Day: July 17, 2017

Pic: Limestone formations. Lewis & Clark Caverns SP, MT

Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park contains a show cave with all its associated bright lights and metal railings. Thanks to some internet sleuthing and lucky timing, however, I took the more intimate “wild cave tour”. Equipped with helmets and headlamps, overalls and kneepads, ten of us toured the cave like actual spelunkers. With the overhead lights off (except to allow the above picture), we squeezed and crawled through areas not ordinarily seen by the public. We saw soda straws and cave bacon and even a couple of bats sleeping on the ceiling.

Derrick, the ranger who established the program in 2015, was a terrific and knowledgeable guide. 5 stars, would wild cave again.

Pic: Good advice in almost all situations. Lewis & Clark Caverns SP, MT

Pic: A pretty girl steals the show. Mountain goat on Naya Nuki Peak, Custer Gallatin NF, MT

My next target was another Bill suggestion: Sacagawea Peak. Being so close to Bozeman on a Saturday evening, I struck out on obvious dispersed camping but landed the last spot at Fairy Lake Campground. Unfortunately, it was directly across from some guys who wanted everyone in a quarter-mile radius to know about their bad taste in music.

From verdant Fairy Lake, the trail rose ceaselessly up switchbacks through forest and valley to Sacagawea Pass then steeply up to the highest point in the Bridger Range, Sacagawea Peak, four miles and 2000′ from the trailhead. The views here were spectacular in all directions, but I noticed that the cool kids continued along the ridge to a second summit to the south, Naya Nuki Peak. I hiked all of Naya Nuki (come on!), so you can take that Naya Cookie and stick it up your (yeah!), stick it up your (yeah!).

This area is known for its population of mountain goats, an animal I was eager to observe in daylight. So as I crossed paths with another pair of hikers while picking my way across the side-sloping talus field, I asked them if they had spotted any.

“Just that one,” one of them said, pointing over my shoulder. Sure enough, there was a white shape on the brown rocks, way up on the ridge where I’d been fifteen minutes before. Crap.

I summited Naya Nuki, unpacked my lunch, and sat down to enjoy the marvelous views. I watched hopefully as the goat casually picked her way across the loose rocks, coming closer and closer until finally she climbed straight up the ridge within five yards of me, pointedly ignoring me in her quest for tender plants. I spent the next hour refueling for the descent while she nibbled her way past me a few times during her tour of the peak.

On the way back to the pass, I found two snowboarders and a skier hiking up. Allegedly there is a double-walled couloir on Naya Nuki’s northern aspect that guards a few skiable turns well into summer. I wished them luck and told them to look out for my new friend. Meanwhile, I had a date with a cave.

Pic: C’mon, man, even *I* wore a tie to my graduation. Big T IGA, Big Timber, MT

Pic: Roscoes everywhere. MT-78, Roscoe, MT