BILLINGS RIMROCK TRAIL

Location: Billings
Type: Mountain Bike
Rating: VAries, easy to difficult
Mileage: 4.5 miles or longer, many options

Despite the urban setting, on a clear day from the Rimrocks you can spot no fewer than five distinct mountain ranges teeming with wild country: the Pryors, Bighorns, Beartooths, Snowies and Crazies. For a leisurely ride, plan simply to go out and back on the Black Otter Trail. Then, for a fun trail ride, head to Zimmerman Park and Rimrock Trail West (see below).

Riding the Rimrock Trail is a rather surreal experience, offering Moab-like slickrock ledges, sandstone humps and canyon rims, yet with a bustling, cacophonous ambiance of jet planes landing, city buildings rising below, horns honking, sirens wailing and a busy highway just to the north.

The easiest portion of the Rimrock Trail is that found in Zimmerman Park, an area west of Zimmerman Trail and east of a private-property fence. It's not a large expanse of land, yet you'll find a surprisingly diverse selection of single-track and double-track trails to explore.