The City of Bozeman, Montana and its surrounding mountains have an easily accessed, extensive system (more than 80 miles) of the very best hiking/mountain bike trails I know. The trails are built and maintained by the nonprofit Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT). Its mission “…connects people, communities, and open lands through conservation of working farms and ranches, healthy rivers, and wildlife habitat, and the creation of trails in the Montana headwaters of the Missouri and Upper Yellowstone Rivers.” One of the ways GVLT raises money is through its DONATE A BENCH, LEAVE A LEGACY program described on its website:

“Have you ever taken a moment to stop and sit on one of the many benches on our trail system? These memorial benches are a place for us to reflect, in solitude, or with good company, about the amazing place where we live. They let us take in the sunset, listen to birds chirping, hear laughing children, and catch our breaths. They are a unique trail amenity and they’re all donated by people just like you, people who love the outdoors and want to recognize someone special.
“GVLT is looking for community members who want to honor a loved one or remember a family member with the donation of a trail bench. We have available bench locations at both Bozeman Pond Park and Bogert Park.
“Benches can be purchased for a $2,000 donation and the donor can select the text that will go on the bench’s engraved plaque. The donation covers not only the bench, but trail improvements in the area as well.”

In daylight I have observed people drinking beer and wine, couples making out, other couples changing baby diapers and often enough down and out appearing folks sleeping on those $2000 benches. It can be safely assumed that darkness diminishes traffic but that some sort of bench action perseveres.
My personal favorite GVLT bench is on the popular Peets Hill/Burke Park trail in downtown Bozeman because of its engraved plaque which reads:

Birthright by MW Whitt
“Who has the gift of mountains
To live with day by day,
Has found an endless treasure
That cannot fade away.”

My interest was piqued by what was obviously a stanza from a complete poem titled “Birthright” which like all good poems leaves its own legacy, and I went Googling for the title and MW Whitt and could find nothing. After a couple of weeks of frustrating Google sleuthing, the obvious light of common sense made its way into the dark recesses of my old brain and turned it to the archives of the local newspaper where I discovered Millicent Ward Whitt. She was born in 1911 in Honolulu and died in Bozeman in 1996. She was a cum laude graduate of Smith College in writing and literature in 1932 and had her first poem published in Harper’s “Best College Verse” in 1931. More than 25 years later she earned a Masters degree from Montana State University (MSU). From 1953 to 1968 she was an assistant professor of English at MSU and later taught a graduate course in children’s literature at Syracuse University in New York. Her husband, Sidney, was an engineering professor. They had a long, happy life together, raising two sons and enjoying hunting, fishing and hiking in the mountains. When Sidney retired in 1976 they returned to Bozeman for the rest of their lives. Six months before she died her only book of poetry, “Say to the Moment” was published. The title comes from this line of Virginia Wolfe’s: “Say to the moment, this very moment, stay, you are so fair. For what a pity it should all be lost.”
I quickly found a rare copy of Millicent’s book on good old Amazon. It is a book that deserves re-publishing and distribution to a larger audience. It is part of her legacy and really good. On page 33 is this:

BIRTHRIGHT

Who has the gift of mountains
To live with day by day
Has found an endless treasure
That cannot fade away.

And should he travel later
To where the prairies lie,
Still that imprinted pattern
Reflects against the sky.

As eyes that turn from gazing
Into a blazing light
Still see its splendor shining
Upon the aftersight,

So those with mountain dazzled eyes
Shall nevermore see empty skies.