolithic task, because Bryan Schaeffer has done it for you. In his book, The Last Best Trails Montana (SINTR, ), he covers a multitude of trails in Bozeman, Big Sky, and the surrounding area. It's filled with detailed artwork and illustrations that complement trail maps and interesting local facts. I'm particularly impressed with Shaeffer's gear rundowns, and he even dives into different bike geometries. The book's also got QR codes that link to relevant videos, maps, and podcasts. All in all, Schaeffer's guidebook should be a coffee-table mainstay for any Bozeman local, and an essential reference for Ligotti - Outside Bozeman Magazine, Summer 2023 PREFACE Trails are the passageways that connect us to outdoor Hundreds of people move to Bozeman every year and thousands travel to the area for its world-famous skiing and outdoor recreation.  The greater Bozeman/Big Sky area "The Bozone" encompasses an area from the headwaters of the Missouri to the West to the Absoroka Beartooth Mountain Ranges to the East and Yellowstone National Park to the South.  The Bridger Mountain range just outside of town encloses the Bozone to the North.  This is the area of focus of this trails book.     With so many trails and year-round adventures to be had in this greater Yellowstone region, the goal of this book is to be the virtual trailhead.  The Last Best Trails is a starting point base camp for your trail adventures scheming.  Whether it is a morning stroll around town trails with family members of all ages, or an epic mountain traverse, this book will give you the lay of the land and resources to dig in The second purpose of this book is to advocate for public lands.   The access to year-round trails is part of what makes Bozeman such a desirable community.  There is a connection with the health and wellness of the people here and the restorative connective powers to commune with nature that this provides.     When we spend time together outdoors together breathing the mountain air, experiencing wildlife, getting the blood flowing, we deepen the connections between each other and the natural world that we are a part This book was developed with the input of dozens of local trail experts, athletes, and land management organizations.  We encourage you to listen to the Podcasts and learn more about how these public lands are cared for.  With careful planning and representation, we have a better chance of preserving these sacred places for future The Last Best TRAILS is about year-round real life human-powered trail sports in the greater Bozeman and Big Sky area.  The book has literally been "drawn" from the past 6 years of exploring "The Last Best Place" on foot, bike, and Exploration and adventures shouldn't be limited to the ultra-elite athletes.   We invite all ages and experience levels to experience getting out year-round in SW Montana.   The Norwegian term "friluftsliv," means open-air practice of open-air living encourages outdoor adventures for all ages in all types of this day and age of remote work, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, meaningful experiences with real people in nature are more critical than This book's mission is to start the stoke about our true treasures in this region of the treasure state and give a starting point of how to get the most enjoyment out of each activity safely. Entrepreneurial pioneers established Bozeman to equip prospectors traveling west to booming gold towns. Today it is the epicenter of the latest boom. Incredible access to outdoor recreation is drawing attention far and It seemed fitting to design a modern guide that captures the adventurous, explorative nature of the place and people who have inhabited it throughout the The Schaeffer family spent six years (24 seasons) hiking, mountain biking, and skiing in the "Bozone." Hundreds of trails were explored, GPS mapped and photographed. The trails we kept returning to made it into this three sport The book rewards the curious. The deeper you dig, the mor