The Regatta boats came off the water on Sunday. Volunteer Park will thin out over the next few weekends. If you live here, you already know what happens next: the traffic light at the middle of town gets easier, the west shore quiets down, and the part of Lakeside most visitors never see starts getting busy.

That part runs west, uphill, off Highway 93. Turn at Blacktail Grocery and the road climbs into a corridor that carries the rest of the resident calendar. Legacy Bike Park is in the middle of its peak weeks. Blacktail Mountain is running a full summer program that most people who only know it as a ski area have never checked. Tamarack has two community events on the calendar before the aspens turn. Between now and the first chair spinning in December, the interesting weekends in Lakeside are almost all above the highway.

The road you take west at Blacktail Grocery

Everything in this post sits on one road. Blacktail Mountain Ski Area is in Lakeside, overlooks Flathead Lake with easy access from Highway 93 South, and once in Lakeside you turn west at Blacktail Grocery and follow Blacktail Road 14 miles to the mountaintop. Tamarack Brewing Company sits at the base at 105 Blacktail Rd, where it has been since 2007. Legacy Bike Park breaks off about a mile south of town at 2376 Legacy Park Way, up Blacktail Heights Road. Foy's to Blacktail Trails feed in from the Kalispell side of the ridge.

If you already live here, the practical value of the corridor is that all of it clears out by mid-afternoon on a weekday and stays open long after the lake shuts down for the season. The lift-served winter side of Blacktail has always been the headline. The summer and shoulder side is where the last few years have quietly added the most.

Legacy is doing what the winter mountain can't yet

Legacy Bike Park opened July 15, 2021, which makes 2026 its sixth full season. The park now has 32 trails; the longest is Ascender at 2.2 miles, the trail with the most elevation gain is Ascender at 769 feet, and the steepest descent is Dirt Herder with 823 feet of drop. Guests choose between an uphill shuttle pass, which includes shuttle rides for when you're tired, or a Pedal pass that lets you climb the required uphill trail under your own power; anyone with a shuttle pass can also ebike up a lap or two.

Two things about the 2026 season are worth flagging if you have not been out in a while. First, access has changed. For the beginning of the 2026 season, Legacy is sharing road access with Discovery; a gate code is not required unless you are camping, and the park is working closely with Discovery to keep access safe and smooth for everyone. Second, if you camp, plan on primitive. Legacy offers primitive camping with 36 reservable sites, pit toilets, and no water or power on site. No campfires are allowed at Legacy, propane fires only.

For a Lakeside resident, the useful frame is this: Legacy fills the calendar slot that Blacktail Mountain can't fill until the snow returns. It is a lift-served descent culture running on private land, six miles from your kitchen. Nothing else on the west shore does that.

The park sits on north-facing slopes on a perfect grade, which is why it works as a summer operation and why the temperature on a shuttle bench in August is not what you expect from a Montana afternoon.

The mountain's summer is quieter than its winter, on purpose

Blacktail Mountain the ski hill and Blacktail Mountain the summer venue are close to two different businesses. The winter numbers are familiar to anyone who has bought a pass: 1,000 acres of National Forest land, an average annual snowfall of 250 inches of natural snow, a summit elevation of 6,780 feet, a 1,440-foot vertical drop, and terrain rated 15 percent beginner, 70 percent intermediate, 15 percent advanced. The summer program is the part most residents underuse.

Summer at Blacktail features off-road vehicle rentals, disc golf, hiking, and special events. The hike-and-ride backbone is the Blacktail Wild Bill OHV system. The Blacktail Wild Bill OHV Trail has been a National OHV trail since 1979, and it is maintained by Skyliners and Big Sky 4 Wheelers alongside the Forest Service. The system offers a mix of gravel roads, rock gardens, and wooded singletrack that works for off-road vehicles, and it runs from wide-open beginner terrain to more technical riding.

If you want the low-effort version, the disc golf course and the lodge views are the answer. Blacktail Mountain sits above Flathead Lake and offers year-round adventure with some of the best views in Montana. The lodge is not open the way it is in ski season, but the drive up is the point.

The September and October calendar residents actually block

Two events on the corridor are worth putting on the family calendar now rather than the week of.

Montana Brewery Running Series 5k, Saturday, September 26, 2026. The course starts and ends at Tamarack Brewing Company, and it is mapped to run through the surrounding neighborhood rather than out on the highway. It is a fun run, not a race, and it is the kind of Saturday morning that ends with the taproom already open.

Blacktail Climb, Saturday, October 3, 2026. This one is the closer of the season. The Blacktail Climb is on Saturday, October 3, 2026, and it includes the Summit Climb, a 10K-ish Climb, and an E-Bike Fun Ride. The event is hosted by the Lakeside Somers Chamber of Commerce, and a portion of proceeds supports Blacktail QRU, which serves the mountain and surrounding community during the winter season. Riders can pick the full summit climb, a shorter 10K route, or a laid-back e-bike fun ride later in the day. The finish rolls into an outdoor after-party at Tamarack Brewing Company with local brews, food, music, and a vendor village. Tamarack is the Presenting Sponsor, and the after-party runs out of the brewery's newly paved parking lot.

The reason to note the pair now is that they bracket a five-week window that most residents drift through without a plan. One weekend closes the running-and-hanging-out season at the taproom. The other closes the biking season on the mountain itself. If you have kids old enough to ride a 10K or ambitious enough to try the Summit, October 3 is the date to circle.

What the corridor changes about a Lakeside week

A short list of what the uphill side quietly gives back to a resident calendar between now and December:

• A Tuesday-afternoon lap at Legacy that costs less than a family dinner and empties the schedule of anyone who took it.
• A place to send visiting family that is not the same lake photo everyone in your phone already has.
• An hour of disc golf at elevation on a weekday evening when town is still hot.
• A backcountry OHV loop that has been legally in place since 1979 and does not require a reservation.
• A Saturday in late September that ends at Tamarack instead of the boat ramp.
• A Saturday in early October that gives the winter QRU crew a real number back.

None of that is new the way a restaurant opening is new. It is closer to a set of standing options that most residents forget about between Regatta weekend and the first snow report. Naming them out loud is most of the point.

The through-line

The lake half of Lakeside gets written about the same way every summer, because it should. It is the part of town that defines the postcard. The corridor west of Blacktail Grocery is the part of town that defines the year. It is the reason a Lakeside address in November is not a quieter version of a Lakeside address in July. It is a different set of doors, on the same road, run by people who live here.

If you already own a home in Lakeside, the practical takeaway is smaller than a listicle: pick two of the six items above and put them on the calendar before the shoulder season disappears. If you are thinking through what it looks like to own on the west shore, the corridor is worth a slow drive on your next visit, not just a scroll of the lake photos.

When you're ready to talk through what a Lakeside address actually gives you across all twelve months, Liz McGavin works this side of the valley year-round and would be glad to walk the corridor with you. Schedule a free consultation or request a complimentary home valuation any time.