RED LODGE — If you're looking for a place to cool down or relax this summer, you might want to head to the Red Lodge Ski Resort.
Most think of it as a winter location, but they're actually looking to expand it for the summer. For instance, right now they are working on a three-mile mountain bike trail.
In the cool Red Lodge mountain air, there's a group of volunteers building bike trails from the literal ground up.
"It's great. You get to meet a lot of people. You get to make new friends. You get to have laughs. It's very fun, and it's enjoyable work, too," said Nick Gaddi, the executive director of the Beartooth Trails.
Also every Tuesday night and Saturday morning, this group of volunteers meets on the mountain to do work for their community.
"It's really rewarding work," said Gaddi.
"I've been able to help layout some of the trails. I've been able to dig up a lot here. I think we're slowly seeing the development of a nice little trail network," said Thomas Clark.
Clark is both a volunteer with Beartooth Trails and a board member. He says he joined for his passion of designing bike trails, and he has been doing so for three years.
By working together twice a week, this group of men have almost become a brotherhood, forming strong roots with one another.
"You know, we kind of get a wide variety of volunteers. We see a couple new faces every week, and a lot of weeks we get the same groups, and we've all gotten to know watch other pretty well and honestly it's pretty fun," says Clark.
But, the work is made a little easier by Sylvie the dog, who gets those stubborn branches and rocks out of the way when leveling out of the mountain.
Anyone is welcome to join the brotherhood, male or female, and any level of physical activity.
"It's great. These people are sacrificing their time on a Saturday to give back to their community, and to essentially build the trails that they would like to see in our community," says Gaddi.
The group hopes to have the trail loop finished by this September.
Because Beartooth Trails is a nonprofit organization, it is always accepting donations from the community. Contact Nick Gaddi or visit their website for more information.
