Trail Sections

- Major Road Crossings
- Lampman Park
- Bannister Drain
- Airport Road
- Aronson & Alkali Creek
- Shiloh Underpass
- King Avenue East
- Swords Park
- Rimrock Road

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Swords Park

Summer 2009
$400,000 has been secured through the federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus monies) to construct the continuation of the trail in Swords Park. These funds combined with CTEP dollars previously secured and some additional funding will allow the City of Billings to connect the Swords Park Trail that was built on the west end over to Skeleton Cliff and eventually to the trails and underpasses that have been placed as part of the Airport Road Project. This will allow trail users to bike or walk from Swords Park to Alkali Creek and Aronson Road Trails and then to the east to the “hopeful” Main Street Underpass through Earl Guss Park and to the existing trail from Mary Street down to the Yellowstone River. BikeNet has promised to contribute $125,000 for the match for the Main Street Underpass. What a huge connection that will provide for the citizens and visitors of Billings.

Swords trail end

Looking east, shows where the current trail ends into Black Otter Trail Road

Swords view from Skeleton Cliff

View from Skeleton Cliff - trail will connect historical sites to the east

Spring 2007

The Swords Park Trail offers another venue besides recreation and the outdoor experience of beautiful vistas of the City and the Yellowstone Valley below. If you venture there in the spring, keep your eye up close and personal to catch the beautiful array of spring wildflowers that adorn the trail on either side of the corridor. With our exceptionally wet spring this year, the lovely spring ladies were out in their best attire.

Low Larkspur Draba Milk Vetch wild buckwheat

Fall 2005
Two miles of the Swords Park Trail were completed earlier this summer and are experiencing extensive use. It is a beautiful section of trail as it meanders across the Rims and provides spectacular vistas of the City and the Yellowstone RiverValley.

The BikeNet group placed several benches and picnic tables along the corridor for users to enjoy. The trail was dedicated the end of June and runs from the west end of the park by 27th St. to where Black Otter Trail splits. Eventually the City of Billings hopes to connect this section of trail to the east end of the park towards Boothill Cemetary. It will also connect to the north to the pedestrian underpass that will be built as part of the Airport Road redevelopment project linking into the Alkali Creek area and the trail that is being built as part of the Alkali Creek Road project. Although a route has not been determined, it is hoped that a link will also be made to the existing trail along MetraPark with a safer crossing of Main Street and providing a continuous trail system in the area.

Spring 2005
The construction crews have been out for a couple of weeks now and despite weather related delays. C&S has made considerable progress in grading the trail and restoring eroded areas within the construction perimeters of the trail. It is shaping up to be a true showcase of the trail system in the Billings community. With it’s prime location on top of the Rims, it provides beautiful vistas of the Yellowstone River Valley, the Beartooth and Pryor Mountains in the horizon as well as the City of Billings below and in the Heights. This trail will truly be the “Signature” trail that helps define the multi-use paths in the Billings community.