Article Contributed on: 8/25/2009 7:24:41 PM
The route to the summit of 10,243-foot Mount Washburn is an old wagon/Model T road that has since been closed to traffic, but this extremely busy "trail" is still as wide as a country dirt road and just as highly traveled.
There are two trailheads that access the summit of Washburn, one at Dunraven Pass and one a few miles north of Dunraven Pass at the end of Chittenden Road.
We decided to take two cars and shuttle between the two trailheads in order to go up one side of the mountain and down the other instead of retracing our steps on the descent.
We started at the Chittenden Road trailhead, which rises 1,400 feet in 2.5 miles. This side of Washburn is very exposed and offers panoramic views of the North Absarokas, Beartooth Mountains and Gallatin Range, as well as the lower peaks in the small Washburn Range (including
Observation Peak).
Despite a moisture-laden haze on the day of our hike, you could still see the large peaks in the northeast corner of the park, including Bison, Thunderer and Barronette, and make out the distinctive duo of Pilot and Index peaks outside of the park.
Washburn is famous as favorite summer terrain for bighorn sheep, and about halfway up, a harem of about 30 ewes and kids - along with a lone ram - rested in the road.
Despite having to pick our way between them to get past, the sheep paid little attention to us, with some even moving out of our way as we approached to close for their comfort.
At the summit of Washburn rests a fire lookout, where a ranger lives all summer in a small room with four glass walls. It must be amazing during sunrises, sunsets and for watching storms blow in, but it'd make me nervous on the days when the Wyoming wind really howls.
The lower level of the fire lookout houses enclosed observation level, which has a telescope and maps that identify the major landmarks to the east, north and west (there also are flush toilets, a rarity at the top of any mountain).
We descended the 3.1-mile trail down the south side of the mountain to Dunraven Pass, which had no sheep but many, many more people. The north side also is the prettier side, with more forest cover, more wildflower-filled meadows and large deposits of volcanic breccia, a testament to Washburn's (and Yellowstone's) volcanic past.
Aside from bighorn sheep, this trip was a great one for seeing wildlife. Just as we reached the summit of Sylvan Pass, a movement in the woods near the road caught my eye. I glanced over just in time to see a lone wolf running deeper into the forest.
Although we'd seen other canines before, they were almost certainly coyotes. Even after just a fleeting glance, I was sure this one was a wolf because of
its black coat, a color not natural to coyotes. Unfortunately, it was gone before I could even pull over, much less snap a photo.
Fortunately, a mile or so down the road, in Sylvan Lake, there was a
juvenile cow moose (she had no "bell" on her neck) foraging aquatic plants near the shoreline, just a few dozen yards from the road. Several cars had stopped to watch her, and we were able to get out next to the car and snap some photos.
Before she ran into the woods, she swam to some of the deeper parts of the lake and spent some time nosing around in several shallow sections.