The east side of Helena has a lot of neighborhood trails. If the trailhead lacks adequate parking, the trails will not be discussed on this site at this point. Three main pockets of trails dot the estside. Bompart Hill, Far East, and Nob Hill (all described on this page). Eddye McClure East is also not covered by this website at this time.
Bompart Hill area is a nice little section of trails off to the NE from the main complex of Mount Ascension trails. You can access Bompart from the Prickly Pear trail that begins here and at the Beattie St. trailhead or any of the three trailheads below. This area is well used and the lower trails on the north side skirt a few people’s backyards. Still, the views of Helena are great, and this area boasts a nice variety of birdlife, wildflowers, and butterflies during the warmer months.
A bit farther east, are two more trails unconnected to the main south hills system- Far East and Nob Hill. Far East is a lovely climbing trail with a small historic district about half way up. Nob Hill is a small parcel of city land which is surrounded by private property and offers nice views of the valley. Please be respectful of the private property owners when using these trails.
Trailhead Locations: ///amuses.collateral.beans or ///polite.opportunity.frosts
Bompart Hill Summit: ///song.besides.nags
Diehl Drive Trailhead
This trailhead offers only limited onstreet parking in a neighborhood. The trail climbs quickly to an intersection with Rocky Road. Technically, I think this is the Rocky Road trail, but I’ve chosen to refer to it as Deihl Drive.
Location: ///competitive.length.future
Prickly Pear Trailhead
This, and the Rocky Road trailhead, are both located at the side of Lime Kiln Road. The Prickly Pear access point offers very limited parking. The Prickly Pear trail winds its way up a drainage, zigging and zagging across the countours of the slope. It intersects Rocky Road Loop about .25 miles (.4k) up.
Trailhead location: ///amuses.collateral.beans
Rocky Road Trailhead
This, and the Prickly Pear Trailhead, are both located at the side of Lime Kiln Road. The Rocky Road access point offers parking for about 6 or. 7 vehicles- the lot was renovated by the city during the summer of 2024. The trail begins (like many in Helena) looking like an abandoned road. But is quickly transitions to a pleasant footpath to a lovely little summit with great views of the Helena Valley.
Trailhead location: ///polite.opportunity.frosts
Bompart Ridge trail
Start out going up the Rocky Road trail and take a left at the first trail sign post. This trail skirts the fenceline of the water tanks for a bit and then climbs nicely to the summit. On the way down, it intersects Prickly Pear/Rocky Road Loop. From this point, you can follow Prickly Pear to the west and play around in the Mount Ascension trail system.
Trailhead location: ///polite.opportunity.frosts
Far East trail
This .7 mile (1.1k) trail connects Winscott Lane (at the bottom) and South Hills Drive (at the top) of the trail. Tucked back into the gulch is the Grant-Marshall Lime Kiln Historic District which consists of a beautiful example of a lime kiln built about 130 years ago. Above the kiln, Far East follows a steep, damp gulch. Below the kiln the trail crosses an open wooded hillside and offers a nice flat overlook that provides a very different view of Helena and the valley when compared with the other vantage points sprinkled across the south hills. The trailhead on Winscott Lane has a very modest parking bulge along the road- two or three cars max in this parking space. There is a second access point below the kiln on Crystal Drive, but it is in a neighborhood and I don’t recommend using that trailhead.
Nob Hill
This is a small park unit on the east edge of Helena. A very modest parking area can be found on Daybreak St. The trail leads uphill along a two track. If you take the first fork to the left, you will skirt quite close to a few backyards at the start of the trail, but then be rewarded with a nice section of grass and scattered Ponderosas on the western slope of Nob Hill.
Lots of birds are in this section. The trail begins to loop around the hill and after a short climb up to a trail post, you can decide to go up to the ‘summit’ or continue around the loop. The eastern slope has some highway noise, but this is still a nice little island of nature surrounded by private property. There are a lot of unmarked trails in the area.
Donaldson Loop/East Side Disc Golf trail
This trail winds around, and through, the South Hills Disc Golf. This pathway is made of decomposed granite, whereas the disc golf paths are single tracks in the dirt. There is a very nice parking area at the start of this path and if it’s full of cars, you will want to be aware of discs being thrown by folfers. I can attest from experience that Folf discs hurt when they hit. Be aware.
This is a well used neighborhood path with lots of bird life in the warmer months. I’ve seen a jackrabbit there, too. A decent little bridge over a deep-ish gully is a nice touch. You can turn this into a loop by either walking on the sidewalk that runs along Saddle Dr. back to the parking lot or taking a stroll through the Folf course. If folks are folfing, the sidewalk is more polite option.
Bompart Hill Main Loop
Rocky Road to Prickly Pear loop
Starting and ending at either very small parking area on Lime Kiln Road, this loop is a bit shy of 1.5 miles and gives you nice views of the Helena Valley. The summit rises to about 4,180ft (1274m) above sea level, and the loop gives you about 285 feet of elevation gain. Rocky Road is a very well named trail.