The completion of the Bitterroot Trail will be celebrated Saturday at noon at the Travelers Rest State Park in Lolo.

John Stegmeier with the Missoula County Open lands Program said the massive, years-long trail construction project will officially come to an end Saturday.

"The trail will be completed with the section that we've been seeing along the highway with our local construction crews and project managers, with a special celebration on Saturday at noon," Stegmeier said. "The trails is now 50 miles long all the way from the south end of Hamilton, all the way into Missoula's Silver Park by Osprey Stadium."

Setgmeier said that accomplishment is not going unrecognized.

"A group of partners including the City of Missoula, Missoula County, Adventure Cycling and Montana State Parks formed a partnership about a year ago to organize a ride along the trail that would give people the option of riding any portion of the trail they want, some all the way from Darby," he said. "All along the way, folks in the Bitterroot will be rolling out the red carpet with water, snacks, shade and rest rooms. Those riders will all congregate at noon at Travelers Rest for an official ribbon-cutting ceremony."

Following that, there will be a bike expo at Silver Park.

"At the bike expo, there will be both local and national bicycle companies, with opportunities for people to demo bikes and bike products and talk with experts about cycling," he said. "That's from 2 to 5 p.m. at Silver Park, and it's free, so we encourage as many people as possible to take part."

The trail was made possible by a $3 million federal Tiger grant, and is now open for use.

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