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THOMPSON PARK
PIPESTONE PASS
LENGTH: 4.5 miles
ADA ACCESSIBLE: No; gravel surface
HIGHLIGHTS: 600-foot steel trestle bridge, two railroad tunnels
When it comes to railroad tunnels, no rail-
trail can surpass the Route of the Hiawatha in
Idaho. But with its two intensely dark tunnels
and 600-feet steel trestle bridge, Thompson
Park south of Butte in Pipestone Pass holds
its own. In 1915, millionaire engineer Wil-
liam Boyce Thompson gifted 75 acres of for-
mer placer mines to Butte for the formation
of a city park. In 1922, Thompson's gift was
augmented by land in the Deerlodge Na-
tional Forest, and the site was designated by
Congress a "Municipal Recreation Area."
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped
build ski jumps, campgrounds, and trails and roads throughout
Thompson Park. A section of old Milwaukee Road makes up 4.5
miles of the 25-mile trail system.
Today Thompson Park is exclusively a day-use area, and es-
pecially popular with bikers and cross-country skiers–though
walking and horseback riding are also totally acceptable op-
tions. Thompson Park is also the only rail-trail in this article
that is a segment in the Great American Rail-Trail, a RTC proj-
ect that aims to build a continuous multi-use recreation trail
across the country from Washington State to Washington, D.C.
In Montana, this proposed trail would cut southeast from Look-
out Pass, crossing Homestake Pass and the Headwaters area
before turning at Livingston down the Paradise Valley.
THOMPSON PARK
IS A SEGMENT IN
THE GREAT AMERICAN RAIL-TRAIL,
A PROJECT THAT AIMS TO BUILD
A CONTINUOUS MULTI-USE RECREATION
TRAIL ACROSS THE COUNTRY
FROM WASHINGTON STATE
TO WASHINGTON, D.C.
THOMPSON PARK
THOMPSON PARK
SHERMAN CAHILL (2)
