Blue Mountain forms Missoula’s western landmark and has long combined outdoor recreation with other uses. Its trails and routes support hiking, mountain biking, disc golf, horse riding, off-road motorcycling, shooting, and hunting. From 1942 to 1992, it also served as a military training site for Army forces, where exercises included live small-arms firing, land navigation, and artillery practice; a 2008 survey found no unexploded ordnance. Today the mountain shows both developed recreation and remnants of earlier activity, including nature trails, old logging roads, an abandoned apple orchard, gravel pits, an OHV trailhead, a fire lookout tower, and a University of Montana observatory, amid abundant wildlife.