The Forest Service completed phase three of the Hyalite Canyon parking expansion last Tuesday. The new lot covers what regulars still call the lower meadow, though regulars now park in phase two and walk ten minutes to the trailhead.

“I remember when this was all just cars parked in the grass,” said Dale Henderickson, 42, adjusting his pack at the History Rock trailhead. “Now it’s paved. With lines. And a vault toilet that smells like a vault toilet.” He has been hiking Hyalite since 2011, which makes him a local by most definitions.

The expansion adds 187 spaces. Phase four, scheduled for 2027, will add another 120 on the far side of the creek. A shuttle from the Bozeman Walmart lot is under discussion. The Walmart lot is 23 miles from the canyon mouth.

Ranger Macy Ouellette said the goal is to reduce roadside parking on Hyalite Canyon Road, where vehicles have lined both shoulders every summer weekend since 2019. “People park where they can,” she said. “Then they walk the road. Then they complain about the dust.”

The trailhead register at History Rock shows 3,400 entries last July. The register at Grotto Falls shows 4,100. Neither register has been checked for duplicates. Several entries read “Chuck T.” with no last name. One reads “Just passing through.”

A moose stood in the phase one lot for three hours Tuesday morning. Cars waited. The moose eventually moved toward the creek. Nobody honked.

The new lot filled by 8:15 a.m. Saturday. By noon, phase two was full. Phase three held 40 cars. The meadow, such as it was, held the rest.