Not far from my door is a trail that leads up to a Missoula landmark a huge concrete letter 'M' on the side of Mount Sentinel which looks over the Missoula valley. Thousands of hikers follow the M trail switchbacks up to the M each year. University of Montana students use it to take an exercise break from classes. Ecology and geology classes use it for short field trips. But like most popular trails, the M trail is in danger of being loved to death.
People take short cuts, creating many new trails, often steep trails that erode badly.
Exotic weeds move up these disturbed trails and invade the native prairie of Mt. Sentinel . One of the worst spots was right by the M itself. Unathorized trails cut the slopes all around the M causing large amounts of erosion. I decided to see if I could do something about these problems for my Eagle Scout project. We agreed that hikers should be directed around the steep, eroding trails by the M to a gentler, well designed trail nearby.