Yellowstone Heritage Trail

There’s no doubt that the Paradise Valley is a stunning place. One thing the communities surrounding Yellowstone lack? Trails. It’s common to see a parent pushing a stroller down the highway to reach local establishments. With no formal trails or pedestrian sidewalks in the area, residents lack safe passage options, especially during summer when tourists flood the town. The busy highway is often the only commuting option. 

But an abandoned rail corridor offers a new opportunity for the Paradise Valley. Teddy Roosevelt famously completed the first railroad to Yellowstone in 1903, delivering the first visitors to the park. Over time, that railroad disappeared, but the corridor it occupied was never developed. Some of that abandoned rail corridor will now serve a new purpose as the Yellowstone Heritage Trail.   

With the goal of connecting everyone in the Paradise Valley to the benefits and joys of the outdoors, Trust for Public Land and our partners are creating the Yellowstone Heritage Trail, a 49-mile trail that will enhance the entire valley’s connectivity to Yellowstone National Park. Residents of towns like Emigrant and Gardiner can hop on a bike and head safely to their local grocery store on a protected pathway or head out to meet friends at the river to go fishing.  

Trust for Public Land has started design and construction of the first three miles of this trail in Emigrant, Montana, but the journey is far from over. Continued collaboration, fundraising, and community support are crucial to achieving the ambitious goals of connecting Gardiner to Livingston and establishing Emigrant’s first park and trail.  

As more national parks experience a record-breaking number of visitors, Trust for Public Land is committed to helping gateway communities tap into their own assets—and stay vibrant in the face of natural disasters that shut them down—to bolster their economy, expand health benefits, and provide safe connectivity for people. In Emigrant, that means remaking its abandoned rail line into a dynamic trail. 

Transforming old rail lines to a green trail will lift the economy with new job opportunities, increase tourism, and contribute to the Great American Rail-Trail, a flagship initiative from our friends at Rails to Trails to create a multiuse trail coast to coast. With your help, we can unlock this community’s potential to build a well-loved and well-used trail for visitors and residents alike.