Ousel Peak Trail is a 7.3 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Kalispell, Montana that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and birding and is best used from March until October.
birding
hiking
nature trips
walking
forest
views
wild flowers
Difficult trail as it's pretty much straight up hill from the get go. Nice steep wooded intro for a couple miles, then starts to offer alpine views as the trees thin out....ever steepening trail. I've read somewhere that it's a four mile trail to the top and 4000 ft. gain in altitude, but it didn't seem as long or as much climb? However, I went on an overcast, rainy day and my phone app died three quarters of the way on the round trip and was too glitchy for reliable information. It's very steep, even for switchbacks, and unrelenting until the top. It's possible that I didn't reach the end I suppose, but I did find the scattered ruins of the old lookout that's supposedly at the summit....bed spring and old, old beams that had been cut up. Plus the trail petered out to meandering game trails. I did the round trip hike with my two malamutes in about 4 hrs. On a clear day the views must be grand.
One negative about this trail is the lack of parking and the danger of the highway at the trailhead! If you have dogs you will need to leash them immediately and for several hundred feet past the trailhead, and again upon return....this parking is good for one large vehicle (two small) and on the opposite side of the highway AND on a bend where you'll encounter truck traffic at 60 mph on hwy 2! If you have dogs, have a plan upon approach knowing you can't just drop your tailgate and let them run at trailhead.