Elk Mountain in the Fall

Tuesday October 16 I hiked to Elk Mountain.

The weather forecast had a cold front arriving Tuesday and rain starting in the afternoon or evening. This weather would be with the rest of the week. Joyce wanted to hike Tuesday before the front and rain prevented us from hiking.

After much deliberation we bypassed hiking in Glacier Park and I suggested we hike to Elk Mountain again. Bill, Arnie, and Sue Ann had never hiked there. So it was agreed.

On the highway map to the right, Elk Mountain is right of center, below the "C K" in "ROCKY". Look for the blue arrow.


The "Tally Lake" map below is the forest service map.

When Gary, Joyce, and I hiked to Elk Mountain in the Spring, we hiked trail 258 to get to trail 252 that went to Elk Mountain. It was 6.5 miles one way to get to Elk Mountain. On that trip we saw a sign saying it was only 1/2 mile from trail 252 to Forest Service road 9528 and 2 and 1/4 miles to Elk Mountain. A shorter way to hike to Elk Mountain next time. Or so we thought.


After hiking to Elk Mountain Tuesday several of the group has a suspicion the distance was greater than 2 and 1/4 miles. They timed our journey back. We compared our time to hike the half mile from the Elk Mountain trail to the 9528 road, and also the part of the road that was marked at 1 mile. In each case our time put us hiking at 3 mph. Taking our speed and the time we hiked, we estimate the 2 and 1/4 mile section is closer to 3 miles as it took us an hour to hike that distance.

Because forest service road 9528 was gated and closed, instead of hiking a little under 2 and 3/4 miles one way (2 and 1/4 plus 1/2), we hiked 6 miles one way (3 plus .5 plus 2.5). So much for taking a much shorter route than last time.

Total mileage: 12 miles.

Because of the forecast of rain we decided to meet at 8 am. This is an early start for this time of year, but an earlier start meant we would have a better chance of missing the rain.

Bill's house was closest to the trail and we all met there. All except Sue Ann who that morning decided not to join us. This is the second time she changed her mind about joining us for a hike to Elk Mountain.

During my drive to Bill's house I saw the sunrise over the Swan Mountain Range.


South of Elk Mountain was this summer's Brush Creek fire. On the above map the area burnt would be the lower left corner. In the lower left look for the word "National". The area burnt was below that word and right to the middle of the map - and below what the map shows.

Some roads were still closed though I don't know why. The fire is all out as no smoke could be seen. The piece of paper on the 'road closed' sign said the road was closed July 31, 2007 due to the fire. I wonder if the forest service is just slow in taking the closed signs down? As you can see from the photo the sign is off to the side of the road and there are indications traffic uses the road. From what we could see on other roads and mountain sides the fire really took out all the trees where it burned. None of the trees were burnt on the trails we hiked, nor from these trails could we see any trees burnt in the distance.

I had hopes of using road 9528 to get close to the Elk Mountain trail. Nope. 9528 is another one of the forest service roads now gated and closed. The road is in very good shape so I don't know why they closed it. Hiking on the road we could see newer replaced water culverts under the road with the older culverts sitting nearby.

Hiking on the 9528 road we could see a few white mushrooms pushing their way up through the gravel. Small brown mushrooms populated an old pile of bear scat on the road. We also saw elk scat on the road.

We saw that some hunters took aim at the hiking sign.

We wandered the forest service roads based on my sense of direction and what I remembered the route as being. I had left my map back in the car.

After one mile - marked with a mile marker sign - the road split. We went to the left as the road to the right was FS 9581, a road we did not want to go on.

The road to the left seemed to curve around more to the left and SE. My gut instinct told me our destination was to the NW, not the SE. Where are we going?! Are we on the right road?! I started to doubt our route.

Later when we returned from Elk Mountain I noticed at the split we could see Elk Mountain lookout straight (ahead as we hiked in) to the west. In the photo the lookout is on top of the "bump" just left of center.

I was concentrating so much on trying to "understand" the mountains and trying to recognize any mountains from our Spring hike that I walked right by the trail that went from the road to the Elk Mountain trail. Fortunately Joyce and Bill noticed the trail.

This half mile trail mainly climbed up the mountain side to the Elk Mountain trail. It was not too steep, but it was steady. I saw lots of deer and elk hoof tracks, some slipping on the trail when it was wet.

As I mentioned earlier the sign said it was 2 and 1/4 miles to Elk Mountain. After we regrouped, we headed out. It wasn't long before we crossed what I called "Boulder Valley".

The trail was cleared of dead fall though there were a few trees across the trail here and there. I'm not sure why all the trees were not cleared as they were across the trail back when we hiked in the Spring. Since mountain bicycles are allowed on these trails, and the Back Country Horsemen clear the trails, I wonder if they leave a few low lying trees their horses can step over, but cause a bicyclist to dismount, and therefore are a disincentive for bicyclists to use the trails.

While we steadily climbed upwards, it didn't seem like we were climbing steeply. I think it was an illusion as all of us were stopping for breaks more and more.

When we started our hike the heavy clouds were to the south and SW. We had intermittent sun. This changed as we climbed higher. The clouds were slipping up and over the mountain tops occasionally putting us in fog. We could see down the steep mountain sides to the valleys below. It looked sunny down there.

The clouds obscured the Elk Mountain lookout so we couldn't see it until we were close to it.

Photo 1 was taken when I left the mountain as I could not see this view when we hiked up to the mountain.

The lookout had collapsed some time ago. Years ago Arnie and his son hiked to Elk Mountain on trail 109 that comes out of the west valley that has the train tracks. That would be a steep hike! Back when they hiked to the lookout it was still standing upright, though in poor shape.

In the third photo notice the tree branches. Gee, I wonder from which direction the winter wind blows?

Large clouds came up from the valley and over the mountain around us. At times we had somewhat of a view, other times not much of one. It was dramatic to see.

I had wandered around the mountain top taking photos and looking at the view. We saw two large birds soar on the wind over the west valley but once they opened their mouths we discovered they were only ravens.


We could hear and see the trains in the valley below. As Colleen and I had earlier driven the road paralleling the railroads tracks and seen where the tunnel was, I could now tell where the tunnel was looking down from the mountain top.

When the clouds had lifted somewhat and were no longer skimming the mountain top, it was still cold. We had the sun for only about a minute before the blue sky moved to the NE.

The wind blew and it was cold. We sat near the fallen lookout using it as shelter to get out of the wind. There we ate out lunch and watched the clouds and the views change. Because I did more wandering - and looking for and finding the rock I had left behind on my earlier trip - the others finished their lunch before I did. They started down the mountain as I remained to eat the rest of my lunch.

As I headed down the mountain I watched for the stick I had left beside the trail. At the first meadow I double checked but did not see it. Perhaps the others took it? At the second meadow I checked. No stick. Neither at the third meadow. They must have taken it as I'm sure I wouldn't miss seeing it. I caught up to the others at the sign where the trail branches over to the road. They were sitting and snacking.

I looked, and not seeing my stick, said "Where's my stick?" Bill then produced it from where he had hidden it behind him and we had a good laugh.

Later as we walked along the road I told Bill if the stick got too heavy for him I would trade him the rock I was carrying for the stick.

"Ya, right. Maybe when we get to a downhill section", he joked.

After carrying the rock for 5 miles it was feeling much heavier and I was slowing down. I've since weighed the rock and it weighs 38 lbs. Joyce did her typical faster hiking the closer we got to the end of the trail. She and Bill took off ahead while I stopped to take photos. When we got to the car I joked that Bill took off when we got to the downhill section so he wouldn't have to carry the rock. Of course I never intended anyone else carry my rock. My rock, my burden.

We drove out through the Good Creek area. This area has some private land mixed with the national forest. The private lands are the gray areas on the map. The road was very good. While not wide enough for two cars to pass without slowing down and being careful, the road was very smooth with no potholes. Along this road we saw our third, fourth, and fifth vehicles of the day before we reached Hwy 93 and saw more.

The scenery was gorgeous! Lots and lots of yellow tamarack and birch trees. As we haven't had a really hard freeze yet the colors have remained longer and are brighter than usual. There are areas that are mainly bright yellow. Absolutely gorgeous! Well worth a drive in the country.

It was after 4 pm when we returned to Bill's house. A longer day than expected, but one in which it didn't rain. Another successful hike.