Love this park! It's a tranquil walking path with clean bathrooms and the neatest suspension bridges in the area!
Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful park, but it is very strict in what members of the public are allowed to use it. You know who uses parks the most? Dog owners. Why create a park that DOES NOT allow dogs? I drove out to this park, in order to take my dog for a walk, and was bombarded by 10+ signs banning dogs. And there were ZERO people around. Not one car in the lot; and on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Why? Probably because there are no dogs allowed. Ridiculous idea. The city recently passed a law to allow leashed dogs in public parks, yet this park made sure to be private land to bypass this law. It's just so infuriating to drive out to a beautiful park and not be able to use or enjoy it.
This park is completely funded by community donations and managed by volunteers at the Yellowstone River Parks Association. They have done a great job getting this up and running. The initial phase is about 172 acres. There is a total of about 600 acres in future land donations planned. Knife river has tentatively committed to donating their gravel pit to the park, which will be turned into a lake about 2.5 times the size of lake Elmo--about a 3 year timeline on that. It will be beautiful when it is completed. You are correct though, it is a work in progress. The pics I posted were in early march, still a little brown from winter...
Explored the park today for the first time , it definitely has potential! No trail signage at all, so you just kinda have to wander around which is certainly ok. I ended up riding a service road that I accessed from the bottom. There were no signs blocking the road, so I didn't know any better till I got to the top and there was a sign saying it was a staff service road only. Again, no signage, so you can't fault a person for where they end up...
The large grass snake that was working the entrance to the parking area wasn't very friendly. I stopped to ask what his favorite trail was and he just stuck his tongue out and slithered off. Perhaps he was just having an off day...
Overall I enjoyed the park. It certainly needs additional work on the trails, but for only being open a short time, it isn't bad at all. There are great views of the river from up top and the park is much bigger than I expected which is very nice.
Beautiful place. Great time.
I would be cautious for sure up top with young children. There are some significant drop offs that you most definitely would not want to fall from.
There is little to no shade along the trails, so sunscreen and water are a must. The trails aren't packed in well yet, so I would suggest some decent shoes if you are walking. Some of the trails down below near the water are close to being completely overgrown, so I didn't ride around there too much at all. The upper trails are in good shape and easy to follow...
John H Dover Memorial Park is a US Park based in Billings, Montana. John H Dover Memorial Park is located at 2531 Mary St, Billings, MT 59105, USA.
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