April brings a sigh of relief to Hyalite
The first of April marks the closing of the gate at the bottom of Hyalite Canyon. The spring closure only allows non-motorized use of the road up the canyon. If Hyalite had a soul, it would be giving a sigh of relief for this month and a half of respite from the relentless parade of vehicle traffic.
I took a bike ride up the Hyalite road recently and appreciated how different the experience of the canyon is when things are quiet. Instead of dodging other vehicles and icy ruts, I was able to focus on the sound of Hyalite creek bubbling down toward Bozeman.
At one point on my ride I stopped and got off my bike. I strolled up a hill where the snow had melted off and sat for a bit to experience the scene. The air was pungent with the smell of elk. The elk in Hyalite canyon know which hills and ridges melt off first and they take advantage of whatever grasses and plants might be available to eat. They have made it through the winter, and they are hungry. I vacated the spot and let the elk have their space.
Spring in Hyalite is a time for treading delicately. Other times of the year Hyalite sees a great deal of use by people, but spring is the exception. We need to back off and let nature refresh herself before the summer crowds arrive.
One of the stewardship activities that the Friends of Hyalite is responsible for is to keep track of the vehicle traffic in Hyalite canyon. We have electronic vehicle counters that are placed in different locations along the road from the bottom of the canyon to Grotto and Palisade Falls. Every time a vehicle passes in front of one of the counters, it detects a shift of the magnetic field and records it.
My task on this bike ride was to collect data from the counters. Friends of Hyalite checks the counters and downloads the data to a laptop computer, which is later uploaded to a website for analysis. The Bozeman Ranger District of the Forest Service uses this data to allocate how much of their resources goes to Hyalite.
During the summer the number of vehicles reaches over 25,000 per month. During the winter traffic averages around 10,000 vehicles per month. If you figure that most vehicles have two people in it, that comes out to a lot of people visiting and recreating in Hyalite!
Some people wonder why the Hyalite road is closed in the spring. The primary reason for the closure is that the ground gets soft from the melting snow and if vehicles are pounding up the road it creates potholes that ruin the road surface. See the picture below of a budding pothole in the road near Lick Creek. Let’s be grateful for the closure in the spring: this is the one time of year when nature gets a break.
Peter Bennett
