Labor Day weekend was a blast in Montana! We found ourselves with Kevin and Brittany Williams of Lite Brite Studios, and as always, Lite Brite put on an amazing event. If you haven’t had a chance to meet them or don’t yet follow them online, a few details… they are traveling the country with their JL on 40s (the “Stepchild”) and their dog Jelly, filming adventure and running trails that Jeep has added to their list of Badge of Honor Trails. You can find their Wild Bill video that corresponds to this trail report here on YouTube!

The Wild Bill “Trail”— I use the quotes because I’d dare say it’s more like an off-road Park — is a network of multiple trails and man-made obstacles set among the trees in Montana. 

At the Kila entrance  — one of the trail’s three entrances — there is a bit of a “gatekeeper.” If you haven’t heard the term, it typically means it will keep out the vehicles that won’t be able to run the entirety of the trail. Sometimes it’s just the most difficult obstacle on the trail due to natural formations, or in this case, a man-made barrier giving you a good idea of what’s ahead, if you should be running it, and whether you’ll spend the day playing or spectating.

I was told by members of the local 4×4 club, that Wild Bill only requires 33″ tires unless it’s snowing…. Even in fair weather though, there were obstacles giving 40″ tires some pause. There are enough bypasses to let anyone with 33″ tires to be a spectator though. I was in our JL on 37s, so I was lucky enough to try most of the obstacles we encountered without much issue. Matt, our Shipping Manager, was also there in his JK on 37s and had a similar experience — other than ripping off his fender while attempting the same line the Lite Brite JL breezed through.

I wasn’t expecting to be a huge fan of this trail, after hearing many of the obstacles were man-made. I am delighted to report, I was wrong. With the unique combination of man-made and natural obstacles, including concrete road barriers, logs, used tractor tires, and even some log crossings, as seen above — this place is awesome! I’m intent on going back and discovering more.