BOZEMAN — If you live in Bozeman, you may have hiked the College 'M' Trail a time or two.
Well, Bryce or @bighillguy on Instagram, is on day 52 of hiking the M trail every single day in 2026.
"Like day four of doing it, I was like this feels like I have been out here for weeks," said Bryce. "After a week or two, time just started flying by, and now I'm on day 52."
WATCH: Meet the Bozeman man hiking the M trail every day in 2026
Bryce is from Indiana and moved to Bozeman just over a year ago with his girlfriend. The two of them spent four months on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) stretching from Mexico to Canada just before moving here.
Bryce said this, along with his love of hiking trails in Indiana, sparked his goal of wanting to do something active every single day in 2026.
"I just wanted to stay consistent with something," explained Bryce. "I wanted to do something that was hard, and the M trail is definitely hard."
Bryce started posting his daily adventures up the M trail on Instagram at the beginning of February.
"It took like ten or 12 days, I was hiking it every day, and some friends from work were like, 'you should start recording that'."
Bryce said he had a collection of recordings between day one and 14 just so he could keep himself consistent.
His goal when he started this challenge was to take the title of "Local Legend" on Strava, which is awarded to the user who completes the M trail the most times within a rolling 90-day period.
"I got that goal," he said. "So the next goal was the fastest time to do it."
Right now, a professional ultra-runner named Jim Walmsley holds the course record for the steep ascent to the M with a time of seven minutes and 58 seconds.
According to Bryce, it usually takes him around 12 minutes to get up the big M. However, his fastest time is just over ten minutes.
"I always come up the steep way," laughed Bryce. "You have to come up the steep way every time."
Bryce also started another challenge on his Instagram page called "Weighted Wednesday," where he adds a pound for every share he gets.
A few weeks ago, one of his posts got over 100 shares. Instead of loading up a backpack with weights, Bryce decided to carry his girlfriend up.
"I carried her on my back the whole way up."
Bryce's goal with this challenge is to hit one of the top ten times on Strava, and in the future, he hopes to do longer runs across Montana or other states.
You can follow Bryce on Instagram (@bighillguy) for more content and to stay up to date with his journey climbing the M.
