In Florence, the Bitterroot Trail Changes at Glen's Café

When you get on the Bitterroot Trail at Long Avenue in Florence, which way do you go? Since mid-August, that choice decides what kind of trail you get. Head north toward Lolo Creek and you're on a full new overlay. Head south toward Stevensville and you're on the six miles the Bitterroot Trail Preservation Alliance says still need one. The two surfaces meet at Long Avenue, beside a log-cabin café that has been serving pie since 1972.

This November, the trail through Florence is two trails that share a name. Each has its own surface, its own hazard and its own unanswered question. Long Avenue is where one stops and the other starts.

What Knife River Left North of Long Avenue

The Montana Department of Transportation announced the project on April 23, 2026, under the plain name "Path Preservation – Missoula & Ravalli Co." Knife River, Inc. was the construction partner. According to MDT's release, the work area ran from the Lolo Creek bridge to the Bitterroot River Bridge just north of Hamilton. It also covered the shared-use path along Woodside Cutoff Road from US 93 to Eastside Highway.

MDT listed this scope:

• An overlay
• Crack sealing and mastic sealing
• Fog seal
• Replacing asphalt where needed
• Two ADA-compliant curb ramps

Outside Florence, the work was targeted. The Bitterroot Trail Preservation Alliance says crews removed and repaved short sections damaged by erosion or tree roots, and leveled uneven pavement, especially at several bridge approaches. The Alliance calls the full overlay between Lolo Creek and Long Avenue at Glen's Café the "keystone upgrade." It says that section had "suffered from years of cracks and uneven surface repairs and is now a complete joy to ride and walk."

The stretch the Alliance singles out for a complete overlay ends in Florence.

The schedule ran long. MDT expected work to start the week of May 3 and finish by the end of June, weather permitting. The Alliance reported the project complete as of mid-August 2026, about six weeks after that forecast.

The Six Inches at the Edge

The new pavement has a catch, and the Alliance spells it out on its homepage:

"The new pavement overlay between Lolo and Florence often created areas with a substantial drop-off to the side of the trail. This is up to six inches in some cases. Accidentally riding off the side of the trail in these places could have serious consequences."

The drop-off comes from the same overlay that made the surface smooth. New asphalt laid on top of old pavement sits higher than the ground beside it. That's why the warning applies to the Lolo-to-Florence stretch and not to the spot repairs elsewhere. Heading north from Long Avenue, the trail is smoother in the middle and steeper at the edges than it used to be. Passing another rider, stepping aside for a stroller, or drifting while you look at the Bitterroots all put you closer to that lip.

Fall makes it worse. Leaves and early-season debris collect along trail edges, and an edge you can't see is harder to judge.

South of Glen's, the Old Surface Stays

Turn south at Long Avenue and you're back on the trail as it was before the project. The Alliance says it will now work with MDT and Ravalli County on "new trail preservation on the section of trail between Long Avenue in Florence and a location just north of the Stevensville traffic light." It describes that six-mile section as one whose "pavement continues to deteriorate and needs a complete overlay."

That's the Alliance's next priority, and so far it has no construction date. MDT's April release says nothing about a later overlay south of Florence. MDT's Spring 2026 newsletter does list a "PATH PRESERVATION II-MISSOULA" project among its Missoula District projects, but that list doesn't name the Florence-to-Stevensville segment.

Until something changes, the cracked surface south of Long Avenue is what Florence has on that side of town. The new trail to the north shows what it looks like once the work gets done. The Alliance says it gave MDT detailed information about pavement preservation needs during planning for this year's project.

The Café at the Seam

The landmark the Alliance chose for the end of the new pavement has its own long history on Long Avenue. Glen's Mountain View Cafe calls itself "family owned and operated since 1972" and points to "its log cabin exterior, friendly faces and home cooked meals."

In a 2025 remembrance of founder Glen Mikesell, the Bitterroot Star wrote that the idea started on a high school basketball trip. Glen's team stopped at a little restaurant in Butte known for serving its own homegrown beef, and he carried the idea with him for years. The Star says the café's pies were featured in Geo Magazine and Reader's Digest. It also notes that the café displays paintings by Dolores Mikesell and their grandson Justin Moore, and describes a morning coffee crowd it calls the Coffee Club. The café's own site still features homegrown beef and homemade pies, and lists hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Check before a late-afternoon ride, since the page carries no date. One more detail for anyone bringing pie home: the café's site posts a notice that it will be adding a 25-cent fee for a large to-go box. It says it chose that over switching to cheaper styrofoam that makes food soggy.

Glen's isn't the only stop around the seam. The Bitterroot Trail FAQ lists a public porta-toilet at Haas Country Market, 5189 US-93 in Florence, and says it may be open only on Saturdays. The Alliance says portable toilets were installed just north of Florence at the underpass to the Carlton Creek Park & Ride. That puts one facility on the new-pavement side and one on the old.

The half-mile markers also help on an out-and-back from Long Avenue. In October 2025, the Alliance finished placing bollard markers every half mile from Buckhouse Bridge to Anglers Roost, 50.8 miles in all. On the Alliance's mileage system, distance counts from the Bitterroot Trail and Milwaukee Trail junction in Missoula. Pick a number on a post north of Glen's and you can turn around exactly where you planned.

November Puts the County Line in Play

The new pavement solves the summer problem. Winter is a separate question, and the answer depends on which county you're standing in.

A 2026 draft agreement between Ravalli County and the Alliance, posted in county meeting records, says the county maintains the trail from the south end of Veterans Bridge in Hamilton to the Missoula–Ravalli county line. That includes Florence. On snow, the draft reads: "The COUNTY shall be responsible for plowing snow from the Trail on a limited basis." It adds that "any plowing is in the COUNTY's reasonable discretion, and shall be on the COUNTY's schedule, and at the COUNTY's approved standards." The copy in the record has blank date and signature lines, so treat it as the county's working draft.

Head north on the new overlay toward Lolo and you eventually cross into Missoula County, which runs under its own arrangement. A June 2024 email in Ravalli County's records summarized Missoula County's agreement this way: snow is removed "as necessary and only after the highway is plowed," and "some limited areas" are not plowed at all. That summary is two years old, and the actual agreement may read differently today.

Under the same draft, MDT keeps responsibility for pavement and structural repairs. The Alliance handles litter pickup, sign restoration and small-debris removal. The draft also lets the county close or limit trail use, with MDT approval, for safety, maintenance or special events. The draft doesn't set a seasonal closure. After the first real snow, whether the path through Florence gets cleared depends on the county's schedule, on both sides of Long Avenue.

The Bitterroot Trail runs right through Florence's daily routine. At Montana Dream Homes, Stacie Roberts has spent more than 25 years learning those details across the Bitterroot, right down to which side of Long Avenue the new pavement starts. If you're thinking about a home in Florence with easy trail access, or wondering how trail access plays into your own property's value, schedule a free consultation.